Dropping Ashes on The Buddha:The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn [Book Summary & Analysis]

Dropping Ashes on The Buddha: The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn. Compiled & edited by Stephen Mitchell. [Summary & Note Highlights]

A note to the reader: The purpose of this summary and analysis is to help you decide if it’s worth the time, money and effort reading the original book (if you haven’t already). The order of this content has been rearranged, making the message more cohesive and comprehensive.

This summary is meant to be a supplement to, and not a replacement for the original book. For further reading grab a copy of the original book at your favorite bookstore.

Alright, let’s get into it.

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Dropping Ashes on The Buddha: The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn Summary [Key Takeaways]

“A person 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 is the drawback that Zen Master Seung Sahn is posing to his American students who attend his Zen centers.

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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. —Zen Master Seung Sahn

Part 1

Zen is, Understanding Yourself

One day, a student at the Zen center said, “Some philosophers say this substance is energy, mind, God, or matter. Which is the truth?” Seung Sahn replied, “Four blind men visited the Zoo and the elephant. One blind man touched its side and said, “The elephant is like a wall.’ The next blind man touched its trunk and said, ‘The elephant is like a snake.’ The next blind man touched its leg and said, ‘ The elephant is like a column.’ The last blind man touched its tail and said, ‘The elephant is like a broom.’ Then the four blind men started to fight, each one believing that his opinion was the right one. Each only understood the part he’d touched; none of them understood the whole.

Zen Master Seung Sahn point out this analogy: “In a cookie factory, different cookies are baked in the shape of animals, cars, people, and airplanes. They all have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same dough and taste the same.”

“In the same way,” he writes, “all things in the universe—the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth, —have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance.”

“Thinking is suffering. Suffering means no world peace. Not thinking is not suffering. Not suffering means world peace. World peace is the Absolute.”—Zen Master Seung Sahn

 

The Zen Circle

• Before you were born, you were zero; now you are one; in the future, you will die and again become zero.
• All things have names and forms, but their names and forms come from emptiness and will return to emptiness.

Advice to a Beginner

• Be very careful about wanting enlightenment. This is a bad Zen sickness. When you keep a clear mind, the whole universe is you, you are the universe. So you have already attained enlightenment.
• Wanting enlightenment is only thinking. Already the truth is right before your eyes.
• The Absolute is true emptiness. True emptiness is before thinking.
• Originally clear mind has no name and no form. There are no words for it. So, if you open your mouth, you are wrong.
• It is impossible to explain clear mind in words, so the Zen Masters used shouting and hitting and holding up one finger to explain.
• If I make your life Zen-like, then your life becomes Zen-like. If somebody else makes your life a suffering, then your life becomes suffering.
• Now you think that the world is wonderful. Your mind is wonderful, so the whole world is wonderful.

Inside, Outside

You must keep your mind big. Then you will understand that God, Buddha, and the whole universe fit into your mind. Then, holding up his watch, Soen-sa said, “Is this watch outside your mind or inside it?” “Outside.” The student replied.

If you say ‘outside,’ replied the Zen Master, I will hit you.

If you say ‘inside,’ I will still hit you.”

“I don’t care,” affirmed the student, “I’ll still say it’s outside!”

“If it’s outside,” the teacher said, “how do you know that this is a watch?

Does your mind fly out of your eyes and touch the watch and fly back inside?”

“I see the watch.” Remarked the student, “I’m inside, and the watch is outside.”

There were a few moments of silence…

Then the Master said, “Don’t make inside or outside. Okay?”

The student, still looking doubtful, then bowed.

Who Needs a Zen Master

• If you are thinking, it is necessary. If you have cut off all thinking, it is not necessary.
• If your mind is clear, a Zen Master is not necessary, Buddha is not necessary, all things are not necessary.

You Are Attached!

You are attached to name and form.

All things that appear in the world are transient. If you view all appearances as non-appearance, then you will see the true nature of everything.

The truth is, if you say this is a cup, you are attached to name and form.

All things have names and forms. But who made these names, who made these forms? The sun doesn’t say ‘My name is sun.’ People say, ‘This is the sun, this is mountain, this is river.’ Then who made names and forms? They are made by thinking.”

You made thinking.

Original mind is before thinking.

In clear mind there is no inside and no outside. So, if you cut off all thinking, the universe and you become one. If you are thinking, they are different. Zen mind is everyday mind. That’s all.

About The Heart Sutra

Student: The first part of the sutra says, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” But the second part says, “In emptiness, there is no form.” One sentence says they are identical, one sentence says they are not. I think I understand, but can you say something about this?

Master: Nirvana is like an empty mirror—no good, no bad, no color, no form, no anything. But when yellow comes, the mirror reflects yellow. When red comes, the mirror becomes red.

In Nirvana, there are no people, no Buddhas, no suffering, no happiness—only quiet.

When you pass 180, you arrive at 360.

Then everything is clear.

Happiness is happiness; suffering is suffering.

So what is the true meaning of the Heart Sutra? Here is a poem for you:

After so much suffering in Nirvanic castles,

what a joy to sink into this world!

People wearing silk clothes,

Buddhas dressed in rags,

A wooden man walking in the evening,

A stone woman with a bonnet—

for the first time you will see,

when you can cup your hands

and pick up the moon as it floats.

on the still surface of a pond.

Not Difficult, Not Easy

• If you want the easy way, this is desire. But if you want the difficult way, this too is desire. Zen is letting go of all your desires. Then you will find the true way.
• If you make difficult, it is difficult. If you make easy, it is easy. But if you don’t think, the truth is just as it is.

What to Do About Noise

• Noisy and quiet are made by your thinking. If you think something is noisy, it is noisy; if you think something is quiet, it is quiet. Noisy is not noisy, quiet is not quiet. True quiet is neither quiet nor noisy. If you listen to the traffic with a clear mind, without any concepts, it is not noisy, it is only what it is.

You Must Become Completely Crazy

• Keep your mind as if you were already dead. Then all your attachments will disappear, and it won’t matter whether you study Zen or not.
• The Heart Sutra says that in emptiness there are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. without my six senses I have no hindrance. So, if I am already dead, seeing is not seeing, hearing is not hearing.
• Without thinking, what are you? –nothing.
• When you cut off all thinking, you erase all these names and forms and return to your original emptiness.
• Don’t know mind is empty mind. This is your true self. So always keep don’t know mind.
• If a man kills his desire to search, he will surely find what he is searching for.
• when you are hungry, eat; when you are tired, rest.

Kong-an Blues

• A kong-an is like a finger pointing at the moon. If you are attached to the finger, you don’t understand the direction, so you cannot see the moon. If you are not attached to any kong-an, then you will understand the direction.
• If you understand “don’t know,” you will understand all kong-ans and you will soon understand “like this.”
• If you are not attached to words, the don’t-know mind is the same.
• Only keep don’t know mind. Don’t be attached to words. This don’t-know is yourself. Your situation, your condition, your opinions—throw them all away.

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About Zen Master, Seungsahn Haengwon

Seungsahn Haengwon (August 1, 1927 – November 30, 2004), born Duk-In Lee, was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen.

He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early Korean Zen masters to settle in the United States.

He opened many temples and practice groups across the globe, was known for his charismatic style and direct presentation of Zen, which was well tailored for the Western audience, and his many correspondences with them through letters. He died in Seoul, South Korea, at age 77.

About the Editor: Stephen Mitchell has written many books, including a translation of the bestselling, The Tao Te Ching, The Gospel According to Jesus and Gilgamesh. You can read extensive excerpts from all of his books on his website, www.stephenmitchellbooks.com

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For more, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, click here for Part 2 and we’ll see you on the flip side.

Thank you for reading.

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