In the Tibetan tradition there is a profound teaching called “Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness.” There are two parts to each one of the five stages. The first part is an analysis which enables us to directly realize the truth to which that stage points, and the second part is an instruction on how to practice once that realization occurs.
This is some of the deepest and most profound teachings we have ever discussed. Please give it the time and commitment necessary to penetrate the depths of the wisdom being offered.
EMPTINESS
Before we begin with the five stages, let’s explore some ideas and concepts that are important to grasp in order to get the most from these teachings.
The Two Truths
There are two Truths or Realities: Conventional (or Relative) and Absolute (or Ultimate)
Conventional or Relative Truth
This is how things appear to the senses. Things or phenomena appear solid, such as a chair, a mountain, or a person. We are never denying the appearance of this reality. We never say that it does not exist. We need to respect the relative reality. Appearance itself does not cause suffering.
Absolute or Ultimate Truth
This is the way things really are in their essential nature. What creates suffering is believing the relative is permanent and solidly existing; clinging to relative truth as if it was absolute truth. The Five Stages of Emptiness deals with this level of truth which is beyond all appearances, concepts and labels.
Avoiding Potential Confusion (A KEY POINT)
Confusion can arise when individuals mix the two truths together. For example, someone may ask after hearing about the ultimate empty nature of a chair, “If the chair is empty of an inherent reality, why don’t we fall through when we sit on it?” This is trying to place a relative body in an ultimate chair!
Categories of Clinging
There are two categories of clinging: clinging to self and clinging to phenomena.
Clinging to Self
We cling to the idea of self in three ways:
1. Believing that our self to be is permanent.
2. Believing that our self is one whole and solid thing and cannot be divided into parts.
3. Believing that our self is independent and does not need to depend on other phenomena for its existence.
There are two levels of self-clinging
1. Imputed Self – this is clinging to the labels that we use to define ourselves. We are intelligent, a woman, brave, happy, insecure, confused, spiritual, etc. These labels can lead to various philosophical and religious beliefs depending upon the identifications we have adopted.
2. Innate Self – this is clinging to the idea that our “self” is an actual thing. This self is the basic reference point through which we see and relate to the world. This belief in self translates into dualistic thinking such as the self/other and subject/object dualities. All deep habitual tendencies of mind are based upon this innate self.
Clinging to Phenomena
This is clinging to the idea that things “outside” the self are real; that they truly exist. We cling to phenomena in three ways:
1. Believing that phenomena outside our self is permanent.
2. Believing that each phenomenon is one whole and solid thing and cannot be divided into parts.
3. Believing that phenomena are independent and do not need to depend on other phenomena for their existence.
The Progressive Stages of Emptiness is basically working to counter these two kinds of clinging.
The Skillful Use of Labels
We need labels or concepts when we are searching for a way to understand something new; it helps the mind adjust to a different idea.
We use labels such as emptiness, egolessness or selflessness to describe aspects of reality. But these words do not typically have the meaning the mind ascribes to them.
For example, emptiness does not mean nothingness. It means going beyond all concepts of existence and non-existence to an experience of non-duality.
Ultimately, we use concepts to enable us to go beyond concepts. We rely upon thoughts to go beyond thoughts.
Basic Ideas Regarding Emptiness
Similar to the Buddha’s statements regarding nirvana, that it is the unborn, the undying and the unconditioned, emptiness also points to what absolute reality is not. Emptiness is a way of looking at self and phenomena to recognize that they have no inherent reality. What we are left with, then, is the non-cognitive the truth of what is.
A very important point is that the ideas of emptiness and dependent arising are inseparable. If something is dependently arisen, it cannot have an independent and an inherent reality of its own. We avoid saying that something does not exist, but instead we say that they are “merely existent.”
To discover the view of emptiness is quite challenging. We usually look for what we want, and we expect to find it. When we look for evidence of “me” and “mine,” we typically discover it. We follow the trail created by our concepts and find it difficult to go beyond them.
Thinking about emptiness as a void can engender a lot of fear. How would it be if every single thing vanished? When we talk about emptiness we are not referring to a blank nothingness. This would be nihilism. We need to discover the non-duality of appearance and emptiness. And ultimately, what is beyond the two.
Knowing this emptiness of phenomena
Is more wonderful than even the wonderful,
More fantastic than even the fantastic.
Nargarjuna
The most effective motivation to realize the truth of emptiness is grounded in compassion. The desire to free all beings from suffering is the essential basis for the practices and success in realizing the deepest levels of emptiness. This is the bodhisattva view that we worked with in depth.
Meditating on emptiness can eradicate the afflictive emotions as well as the cognitive obscurations to freedom.
Please practice the following meditation throughout the week. Either record it and play it back to yourself giving enough time to be with each phrase, or have someone read it to you. It is not possible to read this meditation as you try to practice it!
NON-DUAL MEDITATION #2
Close your eyes and sit comfortably
Be completely unconcerned with any experience of yourself in time or space
Non-Dual Awareness is unrelated to any spiritual practices
What is it?
This
It is not a sensation, feeling, or thought
Some refer to it as a field within which everything happens
Tune into this field – it is infinite, has no boundaries, and no structure
What is it?
It is pure awareness
It is not your awareness – it has nothing to do with you
At one level everything is happening – I’m speaking – you’re listening
But at the non-dual level nothing is happening
It’s empty, but here it is
It’s happening right here not as a thing but as a non-thing
You can’t say where it is – it is here but it is not in space
It is just this
It is content-less awareness
It is not the awareness that we have ideas about
It is suchness
So what do we do to enter this state?
Nothing
There is nothing to do to be in it
We are already in it because there is no way not to be in it
It is not an event
We don’t enter it – it is everywhere and nowhere
What we are feeling has nothing to do with non-dual awareness
It is beyond pleasure and pain
There is no reason to wish for it to continue since it cannot leave
There is nothing to compare this to
We cannot say what it is because we would be talking about nothing
It’s just not-knowing
If you are afraid you’re not getting it, it doesn’t matter – those are just thoughts – because you think something that does not make it true
You don’t know that you are in non-dual awareness and you don’t know that you don’t know
We are just resting in the still point
This is the place we have been searching for – there’s nowhere else to go and there’s nothing else to do
Just Be Here