Tag: what am I?

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, God, Happiness, Meditation, Mind, One, Practice, Prayer, Religion, root, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

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?

Zen Fools

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.

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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

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

Q202. Is it okay to go on with my worldly job in order to make money, while seeking to attain enlightenment?

Zen Fools

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.

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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

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Mind, Practice, root, self, student, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q201. Student: “What is the true-self?”

Zen Fools

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.”

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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

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

Q200. How can I discard ignorance and attain wisdom?

Zen Fools

A. Don’t try in vain to abandon one and attain the other. It’s like trying to discard the left and attain only the right. In fact, both are one when you know them. They only look separate and different from each other when you don’t know them. Try to realise what the ignorance is that you think you have, rather than striving to attain the wisdom you think you don’t have. Wisdom is none other than to know what ignorance is. Becoming Buddha is realising what a sentient being is.

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Student: “What shall I do when I have a thief in my house?”

Master: “Once you know him, he is not an enemy any longer.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q199. I am always so disturbed by the noises of my family members during my practice that I end up getting upset and spoiling my practice. What can I do to solve this problem?

Zen Fools

A. Don’t think of them as obstructions but as helpers. Your idea is like complaining that the wind is preventing you from finding air when you are diligently looking for air. The wind can be likened to your family members and air to your final goal. In fact, they are what you are looking for even though they look different from what you are seeking. They only look so because you can’t see them as they are.

 

Everything is the gate to enlightenment. If you can see only a single thing, whatever it is, as it is, you will reach the final goal. Your family members are also the gate to enlightenment even though they appear otherwise. Ask yourself what makes your body hear the noises and makes your body get angry. Ask yourself what they are when their bodies are not them and what causes their bodies to make such noises. Sooner or later, you might feel more grateful rather than angry with them. If you can find the correct answer to either of these two questions, you can be said to have attained enlightenment.

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Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “There is nothing that is not it.”

Student: “Why can’t I see it?”

Master: “Because you seek something else other than what you see and hear.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q198. Student: “What is your true-self?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “I don’t have such a thing.”

Student: “Then, what are you when your body is not you?”

Master: “True-self.”

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Commentary:

A wrapper, however attractive, is harmful to your health if you eat it.

Throw it away and eat only the contents.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q197. How can we remove our illusions like removing mud from muddy water in a bottle?

Zen Fools

A. To remove our illusions, like removing mud from muddy water, doesn’t mean to remove them from our mind to another place in the same way that we might move things from one place to another; rather, we should realise that illusions are not real but empty. In other words, it is necessary to realise that what we think of as mud is not mud at all, but just water itself; it only appears as mud due to our discrimination. Trying to move illusions to another place is like trying to remove lion’s horn. The only way to remove lion’s horn is just to realise that no lion has a horn.

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Student: “How can I remove my illusions?”

Master: “Where are they?”

Student: “They are in my mind.”

Master: “Where is your mind?”

Student: “I don’t know.”

Master: “Try to find your mind before trying to remove your illusions.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q193. Today, I thought that trying to attain enlightenment in any way is not correct. It is dualistic. There is still an ‘I’ that is trying and an illusion of gaining something. Is this correct?

Zen Fools

A. You are absolutely right. When we say ‘trying to attain enlightenment’, it can look and sound dual because there is ‘I’ and there is ‘enlightenment’ as you mentioned. However, I can’t help but explain it in this way because there is still enlightenment for you to attain until you realise that everything is empty and that there is nothing to gain or lose. Attaining enlightenment doesn’t mean that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’ to be gained, but rather that you should realise everything is empty and there is no duality.

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I talk you into attaining enlightenment because you have not realised the truth of non-duality through experience even though you have a lot of knowledge about non-duality and emptiness, and say that everything is empty and there is no enlightenment to attain. Strictly speaking, only when you realise the truth that everything is empty can you say that there is no enlightenment to attain, because there is nothing to realise any more. The reason why I say that you should attain enlightenment is not that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’, but that you should realise the truth that everything is empty and non-dual and so there is no enlightenment to attain.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q192. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”

Zen Fools

A.Master: “What are you when your body is not you?”

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Commentary:

If you are to grasp the Master’s kind answer, you should listen with your ears closed.

 

emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, mindfulness, Practice, present, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q190. Why do illusions arise?

Zen Fools

A. They arise because you don’t know what they are. In fact, you don’t know what an illusion is even though you often mention it. You can’t remove or stop it from showing up because you don’t know what it is.

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In fact, there are no illusions at all. There is only the truth, or the true-self. The problem is that you are mistaking the truth for illusions. Enlightenment is to realise that all illusions are the truth, or the true-self. As the Diamond Sutra says, to realise that a flower is not a flower, but emptiness, is enlightenment. To realise that an illusion is not real, but empty, is enlightenment. Realising that an illusion is not an illusion, but the truth, or the true-self is enlightenment.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway