A. Enlightenment.
Commentary:
Master gave food that was too rich.
It is impossible to swallow or spit it out.
Don’t say that your master said ‘enlightenment’.
You will be laughed at by others.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Do nothing.
Commentary:
You couldn’t avoid seeing it if you could do nothing.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Does the air move the wind or does the wind move the air? The air is to the wind what your mind is to you. You and your mind are not two but one just like the air and the wind are. As the action of the air is the wind, so the action of your mind is you.
What matters here is that you think that you are separate from your mind and that you should cultivate your mind, just like taming a wild animal. Trying to cultivate your mind can make matters worse because it implies that you and your mind are separate from each other and the former tries to tame the latter. This is a very common mistake that people make because they don’t know what their mind is.
You should try to know what your mind is before trying to control it. How can you do that while not knowing what it is? The moment you realise your mind, you will feel oneness with your mind just as the wind is with the air.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. It has neither a head nor a tail.
Commentary:
Do you wonder how it can see and speak when it has no head?
It has nothing to see and speak of when it has no head.
A wind finds its way even though it has no eyes,
Makes sounds even though it has no mouth,
And shakes things even though it has no hands.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. I never discourage anyone from doing anything. Whatever you do is up to you. I am only asking you to try to realise who or what does it when you do something. You very often don’t know what you are doing since you don’t know who is doing it. How could you get your thing done well when not knowing who is doing what?
I never ask you stop going to church or praying to God but encourage you to know what leads your body to church when you go to church and what makes your body pray when you pray to God.
Just ask yourself what is making your body do what you do, whatever you may do.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. True-self.
Commentary:
Step back, step back. It is really dangerous.
It must be good medicine,
but its attractive appearance might lure you into an incurable disease.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Come again tomorrow.
I can’t tell you the answer today because I am not well today.
Commentary:
Come again tomorrow?
Don’t be fooled any more by the master.
His answer would be the same even if you were to come to him hundreds of times again.
If I were given the answer, I would say to him, “I am not asking him who is not well.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “All the things in the universe come from it.”
Student: “Then, are you from it, too?”
Master: “Of course.”
Student: “You are from your mother, Sir.”
Master: “My mother is also from it.”
Commentary:
One arrow and many targets.
Every time the student opens his mouth, targets multiply.
Which one should he shoot?
Take a close look at the point of your arrow.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Don’t look in the wrong place for the horse that you are riding.
Commentary:
Listen carefully to what you say, and watch carefully what you do.
Your sayings and doings are from it.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Zen Fools 