Tag: zen master

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Meditation, moment, Photography, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q325. At the moment I die or when I fall asleep, does the world cease to exist?

Zen Fools

A. Who, or what, dies or falls asleep when you die or sleep? When everything is empty, which of ‘I’, ‘death’, ‘sleep’ and ‘the world’ is not empty? Saying that everything is empty means that all of them are empty, too.

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However, when your sleep is not empty, the places such as your bed, your room et cetera where you sleep are not empty, either. When they are not empty, things and people related to the places are also not empty. When the things and people related to the places are not empty, other things and people related to these things and these people are also not empty. If we keep expanding in this way, we reach the conclusion that if your sleep is not empty, all the world is not empty, either. So, ancient masters would say that when even a grain of dust is not empty but real, all the world is real.

 

Therefore, saying that the world is empty but your sleep isn’t makes no sense at all. When your sleep is not empty but real, the world is also real. When your sleep is empty, the world is empty. To sum up, when you think that you fall asleep, the world exists. When you, however, think that your falling asleep is empty, the world is empty as well. Whatever things may happen, whether they exist or not depends upon your view.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, illusion, Koan, master, Meditation, One, Photography, Practice, root, student, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q324. Student: “How should I cultivate my plot of mind?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “Don’t try to pull out weeds by force, and never let crops take root.”

Student: “Why shouldn’t I pull weeds out by force?”

Master: “Because they become crops when not taking root.”

Student: “Why shouldn’t I let crops take root?”

Master: “Because they become weeds when taking root.”

Student: “What shall I do in order to carry out your teaching?”

Master: “Keep your plot free from light and shade.”

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Commentary:

Your plot is originally free from light and shade unless you make them.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, master, Meditation, Mind, moment, now, One, Photography, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q323. How long do I have to wait to see my true-self?

Zen Fools

A. Don’t wait for it. A waiting mind can rather blind you. See it at this moment. While you spend time here waiting for it, it is also waiting for you in the same place.

 

An ancient master would say, “A foolish man doesn’t realise the true-self although he is with it all his life, just like a spoon or a fork doesn’t know the taste of food. However, a wise man realises the truth as soon as he listens to a Dharma talk, just like a tongue senses the taste of food.”

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You have lived on it all your life, and you are chewing it every moment, even at this moment when you read this writing. Why don’t you see it at this moment?

 

Student: “What is the true-self, Sir?”

Master: “You already said it.”

Student: “What is it like?”

Master: “You already showed it.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, master, Meditation, Photography, Practice, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

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

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.

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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, Meditation, Photography, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q321. Student: “What is emptiness?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “If I answer your question, I become menial.”

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Commentary:

Don’t blame the master for not answering.

He is soiling himself to answer the question.

What he is worried about is not his becoming menial but your becoming menial.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Photography, true self, Uncategorized, Zen

Q320. If I attained Enlightenment, would it be useful in my life? And if I did find it useful, would it really be Enlightenment?

Zen Fools

A. Enlightenment means realising that everything is empty, which can be compared to recovering from a chronic illness.

 

When you have recovered from a chronic disease that has tortured you all your life, your life will be so different from and better than your previous life that you may even feel as if you were reborn and living a new life. Once you’ve become perfectly well, however, recovery is neither useful nor necessary to you any more since you don’t need it any longer.

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In the same way, enlightenment is to the enlightened as recovery is to the healthy. Enlightenment is useful to unenlightened people, but it is nothing to the enlightened, just like getting well is useful only to patients, but just a useless phrase to the healthy. Finding enlightenment useful to yourself means that you are still not enlightened, just as feeling the need to get well means that you are still not perfectly recovered. Buddha said, “How foolish you would be if you should keep the boat on your back after crossing a river!”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, master, Meditation, Photography, Practice, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q319. Many people say that they know what enlightenment is and that their way is the true way. How can we tell if a teacher is really enlightened or not?

Zen Fools

A. It is true that it is almost impossible for unenlightened people to tell whether a teacher is enlightened or not. Only the enlightened have an eye for the enlightened, just like only those who know maths can tell if a maths teacher has real capacity. However, I am going to tell you a few essential requirements that I think a teacher should be equipped with as a teacher, regardless of whether he is enlightened or not.

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A teacher should:

  1. Be able to give you a clear definition about what enlightenment, the final goal is.
  2. Be able to give you a persuasive explanation about what his way of practice has to do with enlightenment, or why you should practice in his way.
  3. Be able to give you sufficient Dharma talks explaining the True-self and how to see it in detail.
  4. Welcome all your questions and give you satisfactory answers to them.

 

If someone satisfies all these conditions, he is worth following as a teacher, I think.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, Meditation, Photography, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q318. Student: “What is the quickest way to the true-self?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “Don’t ask me where your mouth is.”

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Commentary:

It is standing on its single foot facing you.

You don’t forsake it.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, illusion, Meditation, Photography, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q317. What does ‘an illusion is the true-self’ mean?

Zen Fools

A. An illusion is to the true-self as wind is to air. We divide air into many kinds of winds such as breeze, gale, waft, gust and so on. No matter how many kinds of winds there may be, the essence of them is the same, air. In the same way, we divide the true-self, emptiness into many forms by drawing imaginary lines or through labelling, and the forms are referred to as illusions. However many forms there may be, the essence of them is the true-self, emptiness. Therefore, it means that all illusions are true-self, just as all winds are air.

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Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “An illusion is.”

Student: “What is an illusion?”

Master: “The true-self is.”

Student: “What is the difference between them?”

Master: “The difference is not between them at all but only in your view because they are one.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, illusion, master, Meditation, Photography, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q316. How can we neither be stained by dirt while in dirt nor be attached to purity when we happen to face it?

Zen Fools

A. Interpreted more simply, this question means “How can we live without being deluded by illusions and without being attached to enlightenment when we happen to get it?” It is possible to know, through perfect realisation of the truth, that everything is empty. In other words, when everything is empty, we should realise that not only illusions but also enlightenment is empty.

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If we are attached to enlightenment after getting enlightened, this is making another illusion, just like making a new form of clay after destroying an old form of clay. You should realise that when everything is empty, you are emptiness itself, and then there is nothing to gain or lose. So, an ancient master said, “Don’t be stained by purity.” when his student asked him how he could remain pure. In other words, you should neither be deluded by illusions while living amid them nor be attached to emptiness.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway