debunking "emptiness"

[3bob]

MH, do you mean Lao Tzu had a better or different variation along the lines of if I strive with none none can blame me?

Edited December 23, 2013 by 3bob

[Marblehead]

MH, do you mean Lao Tzu had a better or different variation along the lines of if I strive with none none can blame me?

You can bet your ass on that one.

[soaring crane]

MH, do you mean Lao Tzu had a better or different variation along the lines of if I strive with none none can blame me?

 

Something about water and not contending ....

[Marblehead]

Something about water and not contending ....

And more too.

[Aetherous]

This makes sense to me...

 

Sogyal Rinpoche says:

• "Unfortunately, the word ‘emptiness’, which is used to translate the Sanskrit term shunyata, carries a connotation of a nothing-ness, or a void. Happily, there is a wonderful definition in Tibetan that captures its true meaning: Tib. རྟག་ཆད་དང་བྲལ་བ་, tak ché dang dralwa, which translates as: ‘free from permanence and non-existence'.

• Generally, all philosophies tend to fall into one of two extremes: ‘eternalism‘: believing in the existence or permanence of something, or ‘nihilism‘: believing in non-existence. Shunyata goes beyond both of these extremes, because it is neither permanent nor non-existing, and that is, ultimately, how things are."

- http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Emptiness

[Marblehead]

That's acceptable to my mind.

[dwai]

Nothing like a little year-end BB baiting eh brother Bob?

 

So here goes:

 

Emptiness that is truly empty is not truly empty.

Emptiness that is empty of self-nature, is truly empty.

 

[C T]

When the mind is at peace,

the world too is at peace.

Nothing real, nothing absent.

Not holding on to reality,

not getting stuck in the void,

you are neither holy nor wise,

just an ordinary person who has completed their work.

Layman Pang

 

 

Having control over appearances does not mean jumping off buildings and flying. Rather, it means that you do not cling to appearances as they seem to be in the usual worldly way of relating to them. Such appearances will not cause you suffering or tie you up once you have gained mastery over them through not clinging.

It is prajna realizing selflessness that frees you from samsara. Through knowing appearances to be inseparable from emptiness, you have mastery over them. It is not necessary to engage in behavior that is contrary to a mundane way of seeing things.

Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

 

 

 

To understand selflessness, you need to understand that everything that exists is contained in two groups called the two truths: conventional and ultimate. The phenomena that we see and observe around us can go from good to bad, or bad to good, depending on various causes and conditions. Many phenomena cannot be said to be inherently good or bad; they are better or worse, tall or short, beautiful or ugly, only by comparison, not by way of their own nature. Their value is relative. From this you can see that there is a discrepancy between the way things appear and how they actually are. For instance, something may—in terms of how it appears—look good, but, due to its inner nature being different, it can turn bad once it is affected by conditions. Food that looks so good in a restaurant may not sit so well in your stomach. This is a clear sign of a discrepancy between appearance and reality.

These phenomena themselves are called conventional truths: they are known by consciousness that goes no further than appearances. But the same objects have an inner mode of being, called an ultimate truth, that allows for the changes brought about by conditions. A wise consciousness, not satisfied with mere appearances, analyzes to find whether objects inherently exist as they seem to do but discovers their absence of inherent existence. It finds an emptiness of inherent existence beyond appearances.

14th Dalai Lama

 

 

 

When you dream of an elephant, does an elephant appear to your mind? Indeed it appears very clearly. Is there an elephant there? No. This appearance of an elephant in your dream is a union of appearance and emptiness. It appears, yet it does not exist – yet it appears. It is the same with all external phenomena. If we understand the example of the appearance of something in a dream, it is easier to understand how the mind appears yet does not exist, and does not exist yet appears.

Thrangu Rinpoche

 

 

 

Clarity, like emptiness, is infinite: it has no limits, no starting point and no end. The more deeply we examine our minds, the less possible it becomes to find a clear distinction between where our own mind ends and other’s begin. As this begins to happen, the sense of difference between “self” and “other” gives way to a gentler and more fluid sense of identification with other beings and with the world around us.

Mingyur Rinpoche

 

 

 

The essence of thoughts that suddenly arise is without any nature. Do not inhibit their appearance in any way, and without thinking of any essence, let them arise clearly, nakedly, and vividly. Likewise, if one thought arises, observe its nature, and if two arise, observe their nature. Thus, whatever thoughts arise, let them go without holding onto them. Let them remain as fragments. Release them unimpededly. Be naked without an object. Release them without grasping. This is close to becoming a Buddha. This is the self-extinction of samsara, samsara is overwhelmed, samsara is disempowered, and samsara is exhausted. Knowledge of the path of method and wisdom, appearances and emptiness, the gradual stages, the common and special paths, and the 84.000 entrances to the Dharma is made perfectly complete and fulfilled in an instant. This is self-arisen, for it is present like that in the very nature [of awareness]. Natural liberation is the essence of all the stainless paths, and it bears the essence of emptiness and compassion.

Yang Gonpa

 

 

 

So what is emptiness? It is simply this unfindability. When we look for the flower among its parts, we are confronted with the abscence of such flower. That absence we are confronted with is the flower’s emptiness. But then, is there no flower? Of course there is. To seek for the core of any phenomenon is ultimately to arrive at a more subtle appreciation of its emptiness, its unfindability.

14th Dalai Lama

 

 

 

All descriptions of reality are limited expressions of the world of emptiness. Yet we attach to the descriptions and think they are reality. That is a mistake.

Shunryu Suzuki

 

 

 

Because everything is by nature empty, infinite manifestations from the natural creative potential of emptiness all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana can manifest as an infinite display. Although all these manifestations arise, it is not as if they are permanent when they are there and impermanent when they are no longer there. Everything arises as in a dream or a like a magical illusion. It is like a rainbow, which, though it appears clearly in the sky, is not solid. It is apparent yet empty. But its emptiness and appearance are not two separate aspects. It is not that the rainbow being present is one aspect and its being empty is another. The rainbow is simultaneously apparent and empty, and there is no other emptiness than the rainbow itself. The same is true for all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana: they are empty from the very moment they appear.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

 

 

Generally, all phenomena are included in both samsara and nirvana. The nature of that which is called samsara is emptiness. It’s expression is confusion. It’s defining characteristic is to arise as suffering. The nature of that which is called nirvana is emptiness. It’s expression is the exhaustion and the disappearance of all confusion. It’s defining characteristic is the liberation from all suffering.

Gampopa

 

 

 

If you recognize the emptiness of your thoughts instead of solidifying them, the arising and subsiding of each thought will clarify and strengthen your realization of emptiness.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

 

 

Son, after realizing the things of this world are unreal,

There is little benefit in dwelling in solitude.

When the falsehoods of phenomenal appearances have collapsed into their own nature (emptiness),

And the unaltered nature of phenomena has been recognized -

Do not nit-pick the subtle concepts of grasping and grasped

Or attach to the contaminated virtuous deeds.

Please maintain the stronghold of the vast expanse of primordial pure nature.

Padmasambhava

 

 

 

The only way to actually abandon or eradicate the kleshas is to see their nature. Therefore, in order to abandon the kleshas, we must cultivate the prajna or discernment which is able to see the nature of those kleshas. If their nature is seen, they will disappear by themselves without having to be chased away or destroyed by any other means.

So in order to cultivate this prajna, the Buddha taught emptiness. He taught that there is no truly existent person who generates kleshas, that there is no truly existent object that stimulates kleshas, that the kleshas themselves have no solid or substantial existence, and so forth. He taught that what we experience exists as relative truth, but that the emptiness of what we experience is absolute truth.

Thrangu Rinpoche

 

 

 

When we rub two sticks together that produces a fire that will eventually cease. However, the fire doesn’t come from anywhere when it starts to burn the sticks, and it doesn’t go anywhere when it dies out. Fire is empty of coming and going.

Similarly, ignorance – clinging to the belief in a self, the mental afflictions, or suffering – does not come from anywhere and does not go anywhere.

We can apply this to our dreams: whatever appears in dreams, be it happiness or suffering, does not come from anywhere and it does not go anywhere.

All phenomena are empty of coming and going.

Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

 

 

 

 

There... something to chew on over Christmas, folks.

 

The pro camp would be quite delighted and inspired, so will hopefully not have the gumption to eat meat. The anti- one, well, they would be quite so disgusted as to lose their appetite, so, either way....

 

I think i just contributed to a stay of execution of a few turkeys.

Edited December 24, 2013 by C T

[3bob]

re-chewing somebody else's chewing's is not going to do it....

[Marblehead]

re-chewing somebody else's chewing's is not going to do it....

What!? You want something original?

 

Emptiness is that which allows fullness to be useful.

 

The empty cup is useful but the empty brain is ..., well, at least there is full potential.