true – Page 8 – Zen Fools

final goal, illusion, Meditation, true self, Truth, Zen

Q116. How can I remove illusions that cover my true-self?

September 24, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Even though most people think illusions cover the true-self and try to see it by removing them, they in fact don’t know what illusions are and what the true-self is. In brief, they can’t distinguish illusions from the true-self because they’ve never seen the true-self. So they are not aware of the truth that the illusions are no other than the true-self.

Whatever you think of as illusions, don’t try to remove them by force. You can’t eliminate them since they are the true-self. Don’t strive to attain your true-self. You can’t not get it because it is already with you.
Don’t think we are looking for something that is hidden in a secret place we don’t know just like hunting for treasure on a treasure island. We are trying to ascertain in person the fact that we are the truth, i.e. eternity itself. Never try to remove illusions, but try to find the root from which they come.
The moment you find it, all the illusions will turn into the truth, your true-self.
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, Meditation, self, true self, Zen

Q112. Why do you explain the true-self to us while saying it can’t be expressed with words?

September 15, 2015September 15, 2015 Zen Fools

A. It’s true that it can’t be explained with words, but paradoxically we can’t avoid using words to express it.
When masters, saying that it can’t be expressed with words, use words, we should know that they have another intention in using their words besides using them as a language. This alternative intention is primary and the language is secondary. So masters used to advise their students not to follow the secondary forsaking the primary. You should know their teachings are not the true-self itself, but signposts to the true-self.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, meditaion, Meditation, self, true self, Truth, Zen

Q109. If everything is the true-self, can I say that I am looking at my true-self while looking at this cup?

September 8, 2015 Zen Fools

A. No, you can’t, because you are looking at a cup. As long as you see a cup as a cup, you can’t say that you see your true-self. Seeing a cup as a cup means seeing a car as a car and a person as a person, which means that all the labels or lines dividing one into many still remain. Your eyes, it is said, are covered with illusions or you are an open-eyed blind man.

The Buddha said, “If you realise that form is not form, you will see your true-self.”
Being able to see the cup as non-cup means that a car is not a car, a person is not a person any more to you and you are not you because all illusions have disappeared. The disappearance of all illusions means the disappearance of the lines that divide one into many. When all the lines disappear, many become one. There is no seer and no seen and no speaker and no listener in the situation where a cup is not a cup. It can be said that the seer is one with the seen, and speaker is one with the listener. There is nothing to mention, and speech is not speech any more here. Then everything, it is said, is the true-self. To experience this through your body in person is to realise the true-self.
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Meditation, self, true self, Truth, Zen

Q101. Why can’t we see our true-self?

August 20, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Don’t think that you can’t see it. You are seeing and hearing it even at this moment. You can’t avoid seeing and hearing it. The key problem is that you can’t discern it because your eyes and ears are covered with illusions. Never think that your true-self is somewhere else out of your reach. There is nothing that doesn’t belong to your true-self. Even you yourself are not an exception. Whatever you do, cry, smile, commit a cruel crime or do good deeds, they are all actions of your true-self. In summary, you can no more get away from your true-self even for a moment than you can get away from the universe. So if you chase it for a moment, it is said, you will be going the wrong way.

Student: “What is the true-self like, Sir?”
Master: “Why do you ask me the taste of your saliva in your mouth?”
©Boo Ahm

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, self, true self, Truth, Zen

Q82. I was told to treasure my True-self. How can I treasure it well?

July 7, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In order to treasure your True-self, you, above all, should know exactly what it is. How can you treasure your True-self, if you don’t know it? You can’t treasure it whatever you may do unless you realise it through experience. However, once you realise your True-self through experience, you don’t have to try to treasure it because it is so perfect that there is nothing you can do for it. You can neither throw it away, treasure, destroy, purify nor protect it. It is always perfect without any change, regardless of whether you do something for it or not. If you have any intention to do something to treasure or protect it, it is also rather an illusion to stain it. So the best way to treasure your True-self is to realise it through experience.

©Boo Ahm

Buddhism, Enlightenment, Meditation, One, Practice, Zen

Q16. How does Zen help us connect with the present moment and with people around us?

June 5, 2015June 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Why can’t we connect ourselves with the present moment and people around us now? The key problem is that we can’t see ourselves as we are, that is, we don’t know what we are. Therefore we can’t see things as they are, and we don’t know what the present moment is and what people around us are. How can you connect yourself with them when you don’t know not only yourself but also them? What you need now is to try to see yourself as you are. When you can see yourself as you are, you can see things as they are. Then you are free to connect yourself with the present moment and with people around you, or separate yourself from them.