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Q322. The main idea of Buddhism is ‘non-I’. What on earth are we if there is no ‘I’?

February 21, 2017February 21, 2017 Zen Fools

A. Saying that there is no ‘I’ means not that there is no ‘I’, but that there is nothing specific worth mentioning as ‘I’. However, if there were no your ‘I’, what would get your body to read this writing now?

In fact, ‘non-I’ is another expression of the fact that everything is empty and one. When everything is empty, everything is oneness as emptiness. When everything including you is oneness, oneness is part of you and you are part of oneness. When everything including you is oneness, there is nothing else but oneness. Then oneness is all and nothing else. This means that all is you and there is nothing else that is not you since oneness is you. When there is nothing else but you, all is you and you are all.

In order for you to become you, there must be someone or something else that is not you that you can be discriminated from. When all is you and you are all, you are not you any more, just as red is not red any more when all is red. So ‘non-I’ means not that there is no ‘I’ at all but that there is only ‘I’. So, Buddha said, “In the whole universe, only I exist” when he was born.

Student: “What happens when there is no ‘I’?”

Master: “All becomes you.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q210. Student: “What is the true-self?”

June 5, 2016June 4, 2016 Zen Fools

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

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