Emptiness is Good News?

     I suspect most of us hunger & thirst almost continuously for something, anything to make & keep us happy or at least satisfied. This is despite the fact that deep down we realize that there is absolutely nothing out there that can reliably do it for us. 
     Everything is "empty" - not in a nihilistic sense, but in that everything 1) lacks essence - there's no intrinsic quality that makes a thing what it is; and 2) lacks independence - does not exist on its own, apart from conditions, relations or cognition. http://www.johnlovas.com/2016/05/emptiness.html
     The Buddha found that all phenomena, including our very own body, are empty!

"Thus shall ye look on all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in the stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream."
Gautama the Buddha 

      Everything being empty, constantly changing with prevailing causes & conditions sounds rather unsatisfactory - no?
     But the Buddha also found that everything changes when we completely let go of clinging - when we stop trying to find happiness in empty, conditioned stuff. 

     So, can we take empty stuff a lot more lightly, and instead, turn serious attention to the unconditioned - awareness itself?

     “All formations are transient; all formations are subject to suffering; all things are without a self.

     Therefore, whatever they be of form, of feeling, perception, mental formations, or consciousness, whether past, present, or future, one’s own or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, one should understand according to reality and true wisdom: 
‘This does not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Self.’ ”

      adapted from the Anguttara Nikaya and Samyutta Nikaya, translated by Nyanatiloka
      Jack Kornfield, Gil Fronsdal eds. “Teachings of the Buddha.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.
 

     And the good news is that despite the "full catastrophe" of life, we can nevertheless develop progressively increasing levels of peace & equanimity. Simultaneously we develop greater compassion & do more to relieve suffering, when no longer anxiously craving for empty phantoms & dreams.

Bumper Sticker

Concentration & Awareness Meditation

     "We access the mind of calm abiding through recognition. What do we recognize? 
     Awareness: the ever-present knowing quality of mind, from which we are never separated for an instant. Even though normally we do not recognize awareness, we can no more live without it than we can live without breathing. For this reason, I often use the terms shamatha and awareness meditation interchangeably. Discovering our own awareness allows us to access the natural steadiness and clarity of the mind, which exist independent of conditions and circumstances, and independent of our emotions and moods."         Mingyur Rinpoche

     shamatha meditation - concentration or tranquility meditation to help stabilize the mind 
     awareness meditation - vipassana or insight meditation to see things clearly, as they are

Maddy's Chair

The Refinement of Mind

     The step-wise process of refining the mind is comparable to refining gold - removing the grossest impurities first, then progressively more subtle impurities, until only pure gold remains.

     "... in the case of a practitioner devoted to practice, there may be such gross impurities as unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts. Such conduct the follower of the way gives up, puts away, lets go, and relinquishes.
     When one has abandoned these there may still remain such impurities of a moderate degree as lustful, angry, and violent thoughts. Such thoughts the follower of the way gives up, puts away, lets go, and relinquishes.
     When one has abandoned these, there may still remain grasping to special states of meditation.
     Thus concentration is not yet properly calm or refined; it has not attained to full tranquillity, nor has it achieved mental unification. But there comes a time when the practitioner's mind gains firmness within, settles down, becomes unified and concentrated. With such a concentration the practitioner is able to direct the mind to states of higher insight.
     Having completed this initial purification, a follower of the way devoted to practice should from time to time direct attention to three qualities of mind ... concentration, energetic effort, and equanimity. If one gives regular attention to these, then one's mind will become pliant, workable, lucid, and not unwieldy, and it will be well concentrated upon overcoming all fetters and attachments."
       adapted from the Anguttara Nikaya, translated by Nyanaponika Thera 
       Jack Kornfield, Gil Fronsdal eds. “Teachings of the Buddha.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.
 

On Crossing Over

Few cross over the river.
Most are stranded on this side.
On the riverbank they run up and down.

But the wise person, following the way,
Crosses over, beyond the reach of death.

Free from desire,
Free from possessions,
Free from attachment and appetite,
Following the seven lights of awakening,
And rejoicing greatly in one's freedom,
In this world the wise person
Becomes oneself a light,
Pure, shining, free.
 
adapted from the Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byrom
Jack Kornfield, Gil Fronsdal eds. “Teachings of the Buddha.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

New York - image by Moinain

Sand Castles

     “Some children were playing beside a river. They made castles of sand, and each child defended his castle and said, ‘This one is mine.’ They kept their castles separate and would not allow any mistakes about which was whose. 

     When the castles were all finished, one child kicked over someone else’s castle and completely destroyed it. The owner of the castle flew into a rage, pulled the other child’s hair, struck him with his fist and bawled out, ‘He has spoiled my castle! Come along all of you and help me to punish him as he deserves.’ The others all came to his help. They beat the child with a stick and then stamped on him as he lay on the ground. … Then they went on playing in their sand castles, each saying, ‘This is mine; no one else may have it. Keep away! Don’t touch my castle!’ 

     But evening came; it was getting dark and they all thought they ought to be going home. No one now cared what became of his castle. One child stomped on his, another pushed his over with both hands. Then they turned away and went back, each to his home.”

       from the Yogacara Bhumi Sutra, translated by Arthur Waley
          Jack Kornfield, Gil Fronsdal eds. “Teachings of the Buddha.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

from the web

Importance of Feelings

     “When our feelings become free of emotional reactions and dwell in love and compassion as their natural abode, our mind will be open to the great truths of universal significance.”

       Ayya Khema. “Being Nobody, Going Nowhere. Meditations on the Buddhist Path.” Wisdom Publications, 2016.

 

Intimacy

     "I am part of the sun as my eyes are part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the water."                D.H. Lawrence 


      “... love, peace and happiness are not something that come and go any more than our self, aware presence, comes and goes. However, they are sometimes seemingly veiled.”
     Rupert Spira. “Presence, Volume II: The Intimacy of All Experience.” Non-duality Press, Salisbury, UK, 2011.