EMPTINESS MEDITATION FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

[Wells]

.

Edited February 11, 2015 by ZOOM

[MooNiNite]

hey he is evolving since our last convo!

[子泰]

What you choose to practice just depends on what you like.

[allinone]

Mahayana

 

from Surangama Sutra:

 

“The Buddha told ânanda, ‘That is not your

heart. It is the dust (objects) before you, the

empty false marks of thought which delude your

true nature. Because of this, from beginningless

time right up to your present life, you have taken

a thief as your son, lost your original source,

and thereby undergo the turning of the wheel."

 

[Seeker of Wisdom]

What do you mean by emptiness meditation?

 

My understanding is what you need to do is unravel the cycle of processes that keeps samsara together. In order to do that, you need to cut through the attachment and ignorance that perpetuates this cycle. In order to do that, you need to make your mind like a laser. In order to do that, you need to act skilfully to keep the chunkier blocks of anger, etc, out of the way.

 

So: virtue -> samadhi -> vipashyana -> cuts through ignorance -> samsara unravels, arhatship. Then further stages on to Buddhahood.

 

So far this is a theoretical understanding for me, but I intend to test it.

[Jetsun]

True uncontrived meditation is hard to reallly get or understand because it is uncontrived. It is more than contemplating the void or emptiness like standing off at the edge of it as a witness, it is actually becoming it, therefore it is always a movement into the unknown. Essentially it is dying before you die and who wants to die? The ego will do all it can to avoid the unknown or make it known and safe before going there, so all the other paths can just be extra ways to avoid that movement, ways of putting it off and distracting yourself, ways of avoiding enlightenment. Or they can be ways of preparing yourself and bringing you to the cliff edge.

 

Emptiness meditation can involve a disintegration of your sense of identity which potentially involves a lot of fear and confusion , so if you are prepared by studying the mind and knowing the ways it works you are less likely to fall for the stories it weaves which cause the fear. If you have developed your concentration to a high level you are less likely to be taken off by distractions and get stuc half way. If you have developed your energy body then the influx of energy into the body when the identity fixations dissolve will be less disruptive and disturbing

 

Studying emptiness can be a good practice though but only as a preparation. In many Tibetan Buddhist negrondro practices there are various death practices and contemplations. By studying dependent origination the identity of all things lose their solidity. If you firmly recognise that everything is already dying and not very solid or real then you are more likely to let go and submit when it happens to your sense of identity, but if you don't have that preparation then you may struggle which is what causes the suffering.

 

But essentially you are right all you need is emptiness meditation. Im not sure I can prove it except it is basically what many Buddhist masters say, even though most also prescribe a path.

[Spotless]

What do you mean by emptiness meditation?

My understanding is what you need to do is unravel the cycle of processes that keeps samsara together. In order to do that, you need to cut through the attachment and ignorance that perpetuates this cycle. In order to do that, you need to make your mind like a laser. In order to do that, you need to act skilfully to keep the chunkier blocks of anger, etc, out of the way.

So: virtue -> samadhi -> vipashyana -> cuts through ignorance -> samsara unravels, arhatship. Then further stages on to Buddhahood.

So far this is a theoretical understanding for me, but I intend to test it.

The metaphor of "mind like a laser" may be misleading.

This tends to accept judgement or quick witted ness or the idea of seeing through something which assumes the ability to see with the eyes of neutrality which requires "no mind".

 

One does not "cut through the attachment and ignorance" - these fall away . It is not as though you see through the bullshit with mind. At best MInd will tire of noise and in the briefest of moments the Well will arrive.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Spotless

[Jeff]

Emptiness Meditation is not my area of expertise.

I'd like to learn if there is good evidence and historical reports that people became Buddhas

by simple emptiness meditation as their single practice.

Did not the historical Buddha achieve Buddhahood and leave reincarnation for good

by simply contemplating void or going into emptiness?

Then why following long-winded and complicated paths

when these are just detours to a goal which can be approached directly by going into emptiness?

Why doing when the goal can be achieved through non-doing?

 

You have already probably seen this before, but it is all summed up in the words below. Happy to discuss if you are interested.

 

Best,

Jeff

 

---------------

 

Tilopa’s Mahamudra Instruction to Naropa in Twenty Eight Verses

(translated by Keith Dowman)

 

Homage to the Eighty Four Mahasiddhas!

Homage to Mahamudra!

Homage to the Vajra Dakini!

 

Mahamudra cannot be taught. But most intelligent Naropa,

Since you have undergone rigorous austerity,

With forbearance in suffering and with devotion to your Guru,

Blessed One, take this secret instruction to heart.

 

Is space anywhere supported? Upon what does it rest?

Like space, Mahamudra is dependant upon nothing;

Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity,

And, your bonds loosening, release is certain.

 

Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;

Likewise, when mind gazes into mind itself,

The train of discursive and conceptual thought ends

And supreme enlightenment is gained.

 

Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,

Going nowhere but ceasing to be,

Waves of conceptualization, all the mind’s creation, dissolve,

When you behold your mind’s true nature.

 

Pure space has neither colour nor shape

And it cannot be stained either black or white;

So also, mind’s essence is beyond both colour and shape

And it cannot be sullied by black or white deeds.

 

The darkness of a thousand aeons is powerless

To dim the crystal clarity of the sun’s heart;

And likewise, aeons of samsara have no power

To veil the clear light of the mind’s essence.

 

Although space has been designated "empty",

In reality it is inexpressible;

Although the nature of mind is called "clear light",

Its every ascription is baseless verbal fiction.

 

The mind’s original nature is like space;

It pervades and embraces all things under the sun.

 

Be still and stay relaxed in genuine ease,

Be quiet and let sound reverberate as an echo,

Keep your mind silent and watch the ending of all worlds.

 

The body is essentially empty like the stem of a reed,

And the mind, like pure space, utterly transcends

the world of thought:

Relax into your intrinsic nature with neither abandon nor control -

Mind with no objective is Mahamudra -

And, with practice perfected, supreme enlightenment is gained.

 

The clear light of Mahamudra cannot be revealed

By the canonical scriptures or metaphysical treatises

Of the Mantravada, the Paramitas or the Tripitaka;

The clear light is veiled by concepts and ideals.

 

By harbouring rigid precepts the true samaya is impaired,

But with cessation of mental activity all fixed notions subside;

When the swell of the ocean is at one with its peaceful depths,

When mind never strays from indeterminate, non-conceptual truth,

The unbroken samaya is a lamp lit in spiritual darkness.

 

Free of intellectual conceits, disavowing dogmatic principles,

The truth of every school and scripture is revealed.

 

Absorbed in Mahamudra, you are free from the prison of samsara;

Poised in Mahamudra, guilt and negativity are consumed;

And as master of Mahamudra you are the light of the Doctrine.

 

The fool in his ignorance, disdaining Mahamudra,

Knows nothing but struggle in the flood of samsara.

 

Have compassion for those who suffer constant anxiety!

Sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere to a master,

For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is liberated.

 

KYE HO! Listen with joy!

Investment in samsara is futile; it is the cause of every anxiety.

Since worldly involvement is pointless, seek the heart of reality!

 

In the transcending of mind’s dualities is Supreme vision;

In a still and silent mind is Supreme Meditation;

In spontaneity is Supreme Activity;

And when all hopes and fears have died, the Goal is reached.

 

Beyond all mental images the mind is naturally clear:

Follow no path to follow the path of the Buddhas;

Employ no technique to gain supreme enlightenment.

 

KYE MA! Listen with sympathy!

With insight into your sorry worldly predicament,

Realising that nothing can last, that all is as dreamlike illusion,

Meaningless illusion provoking frustration and boredom,

Turn around and abandon your mundane pursuits.

 

Cut away involvement with your homeland and friends

And meditate alone in a forest or mountain retreat;

Exist there in a state of non-meditation

And attaining no-attainment, you attain Mahamudra.

 

A tree spreads its branches and puts forth leaves,

But when its root is cut its foliage withers;

So too, when the root of the mind is severed,

The branches of the tree of samsara die.

 

A single lamp dispels the darkness of a thousand aeons;

Likewise, a single flash of the mind’s clear light

Erases aeons of karmic conditioning and spiritual blindness.

 

KYE HO! Listen with joy!

The truth beyond mind cannot be grasped by any faculty of mind;

The meaning of non-action cannot be understood in compulsive activity;

To realise the meaning of non-action and beyond mind,

Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness.

 

Allow the muddy waters of mental activity to clear;

Refrain from both positive and negative projection -

leave appearances alone:

The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is Mahamudra.

 

The unborn omnipresent base dissolves your impulsions and delusions:

Do not be conceited or calculating but rest in the unborn essence

And let all conceptions of yourself and the universe melt away.

 

The highest vision opens every gate;

The highest meditation plumbs the infinite depths;

The highest activity is ungoverned yet decisive;

And the highest goal is ordinary being devoid of hope and fear.

 

At first your karma is like a river falling through a gorge;

In mid-course it flows like a gently meandering River Ganga;

And finally, as a river becomes one with the ocean,

It ends in consummation like the meeting of mother and son.

 

If the mind is dull and you are unable to practice these instructions,

Retaining essential breath and expelling the sap of awareness,

Practising fixed gazes - methods of focussing the mind,

Discipline yourself until the state of total awareness abides.

 

When serving a karmamudra, the pure awareness

of bliss and emptiness will arise:

Composed in a blessed union of insight and means,

Slowly send down, retain and draw back up the bodhichitta,

And conducting it to the source, saturate the entire body.

 

But only if lust and attachment are absent will that awareness arise.

Then gaining long-life and eternal youth, waxing like the moon,

Radiant and clear, with the strength of a lion,

You will quickly gain mundane power and supreme enlightenment.

 

May this pith instruction in Mahamudra

Remain in the hearts of fortunate beings.

 

 

[thelerner]

By itself getting you to enlightenment, don't know. There may be no cookie cutter recipe for it. Each person might need a different recipe as well as a heaping help of Grace. But I think for most emptiness meditation is a necessary tool to have, a foundational practice.

 

Half the value is in itself (mental & physical benefits), the other half is how it leaks into your life off the mat and you can see how loud and cluttered your mind generally is. Good emptiness meditation acts a bit like a reset button.

 

Its not so much about getting anything. More about taking away. I don't know if its enlightenment but there's wisdom in subtraction. Especially in today's loud materialist distracting world.

Edited January 18, 2015 by thelerner

[ChiForce]

You are getting ahead of yourself. You need samadhi and jhana to reach enlightenment. There are 2 ways to achieve samadhi...to meditate on emptiness or to meditate on a single point concentration. The emptiness part is difficult if your mind is still troubled by your karma (past and present). More than likely, you would find yourself in a state of stupor in your "emptiness meditation" and to dose off...like sleeping. The single point meditation is more easier because it forces your mind to reduce the mind's distractions and to concentrate on something.

[Jeff]

You are getting ahead of yourself. You need samadhi and jhana to reach enlightenment. There are 2 ways to achieve samadhi...to meditate on emptiness or to meditate on a single point concentration. The emptiness part is difficult if your mind is still troubled by your karma (past and present). More than likely, you would find yourself in a state of stupor in your "emptiness meditation" and to dose off...like sleeping. The single point meditation is more easier because it forces your mind to reduce the mind's distractions and to concentrate on something.

 

Single point meditation is "easier", but it is of the mind and also subject to the mind. Also, one does not mediate "on" emptiness. Meditating on anything is the same as single point meditation.

 

On more "resides" regarding emptiness.

 

Best wishes.

[voidisyinyang]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/101462079/Yan-Xin-Secrets-Benefits-of-Internal-Qigong-Cultivation#scribd

 

Yan Xin details why Emptiness meditation on its own is not enough.

 

Like immortal breathing - it is the yang qi shen as spirit-vitality going one direction while Emptiness as yuan qi-shen goes in the other direction via the small universe.

 

So actually it is a "3 in 1" unity while just Emptiness is maintaining a still Western dualistic perspective - emptiness or not? Sorry wrong question. haha.

[ChiForce]

Single point meditation is "easier", but it is of the mind and also subject to the mind. Also, one does not mediate "on" emptiness. Meditating on anything is the same as single point meditation. On more "resides" regarding emptiness. Best wishes.

Actually meditation on emptiness has no mind. Is like sleep. You go to sleep and woke up in a samadhi followed by the Clear Light. A single point meditation requires a certain minimal concentration like your breath, your skeleton, your various chakras locations, and just a white light.

[Brian]

I am neither Buddhist nor enlightened but so will share my path FWIW...

 

I taught my mind to think. Then I taught my mind to not-think. Then I taught my mind to switch at will between thinking and not-thinking. Then I taught my mind to do both at the same time.

 

Then I was shown taking "mind" out of it completely. I currently find this difficult to maintain because, while relaxing into it is easy, the mind is a persistent bastard.

 

EDIT: As an aside, the word "path" above merely referenced the sequence in which this aspect of my development has progressed.

[C T]

In the traditional Buddhist sense, emptiness is not viewed as a meditation tool, not even a path as such. It is a philosophical/doctrinal approach to understanding the actual nature of the inseparability of wisdom and compassion. When this concept is fully grasped and its meaning integrated into one's spiritual evolution, ideally, that is the final end of all striving, and/or the gateway to the actualisation of absolute boddhicitta.

 

The excerpt below can assist in clarifying 'Emptiness' from the Mahayana perspective.

 

Mahayana: Compassion, the Bodhisattva, and Nagajuna’s Philosophy of Emptiness

What are the doctrinal differences between these? Most students of religion see the advent of the Boddhisattva in Mahayana scriptures as the primary shift between the Therevada and Mahayana traditions, but there’s more to it than just that. Buddhism was largely a minor practices of individuals looking for their own enlightenment within monasteries for the first few hundred years after the Buddha first spread his teachings. It was seen as a relatively ascetic discipline of the passions, and rather divorced from the need of everyday people. With the advent of Mahayana, the notion of compassion comes to the fore in Buddhist thought, and the Boddhisattva is the embodiment of this. This is why the word Mahayana literally means “universal vehicle,” it is the Buddhist path that opened Buddhism up from out of the monasteries and made it a worldview with wide popular appeal. Rather than the more austere Therevada monasticism which appealed mostly to the elites, Mahayana practices were of the sort that peasants found spoke to them.

 

Mahayana Buddhism argued that it was impossible to achieve enlightenment without compassion, for enlightenment means selflessness, and this deconstructs the self-other binary. If there’s suffering in the world, I only see that suffering as not mine if I have a discrete notion of the self. But since Buddhist practice aims to deconstruct this, the suffering of others becomes my suffering as well, and hence my own enlightenment and compassion in regard to the suffering of others becomes necessarily intertwined. Reducing the suffering of others reduces my own, and by coming to enlightenment, I become better able to help others see the path, because I can be a better teacher and example for others to follow.

 

While these notions are in some sense implicit in earlier Buddhist notions, Mahayana Buddhism makes them central to its approach to the world. There are other crucial shifts in emphasis, however. The most important philosopher of Buddhism after the Buddha himself, Nagarjuna, is the primary philosopher of the Mahayana tradition. He famously argues that Nirvana isn’t merely the freedom that comes from the lack of desire, but rather, the realization that everything around one is actually empty. Emptiness, or shunyata, becomes a fundamental Buddhist notion with Nagarjuna. And while frequently misunderstood, emptiness is not the notion that there is nothing in the world, but rather, that anything we encounter is simply the manifestation of the influences, contexts, and processes which brought it about. Nothing is distinct from these grounds, and hence, everything is dependent upon its continual recreation within the processes that make up the world.

 

This is famously then applied to the self. When we examine our consciousness, we see that various sense impressions flow by, or thoughts or feelings. But which one of these is the self? The self seems to be the awareness of these things, a deeper type of entity. But since the self can never grasp itself as an object, but only the objects and entities of which it is composed, it is in a sense an empty notion. Likewise, any object in the world can be deconstructed to its parts, but remove all of these, and there is nothing there, so to speak.

 

This is why many contemporary commentators have argued that Nagarjuna’s notion of emptiness can perhaps be best understood, in a western philosophical contexts, as essencelessness. That is, there is no fixed essence which expresses itself in entities in our world. Rather, there are interactions between parts, wholes, contexts, influences, processes, etc. But there aren’t transcendental essences that require that things only change in particular ways. Rather, there is simply cause and effect, in infinite chains as far as the eye can see. Freedom is the realization that everything can change, doesn’t need to remain fixed to an essence. It is in this sense that they are empty, for there is nothing deeper than the play of surface appearances which give rise to the appearance of an essence, which is itself just one more appearance.

 

This is why Nagarjuna famously argues that “nirvana is samsara,” and it is with him that this famous notion becomes a core of what will later become known as a dominant Mahayana practice. Rather than view nirvana as some other realm, the extinction of all desire, or a state without appearances of any sort, notions which remain interpretations of the Buddha’s mission in Therevada practices, Nagarjuna argues that nirvana is a different way of looking at the world of ordinary life. Rather than the seemingly impossible state of extinguishing all desire, a notion which pulls Buddhism back to the ascetic practices that the Buddha tried to refute, Mahayana Buddhism reemphasizes the notion that Buddhism is the “middle way” between asceticism and hedonism. Rather than extinguish desire, desire needs to be viewed differently, and in fact, all the world needs to be reviewed. It is this reviewing which transforms samsara, or the world of appearances caused by the cycling of karma, into nirvana. While Therevada practitioners argue this is a distortion of the Buddha’s message, bringing desire in by the back door, so to speak, even though the Buddha argued that desire is the cause of suffering,

 

Mahayana practitioners argue that the Buddha didn’t see desire itself as the problem, but the clinging which occurs when the nature of desire is misunderstood. When things in the world are seen as substantial, rather than empty, we cling to them as potential sources of satisfaction, or we cling to aspects of the world which help us to seemingly flee from dissatisfaction. Mahayana practice believes that if we extinguish desire completely we extinguish the self. It is clinging, rather than desire, that needs to be reviewed. For some this might seem a subtle shift in emphasis, but for practical purposes, the difference is quite profound. Rather than try to eliminate desire itself, the goal is to transform it into something labile and free. If Theravada is austere, Mahayana is more joyful, placing the emphasis upon compassion and liberation rather than solely on the extinguishment of suffering. Mahayana views compassion and liberation as essential to this goal, while Theravada views the extinction of suffering by the removal of desires as the only applicable path.

 

Cha’an/Zen Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism that is particularly influential today in Japan. Originally, it came about as an attempt to develop a more down to earth Buddhism, one which dispenses with complex arguments of academics, and focused on how paradoxes in the everyday world could help bring about extra-conceptual leaps beyond the senses which bring one to enlightenment. With this in mind, it is radically anti-academic, yet it has a reputation of being highly cerebral, precisely because it revels in paradox. For all these reasons, it has fascinated the Western imagination, perhaps in a way that outstrips its influence within the wider Buddhist world. The rationality of the irrational remains at its core, and it’s likely that the fascination of the West with this approach has to do with the west’s own emphasis upon rationality.

 

It’s also worth noting that the Mahayana tradition, particularly as it moved to China and Japan, makes use of the term suchness (tathata or dharmata in Sanskrit, chen-ju in Chinese, and shenyo in Japanese.) This is the flip-side of emptiness - it attempts to see the world without preconceptions of the way it must be, similar to Freud’s notion of ever-hovering attention. It is continual curiosity about what the world, in all it’s manifestations, down to the simplest physical experiences, can show us. It is being with these, holding them playfully and expansively, not needing them to be one way or another, but experiencing them in their full emptiness or empty fullness.

from 'Knowing your Buddhisms'.

[ChiForce]

^^^that just the conceptual understanding of emptiness and it helps you in loosening up your karma. What does it mean in a samadhi or in a meditative state? The Clear Mind and the Clear Light or the Clear Light Mind. The non-duality aspect of the mind. Apparently, nature of the mind is the Clear Light.

Edited January 18, 2015 by ChiForce

[Jeff]

Actually meditation on emptiness has no mind. Is like sleep. You go to sleep and woke up in a samadhi followed by the Clear Light. A single point meditation requires a certain minimal concentration like your breath, your skeleton, your various chakras locations, and just a white light.

 

I would disagree on your sleep statement. If one has realized emptiness, they are already past the point of where there is a percieved difference between meditation and normal daily life (or sleep).

 

Best,

Jeff

[ChiForce]

I would disagree on your sleep statement. If one has realized emptiness, they are already past the point of where there is a percieved difference between meditation and normal daily life (or sleep). Best, Jeff

Is not a statement. Is one of my experiences. Ever woke up to a samadhi and followed by the Clear Light appearance, early in the morning? Only during sleep your mind consciousness is gone and your dream world or your mind is solely guided by karmic forces. When these karmic forces have been resolved for whatever reasons, your mind would naturally be emptied and in its pure essence. Clear Light will emerge and you may experience a huge influx of Chi flowing throughout your entire body.

[Jeff]

Is not a statement. Is one of my experiences. Ever woke up to a samadhi and followed by the Clear Light appearance, early in the morning? Only during sleep your mind consciousness is gone and your dream world or your mind is solely guided by karmic forces. When these karmic forces have been resolved for whatever reasons, your mind would naturally be emptied and in its pure essence. Clear Light will emerge and you may experience a huge influx of Chi flowing throughout your entire body.

 

Yes, and I agree with your above statement and such experiences. But, what you are describing is not "emptiness" in the buddhist concept. What you are describing is going deeper into consciousness or "quiet mind". Also, the huge influx of chi are the channels opening at a more refined level/layer. With the realization of "clear light" the chakras have integrated into a unified field and there is no longer any sense of "flowing".

[ChiForce]

Yes, and I agree with your above statement and such experiences. But, what you are describing is not "emptiness" in the buddhist concept. What you are describing is going deeper into consciousness or "quiet mind". Also, the huge influx of chi are the channels opening at a more refined level/layer. With the realization of "clear light" the chakras have integrated into a unified field and there is no longer any sense of "flowing".

I think you are trying to grasp with semantics here but I am pretty sure about the emptiness associating with the Clear Light Mind because you can't have a Clear Light Mind without knowing what emptiness is. You can't have emptiness and not having a Clear Light Mind. One of my Clear Light Mind experiences in the morning.

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/35038-wow-i-thought-my-time-has-come-this-morningmaybe-not/

[silent thunder]

The metaphor of "mind like a laser" may be misleading.

This tends to accept judgement or quick witted ness or the idea of seeing through something which assumes the ability to see with the eyes of neutrality which requires "no mind".

 

One does not "cut through the attachment and ignorance" - these fall away . It is not as though you see through the bullshit with mind. At best MInd will tire of noise and in the briefest of moments the Well will arrive.

fall away is exactly my sense of it.

 

there is not effort, it's like a book falling from an open hand

[Jeff]

I think you are trying to grasp with semantics here but I am pretty sure about the emptiness associating with the Clear Light Mind because you can't have a Clear Light Mind without knowing what emptiness is. You can't have emptiness and not having a Clear Light Mind. One of my Clear Light Mind experiences in the morning.

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/35038-wow-i-thought-my-time-has-come-this-morningmaybe-not/

Hi ChiForce,

 

I apologize. It is not my place to comment on your experience.

 

Best wishes,

Jeff

[ChiForce]

Hi ChiForce,

 

I apologize. It is not my place to comment on your experience.

 

Best wishes,

Jeff

Well, not needed since I experienced events not knowing why or how...until I did some research into the subjects. Only recently I read up on the Tibetan Dream Yoga and to really understand the concept of a Clear Light Mind. Yeah, for the OP, emptiness is the Clear Light Mind. Take the concept literally.....emptiness IS luminosity. You can google "Clear Light Mind."

[C T]

^^^that just the conceptual understanding of emptiness and it helps you in loosening up your karma. What does it mean in a samadhi or in a meditative state? The Clear Mind and the Clear Light or the Clear Light Mind. The non-duality aspect of the mind. Apparently, nature of the mind is the Clear Light.

Actually its meaning becomes more profound in non-meditational states than otherwise.

 

Also, there is nothing less significant in arriving at insight from using conceptual frameworks.

 

When you say nature of mind is the Clear Light, that is also a conceptual framework because the realisation (of Dharmakaya) itself is beyond words or labels.

[Jeff]

Actually its meaning becomes more profound in non-meditational states than otherwise.

Actually, I would go even further... If one still perceives that there are such things as meditative states, it is not truly possible to realize "ultimate" emptiness.

 

Best wishes.