doc benway

There are many different teachings on emptiness. One error commonly encountered when taking a conceptual approach is to view or conflate emptiness with nihilism. To think emptiness means our lives are an illusion or not real. This is an error of nihilism. This is where meditation practice is so important. When we think about emptiness, there is a tendency to focus on the word’s connotation of absence, of nothingness, of a void. When we meditate we can feel the openness of calmly resting the mind and body. When that experience is not filled with a sense of me - thinking, worrying, judging; when there is just the naked experience of this present moment, this is what emptiness is indicating; and yet the experience of that moment, the vividness of NOW is certainly not nothingness - absolutely everything is there - all the senses and visions and sounds and feelings and infinite potential, and the experience is full and complete, just as it is. You really can’t add or subtract anything. That is the wholeness, the fullness of being and it is ever present when we are clear enough to notice. So I often interject a mention of the fullness of emptiness when it’s being discussed. Emptiness is fullness, eg form is emptiness and emptiness is form (Heart sutra).

Some random thoughts fwiw. Emptiness is not empty. Emptiness is full. Emptiness has the capacity to arise as anything whatsoever. In fact, that’s one reason why the abiding nature of being must be empty. One way I’ve found it helpful to think about it is with respect to how I experience my self and others. Each one of us is a composite of many different “selves" that are defined in relationship to others. For example, when dealing with my children, I am a father and I bring to that role physical, psychological, and emotional characteristics and actions that are determined by my upbringing, by my society, culture, teachers, family, friends, and so on. And there are many other identities - the father, the son, the lover, the professional, the musician, the addict, and the list goes on and on. The truth is "I am" no one of those things but I can be any of those things depending on circumstances and at some level I am all of those things and more. So is it possible to define who I am, what my “self” is, in isolation, without any relative relationship? There are exercises that can effectively negate any particular label or identity I may offer as “me." I’m not that sophisticated in this area but a few examples. I am not my name, that’s easy - I can change my name but I’m still me. I am not my profession, I can change jobs, retire, etc… but I am still me. I am not my body - this one is a little more challenging to negate. I can have a leg, or an arm amputated but “me” is still there. I could have heart, liver, kidney, and lung transplants - did a new me come with the new organs? No, I’m still “me." I am not my brain - this one is even trickier but one way to look at it is that my brain cannot exist in isolation. It needs the heart to pump blood, the lungs to oxygenate, sensory organs, nutrition, and so forth, so the brain itself is not me, it needs a lot of other supports. I am not my body, brain, and mind because I cannot exist independent of my environment - I need food, air, a place to stand, etc... And this same process applies to all of the identities, be they functional identities or physical entities, that I may refer to as “me." Modern biology, physics, social theory, psychology, and other disciplines already acknowledge the lack of independent, permanent identity and it is expressed in their theories and applications. For example, in biology it is well accepted that there is no such thing as an organism that exists independent of an environment, so organism-environment is accepted as a more precise description than either by itself. Relational quantum mechanics similarly acknowledges the relational nature between any observer and the system under observation. Luhmann’s social systems theory brings this into social systems, and so forth. So emptiness does not refer to absolute absence, it refers to the absence of something very specific - the inability to identify an unchanging and wholly independent essence or core that can be defined for a person or an object as its “self.". When we try to define such a “self” we find that it is connected to other things and cannot stand on its own. By inference, we can see that everything throughout time and space is interconnected in one way or another with everything else so that emptiness is equivalent to wholeness. In the Tibetan Bön tradition they represent this with something called thiglé nyagcig which essentially means a single sphere of light, referring to the interconnected wholeness of being.

I hear and feel you @old3bob It is a difficult time. I have been experiencing intense reactivity - anger, fear, disappointment, frustration, despair, and the list goes on. The emotions are more powerful and destabilizing than they have been in me in a very long time. They have shown me both strengths and vulnerabilities in myself and in my practice. I wonder if there would be a place here for a thread where we can share how the current events are affecting us emotionally, psychologically, and physically without getting into discussing the politics per se? Not sure it would work but perhaps it could in the Healing Bums area… I won’t start a thread yet but thought I’d float the idea. I deeply respect the willingness of the mod team to try and keep the board civil and balanced and I don’t want to create more work but it would be nice to be able to offer each other some support in dark times. I have an account at Substack since being introduced to the community by @liminal_luke. When I first joined it was a place where intellectuals would blog in fields like literature, philosophy, history, sciences, and so forth, and it was not very political. With the exodus of people from social media sites like X, Facebook, and the like, it has become a very active place for discussion of politics. It is a growing community fostering advocacy and resistance to current political and social trends, not only in the US but around the world. I mention this because you may find it worth checking out if are not familiar with it @old3bob. On the one hand, it can be a bit of a dark place to be and easy to get lost in the negativity, but on the other hand there is a lot of positivity, advocacy, and community building going on there and it is easy to find writings on many topics like art, literature, history, sciences, spirituality, and so forth. The contributions are far more substantive, with less argument and derision, than what is posted on other social media sites. I appreciate @liminal_luke’s message reminding and encouraging us to find and share beauty, and I’ll add kindness, in hard times. It is never more important and never more difficult than when times are tough. As things get darker and more threatening, I think it is important to try and maintain an open heart for each other, especially for those who may be trying to deconstruct and find a way back to the light. Now is the time for taking care of the body, spirit, and mind, as we will need our health, strength, and resilience to face what is here and what is coming. I’ve recently lost another friend and fellow practitioner, Sarah, to cancer and I’m just coming from a group practice in her memory. The reality of impermanence is vivid and alive in me at the moment. It is a reminder that what I have even, or perhaps especially, now is worth honoring and fighting for. Anyway, enough rambling. Warm regards to you all.

I recently watched Moonage Daydream. Good flick.

Another good reference for the Two Truths is Mipham’s Beacon of Certainty. It’s not an easy read but Journey to Certainty by Anyen Rinpoche is a clear summary and commentary on the Beacon, a great read.

You need to define it first, then we can investigate its existence. Indeed

One of my most treasured members of our little community. She was indeed wise, gentle, and generous. She will be deeply missed and remembered. Thank you for sharing this update @Geof Nanto

One of my favorite spiritual teachers, Anthony Demello, speaks to this with experience and wisdom. He was a psychologist and Jesuit with a Hindu and Buddhist background, born in India. He spoke of his conflict in dealing with people who came to him for help. The psychologist in him wanted to help ease the pain whereas the spiritual guide knew they must go through the pain to experience meaningful growth and liberation.

Can you share with us, or by PM, how to find your poetry? Glad to have you here.

And yet wouldn’t it be beautiful if we could somehow facilitate an explosion of heart? Heart and mind must be balanced in my opinion. The lack of balance is largely responsible for our misuse of the powers of mind alone. Spirituality for me is largely about restoring balance through opening the heart and maturing it as a refuge and a tool. When looking at a spiritual source, be it new or old, my questions are, does it make people kinder and more open? Does it cultivate empathy, honesty, and transparency? Does it strengthen relationships or isolation? Not always easy to get answers to these questions and often takes time and engagement with the view and practice. This is the advantage of the older, established traditions, you can see the effects over time and the kinks have been worked out. Newer ideas and methods are more of a risk, and our time is short as human beings on Earth, but at the end of the day, they could be just what is needed for the right person.

Vibrant

The Place Where We Are Right Yehuda Amichai From the place where we are right flowers will never grow in the spring. The place where we are right is hard and trampled like a yard. But doubts and loves dig up the world like a mole, a plow. And a whisper will be heard in the place where the ruined house once stood.

my quarters are gone shepherded by destruction walking without legs

@Samoobramba I wonder if you’ve come across the book below? It is one of my favorite books on taijiquan. I started reading it early in my taijiquan practice and didn’t understand much. As my skill and experience grew, so did my understanding and appreciation for the book. .