A. Master: “A room”
Commentary:
To take you out of a room is not difficult.
However, it is very difficult to take the room out of you.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Tag: true nature
Q209. I was advised to forget and give up ‘self’ by my former master. How can I do it?
A. If you are to forget and give up yourself, try to know what ‘yourself’ is prior to seeking to forget and give it up. One of the most common mistakes we make in Zen meditation is trying to do something we don’t know at all. The reason why you find it difficult to forget and give up yourself is that you don’t know what yourself is.
How could you forget and give up yourself without knowing what it is? Make every effort to realise what ‘yourself’ is, which is the core of Zen meditation. If you succeed in realising what it is, you will become oneness with the whole universe and realise that there is nothing worth being labelled as ‘you’; then, there is nothing to forget or give up.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q208. During my practice, I sometimes feel fear, as well as joy and bliss. Is this normal? How should I react to it?
A. It’s a very common feeling that you can experience during practice. Whatever scenes and whatever emotions, good or bad, neither avoid nor follow them. They are all illusions. Just try to trace them back to the root from which they come. The purpose of Zen meditation is to realise what the root of all illusions is. It is because you are making a little progress that you have such feelings. From now on, do think of them as a gate to the final goal, your true-self, and your practice will make big progress.
Student: “Sir, I feel fear during my practice.”
Master: “That is an action of your true-self.”
Student: “You said that fear is an illusion.”
Master: “It is when you don’t know that fear is an action of your true-self that it is an illusion.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q207. Student: “Can I hold the true-self in my hand?”
A. Master: “You can’t let go of it even for a moment.”
Commentary:
The sharpest sword can’t cut itself.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q206. Isn’t Zen meditation nihilistic?
A. People might think that Zen meditation leads people to nihilism, or pessimism because it says that everything is empty. However, when Zen says that everything is empty, it doesn’t mean that everything is useless like rubbish and that you should throw it away, but it means that the illusions of everything, which are its names and images, are empty. Zen helps you to realise the truth that we are more than what we think we are, that is, we are perfection itself, eternity itself, beauty itself, happiness itself and holiness itself. Also, Zen meditation leads you to see the essence of everything, not mere illusions of it, which allows you to realise and enjoy the real value of all that you have overlooked so far.
Let me take a metaphor of a child who is playing with two golden toys: One of them is a very ugly devil-shaped monster and the other is a very handsome, brave-looking lion. The child is attracted only by the form of the handsome lion, without realising the value of the gold of which the lion is made. Likewise, he, if not disliking the monster, is apt to like it less than the lion since he is ignorant of the real value of it and the fact that both are the same in essence. All he knows about the toys is that they are a handsome brave looking lion and an ugly, cruel-looking monster. When he regards the names and the images of the toys as their totality, without realising the value of gold, he is said to be trapped in illusions of them.
When I say that everything is empty, I mean that the illusions of everything are empty. When saying that the lion is empty, I mean that the illusions of the toy lion are empty. We, grown-ups, cherish the toys more than the child does because we know the essence of them behind their illusions, such as their names and images, that is, we realise that they are made of gold. Also, we don’t value the monster less than the lion since we know both of them are the same in essence. When I, saying that everything is empty, tell you to remove illusions, I am encouraging you to see the gold, not the images of the toys.
However, I don’t mean that we should not pay any attention to the names and the images which are called illusions. They are very important and indispensable to maintain our reality of life. In fact, to remember as many of them as exactly as possible and apply them well to each situation of our lives, might be essential elements for successful living. I mean that you should realise that the names and the images of a thing are not the unchangeable essence of it, but mere illusions that can change anytime. I encourage you to see the essence of all things, including yourself.
Then, you can realise the truth that an illusion is the truth itself and an illusion is not separate and different from the truth, just as the toy lion is not separate and different from gold. Afterwards, all things in your life look more important and more beautiful than they used to. In the end, your life becomes happier and more meaningful than before.
King: (Showing an apple and a tomato to a master) “Sir, why do they
have different names from each other even though they are the
same size and colour?”
Master: “Your Majesty, it’s like you wear official robes during your office
hours and change into everyday garments after work.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q205. How do the enlightened deal with so-called illusions?
A. I would like to compare their life to a king’s life.
He lives as a king all the time while his men are always replaced.
He doesn’t live where others live,
Nor does he go where others go,
Not because he doesn’t like them or he finds it difficult to live with them,
But because they come to him whenever he needs them and go back when they finish their work.
Sometimes when some of them stay there longer, he is not bothered by them because he knows that they are his men.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q204. Student: “How is a tree when it withers and all its leaves are fallen?”
A. Master: “It totally reveals its body.”
Commentary:
It stands on the Earth supporting the sky and filling the universe to the full.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q203. If I find myself affixed to a single path to truth: the path of prayer and praise, or the path of kindness and love, or the path of wisdom and meditation, or any other path of a singular mode, am I going in the wrong way?
A. No, you are not wrong at all. Feel free to choose any path that appeals to you and concentrate on seeking the root from which the path comes. Whichever path you may take, you will come to take the same way after all because they are from the same root, the truth that is not dual.
We should realise the fact that all other things, as well as all paths, are from the same root even though they may look different from each other. The root is the very truth. To realise what the root is should be the final goal of all religions.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q202. Is it okay to go on with my worldly job in order to make money, while seeking to attain enlightenment?
A. Enlightenment is to realise that everything is empty and so there is nothing to gain or lose. That means that there is nothing that you should or shouldn’t do in the world. Zen meditation is to try realise the truth.
The key point is not what you are doing for a living, but whether or not you try to realise the truth in the right way, that is, try to realise what you are when your body is not you. If you try to realise what makes your body do your work while doing it, that is good practice. In terms of that, your job can be a good gate to enlightenment. Work and practice are one to a good Zen man.
Student: “What is the true-self?”
Master: “It is what is asking me the question now.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q201. Student: “What is the true-self?”
A. Master: “Do good things and don’t do bad things.”
Student: “Even a five-year-old child could know it.”
Master: “Even though a five-year-old child can say it,
even an eighty-year-old man can’t easily put it into practice.”
Commentary:
Don’t try to distinguish good things from bad things, but try to realise what their root is.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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