It is impossible, and ultimately foolish, to try to define Seon. Yet this must be addressed because many people mistakenly believe that all spiritual teachings are simply different expressions of the same truth.
Although these traditions often stand upon the broad foundation of Buddhism, they are not saying the same thing. To the world, however, they gradually appear to sound alike, and in time people become convinced that they are one and the same.
Seon is not about learning, admiring, or preserving the thoughts and opinions of any particular person. In fact, it is the very opposite.
Ironically, even among those following other approaches, genuine awakening can and does occur. There is nothing strange about this. Every experience in life can become the very hint that awakens one from the dream. Just as a dreamer does not awaken only through one special event within the dream, but can awaken through any circumstance that appears in the dream, awakening may arise anywhere.
The real issue begins after awakening.
The experience of awakening is deeply personal, yet within oneself it is nothing less than a complete reversal of reality. Inside and outside exchange places. Subject and object collapse. Every boundary by which life was previously understood disappears.
Then comes the danger.
Unable to express what cannot be put into words, one may cover that realization with personal interpretations, dismiss it as merely an unusual experience, or allow those who have never awakened to explain it. When this happens, the truth becomes distorted, and one eventually comes to follow a person, an ideology, or a system of thought instead of the truth itself.
Laozi said that because it cannot be named, it is called the Tao.
Bodhidharma taught that everything is your own mind.
An unnamed Seon master said, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”
How much more directly could they have spoken?
After hearing these words, can one still insist that all teachers who are admired as spiritual masters are saying essentially the same thing?
To say they are merely "similar" is already to miss the point. Similarity belongs to appearances. Seon points beyond appearances altogether.
This confusion is not unique to our time. The records of the Seon masters repeatedly warn that throughout history there have been intelligent people who mistook intellectual understanding for awakening, and even those who truly awakened sometimes became trapped by their own interpretations afterward.
For this reason the masters advised:
"If you have seen the truth, even for a single moment, seek out a clear eyed master."
Not because the master possesses the truth for you, but because self deception after awakening is more subtle than self deception before awakening.
Today I see people quoting sages, borrowing profound words, and convincing themselves that they stand alongside those who truly awakened. With eloquence they attract others, speaking of harmony, unity, and walking together. Yet if the foundation is mistaken, they lead not only themselves astray but also everyone who follows them.
To remain silent while witnessing this would itself be a form of deception.
That is why I write.