Preface
Zen teaching is like a window. At first, we look at it, and see only the dim reflection of our own face. But as we learn, and our vision becomes clear, the teaching becomes clear. Until at last it is perfectly transparent. We see through it. We see all things: our own face.
This book is a collection of Seung Sahn Soen-sa's[1] teaching in America-dialogues, stories, formal Zen interviews, Dharma Speeches, and letters. The words arise as situations arise. Each situation is a game, and a matter of life and death.
The title comes from a problem which Soen-sa gives his students for homework. It goes like this:
Somebody comes into the Zen Center with a lighted cigarette, walks up to the Buddha-statue, blows smoke in its face and drops ashes on its lap. You are standing there. What can you do?
This person has understood that nothing is holy or unholy. All things in the universe are one, and that one is himself. So everything is permitted. Ashes are Buddha; Buddha is ashes. The cigarette flicks. The ashes drop.
But his understanding is only partial. He has not yet understood that all things are just as they are. Holy is holy; unholy is unholy. Ashes are ashes; Buddha is Buddha. He is very attached to emptiness and to his own understanding, and he thinks that all words are useless. So whatever you say to him, however you try to teach him, he will hit you. If you try to teach by hitting him back, he will hit you even harder. (He is very strong.)
How can you cure his delusion?
Since you are a Zen student, you are also a Zen teacher. You are walking on the path of the Bodhisattva, whose vow is to save all beings from their suffering. This person is suffering from a mistaken view. You must help him understand the truth: that all things in the universe are just as they are.
How can you do this?
If you find the answer to this problem, you will find the true way.
Note
[1]Zen Master Seung Sahn is properly written about as Soen-sa ("Zen Master"; equivalent to Zenji in Japanese) and addressed or spoken about as Soen-sa-nim (nim being the honorific particle in Korean). Soen is pronounced somewhat like "sun," but further back in the throat; sa rhymes with "ha"; nim sounds like "neem." In his name, the vowel in "Seung" is like the vowel in "look."
