Med #16 Emptiness

We now train in the wisdom that realizes ultimate reality/emptiness.  

After we achieve tranquil abiding, we attain a suppleness of mind that allows us to fix our mind on Emptiness.  Since we grasp most strongly to ourself, we will meditate on the emptiness of the "I."

In all emptiness meditations, first we identify the way something appears to our mind to be inherently existent, and the way we firmly believe in the truth of this appearance.  This is called 'identifying the object of negation,' or in Tibetan, the 'goktcha.'  

For example, you may believe in an "I" that exists as a solid, unchanging entity with some qualities or essence.  You may perceive this "I" as something that receives things from the outside world.  This is the "I" that feels embarrassed or happy or scared. It is the I that we cherish, the I that we defend when criticized or are proud of when praised.  Once we have an image of this inherently existent, I (the goktcha), we fix our minds on it for a moment and then proceed to the contemplation.  This inherently existent 'I' is the object we are going to try to negate in order to realize Emptiness. 

Contemplation

We are trying to understand the emptiness of the I, so we are trying to refute this object, "I."  If the "I" exists in the way that it appears, it would have to exist in one of four ways.  Either 1) I am my body, 2) I am my mind, 3) I am a collection of my body and mind or 4) I am not related to body and mind at all.  

1. I am my body.  Debate and analyze this in your mind.  You can think of many reasons I am not my body.  If I fell off a cliff and my body seized to function, would there not be something - a mind or mindstream, thoughts, soul, feelings?  If I was in an accident and lost some body parts, will I not still have some sensation of I?  I is not my arm or my leg.  What if I lose those, will an "I" still be there?  

2. I am not my mind.  Debate this point from every direction you can.  For ex., if I get amnesia, won't there still be some "I" that I identify with? Or, what about a coma?   Is the "I" all the memories and concepts I have of me? Then, what if I lose my memory?  My mind is always changing, so what is the "I" - a moment of consciousness? Is it a different "I" in one moment than a previous? 

Just these two points are enough to contemplate today.  Analyze and see what you come up with.     

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Meditation

Through our contemplation, we are trying to smash this feeling of a fixed "I."  We are smashing the solid way we feel about things.  Can you really find a fixed "I" as you meditate?  The self-grasping mind holds on to an 'I" but can you find a solid, fixed 'I' behind the label "I"?  What you may have thought was fixed, solid, having inherent qualities, slowly turns into vapor.  In this meditation, you hold on to the vapor.  

When you experience and hold on to the vapor, there comes a kind of an "a-ha" moment where you may feel either fear or a sense of freedom.  Both feelings are natural.  If you can hold with one-pointed concentration on the vapor, you will not be able to find the 'I.'  This is the emptiness of the 'I.'  This is the ultimate nature of the 'I.'  We find the ultimate nature of all objects through a process of negation which is similar in Vedanta (Neti-neti).

Conclusion

The 'I' that you experience is a projection.  You perceive the 'I' in a certain way based on your past actions.  Projections are forced upon us by our past karma.   Things exist, but, the way that we experience them comes from us; our past actions.  Even the way you perceive yourself is forced upon you by the way you have treated others in the past.  

The whole world is a projection.  The whole world is empty - every object in it is empty.  The way you perceive the world and its objects comes entirely from you; your past actions. 

How do you want to experience yourself, the "I"?  Plant the right seeds. 

How do you want to experience your world? The answer is always the same: plant the right seeds.  Everything is empty and you can create yourself to be perfect and your world to be a paradise.

Dedicate: May I realize Emptiness directly and quickly get enlightened for the benefit of all.

Subsequent practice:  

During breaks in your meditation, try to recognize that whatever appears to your mind lacks true existence.  Like in a dream, every appearance comes from your mind.  All phenomenon is the same.  Though they appear vividly, they lack inherent existence.  

We must have a direct realization of Emptiness.  The entire Lamrim, as stated on day one, is designed for us to first become familiar with the topics and techniques and then to eventually have uncontrived direct realizations. 

  

Please read 107-115 in Geshe Gyatso's Meditation Handbook and pp 261-300 in Part 3 of Liberation in our Hands.  In the latter, Pobangka Rinpoche states that we cannot gain a true realization of ultimate reality without a teacher, without receiving instructions that explain emptiness, without carrying out actions to accumulate merit and remove mental obscurations.  So, as was stated on the very first day of this course, right now we are simply getting an introduction to these teachings.  For the ultimate experiences, we must have a teacher and be close them to receive their guidance.  Thank your teachers and/or ask for them to come to you and please teach.

Namaste.