universe – Page 2

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, root, self, student, suffering, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q226. How can I motivate myself to practise Zen when I feel that there is nothing to attain?

July 13, 2016July 13, 2016 Zen Fools

A. When we say that there is nothing to attain, this means that everything is so perfect that there is nothing to be desired. That is, there is nothing to attain because all is already yours. Our problem is that we are not aware of the truth and struggle to make our life perfect in our own way. In other words, we are like a rich beggar who is struggling for a living, not knowing that he has great wealth in his bank account.

Student: “Sir, why is there nothing to attain?”

Master: “Because everything is already yours.”

Student: “Why do I have to practise Zen when there is nothing to attain?”

Master: “Because there is still something for you to attain.”

Student: “You said that there is nothing to attain because everything is already mine. Why do you say there is still something for me to attain now?”

Master: “Because you don’t know the fact that everything is already yours. The purpose of Zen is to enable you to confirm the fact that all is already yours. It is like no matter how much money you may have in your bank account, you can’t be said to be rich if you, not conscious of the fact that you have the money, still struggle to make a living.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, desire, emptiness, empty, final goal, God, illusion, Meditation, Prayer, root, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q211. Why doesn’t God listen to me when I cry to him for help?

June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 Zen Fools

A. It is not that God doesn’t listen to you, but that you are deaf to him because you are involved in listening to only your familiar noises. It is not that he hides himself from you, but that you are blind to him since you are preoccupied in keeping company only with familiar figures. He sometimes whispers and sometimes shouts. He sometimes shakes you, from time to time pushes you and once in a while pulls you. It is not God but you that are to blame for not receiving help from him. If you can cut off all images and names, his voice and figure will sound and look clear to you.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, Practice, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q209. I was advised to forget and give up ‘self’ by my former master. How can I do it?

June 3, 2016 Zen Fools

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

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, mindfulness, Practice, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q204. Student: “How is a tree when it withers and all its leaves are fallen?”

May 22, 2016May 22, 2016 Zen Fools

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

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, God, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Mind, moment, present, Religion, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q194. I feel that I don’t have a goal to pursue anymore. What I already am is the final goal. I just have to keep going until what I am reveals itself. And it will reveal itself in everything else too. Is this correct?

April 28, 2016 Zen Fools

A. If you can feel that way, your practice can be said to have reached a stable stage. You are doing really well. As you said, what you are is the final goal, nothing else and nowhere else. The problem is that you don’t know what you are. You should know that it is not hidden but already revealing itself even at this moment.

The moment you realise, or see that ‘what you are’ is revealing itself, you become oneness with the whole universe without any exception. Then, you are your own Lord throughout heaven and earth because there is nothing that is not you in the universe. I do hope that you will realise it soon.

©Boo Ahm

Koan, Meditation, self, Truth, Zen

Q72. What are you when your body is not you?

June 16, 2015June 16, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Don’t eat lees but drink wine.

Commentary:
What is wine? And what are the lees?
Don’t make believe that you drank wine after eating the lees.
He who eats the lees plays a drunken frenzy.
He who drinks wine steals the whole universe.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.

Enlightenment, Meditation, One, Truth, Zen

Q48. When practising at home alone, how can I know whether I am doing well or not? Can I feel any change when doing well as told?

June 9, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In the beginning you might feel it difficult to focus on your question, but it becomes easier and easier over time and the question will be internalised sooner or later.
Once your question becomes one with you, your practice feels very easy and even interesting, and you feel as if it is going on of itself, with little effort. Whatever you do, you feel your work is not separate from your practice, when we say work and practice are one. Then you start to feel what you couldn’t feel before: see and hear what you couldn’t see and hear before. For example, you can be surprised or shocked to hear a sound from a bird, a dog, a car, a person, the wind or anything. On hearing a sound, not knowing what it means, you feel it as the sound of the truth, feeling yourself becoming one with the universe. Sometimes you may feel as if your body has disappeared or collapsed down, becoming one with the universe. You are so happy at that moment that you might burst into tears.

The feeling doesn’t last long but your practice seems to go better and you get more confidence. Experiencing such changes, you come to grasp the words ‘see with ears and hear with eyes’. What is most important here is that you must not be attached to them, nor must you try to avoid them.
No matter how good or marvellous things are that you may experience; you must not attach yourself to them, keeping it in mind that it is also no more than an illusion. You should not be attached even to enlightenment.