A. Master: “It is not difficult to say, but I wonder if you will believe what I say.”
Student: “Of course, I will believe what you say.”
Master: “I am your son.”
Commentary:
Master’s answer breaks all the world into pieces.
Who is master’s mother when he is older than his father?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. In fact, we have always been and will be perfect forever, and there is nothing imperfect. ‘Perfect’ and ‘imperfect’ are all the products of our discrimination. How could there be ‘good’ and ‘bad’, or ‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’, without discrimination? It is because of our discrimination that all things including us look imperfect.
To be perfect just as your Father in heaven is, means to realise the truth that you are perfect and not to turn ‘imperfect you’ into ‘perfect you’. In order to realise the truth, we must cease to discriminate, or remove illusions, and see everything as it is. Matthew 5:45 says, “He makes his sun shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.” This is showing that God also doesn’t discriminate between good and bad.
Student: “How can I be perfect like Buddha?”
Master: “Don’t stain yourself with ‘perfect’.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Student: “I’m fifty years old.”
Master: “How old is fifty years?”
Student: “I don’t know.”
Master: “How come you still don’t know your age?”
Student: “How old are you, Sir?”
Master: “Eighty years old.”
Student: “How old is eighty years?”
Master: “Eight times ten is eighty.”
Commentary:
Don’t think that the student’s right answer is five times ten.
The curved can’t contain the straight.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Zen has a similar saying, ‘Kill Buddha and your parents if you are to see your true-self’. Even Buddha, while alive, would say to his disciples, “If you see me, kill me.” Here, killing Buddha and your parents means removing the illusions of them and not actually killing Buddha and your real parents. Logically speaking, how would it be possible to kill the historical Buddha who passed away about 2500 years ago? The reason why masters would use such a radical expression is that the illusions of Buddha and your parents are among the illusions that are the most difficult to remove.
Likewise, in order to see God, you have to remove all illusions, among which those of God and your parents die hardest. So, the above scripture can be interpreted: ‘Those who love the illusions of their parents without trying to see their true-self are not fit to be my disciples. Those who can’t remove the illusions of their parents can’t see God, the true-self.’
Student: “When we kill our parents, we can repent of our sin of killing them before Buddha. However, where can we repent of our sin when we kill Buddha or God?”
Master: “When you come into your kingdom after a successful rebellion, there is no one who can judge you.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Student: “What is pure mind?”
Master: “Rotten shit.”
Student: “What is dirty mind?”
Master: “Beautiful flowers.”
Commentary:
Don’t aim at the shadow on the ground of a game bird when it has flown away high in the sky.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. People think that a cow is very beneficial and that a snake is very harmful because the former gives us milk, sometimes working power and even gives its body as food, but the latter makes poison and can harm us with it. It is said that we should be altruistic like a cow.
A cow has no intention to sacrifice itself to help people although it produces milk and has a huge body and a lot of power.
A snake has no intention to harm people although it produces poison.
It is only because of people’s discrimination that a cow is helpful and a snake is harmful.
What would they think of people?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Nobody knows how long it will take for you to attain enlightenment. It may take some time, or you may get enlightened at the sound of birds tomorrow morning or at a word of my talk during the next retreat. However, don’t be impatient but pay attention only to your question. Impatience won’t help with but will disturb your practice by causing you to make more illusions. However, you should not be too relaxed. Practice just like a hen incubates eggs.
You must remember that everything is not dual but one. We are divided into a Westerner and an Easterner by our discrimination. They are only imaginary lines or labels produced by us. They are referred to as illusions because they are empty. The purpose of Zen meditation is to remove such illusions. Why do you keep the illusion, Westerner? That is going against your practice. Enlightenment is just to remove all the labels attached to you. Thinking that you can’t attain enlightenment because you are a Westerner is like thinking that Koreans can’t attain enlightenment because they are not Indian like the Buddha.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Student: “Yes, Sir.”
Master: “Do you know your wife?”
Student: “Of course, Sir. I share the same bed with her.”
Master: “How many hairs does she have on her head?”
Student: “I don’t know. How could I know that?”
Master: “Don’t say that you know your wife then.”
Commentary:
Don’t try to extract juice by squeezing dry sticks.
The number of the fingers of a hand is five.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “Waves never leave the sea.”
Commentary:
Winds never return to air because they never leave air.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
All you see, hear and feel is your true-self. If you think of anything else as your true-self, Buddha, that is none other than an illusion of your true-self.
People, in fact, are chasing after the illusion of Buddha created by their imagination while always facing Buddha. The problem is that you don’t recognise Him while being together with Him all the time and never having left each other. If you pursue anything else other than what you are confronting now, it is to add another illusion which prevents you from seeing your true-self.
The true-self is one or non-dual, and it is the origin or the root of everything including ourselves. We have divided the true-self into many with imaginary lines, all labels. In fact, we have drawn so many complicated lines that we can neither see nor imagine the original shape of the true-self without any lines. We have been addicted to such imaginary lines for such a long time that we cannot recognise the One now. However, no matter how many lines there are and no matter how complicated the lines are, we are still the true-self itself, have never left it and can’t leave it, whether we are aware of this truth or not. The purpose of Zen meditation is to realise the truth by seeing the intact shape of the true-self.
Student: “What is the Buddha, Sir?”
Master: “Why do you only see an old man and not the Buddha?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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