Emptiness

[Beakon]

Emptiness.


There was a time in my life when I had no understanding of Buddhism. I was the outcast in school who didn't attend church very often. When I did attend church it was on personal and business matters. The townspeople talked about how they met god and let Jesus into their hearts. I travelled all around town with my own two feet. Getting lost in nature, going to see my friends, and going for bike rides. Sometimes I'd be so fargone while outdoors I started visualizing 'emptiness'. The path I was on was different, yet the same. I visualized it like this 'force feild' of energy covering the entire world. Another way I imagined it was floating inside the deep end of a swimming pool legs crossed in meditation. Now when I look outdoors I can see the sublime. My mind is calm like a clear river. I relized that their is no physical limitations in the universe. Even when I'm looking up in the sky there is no limit to how high that sky is. The universe is infinite. More sublime is the fact I'm breathing 'air' from the environment we all share to sustain life and procreate. The universe is like this very dense blanket that covers our 'selfs'. In this mindset I don't see 'people', I see 'sentient beings'. In this mindset (if you want to call it that) I can feel warmth inside my heart region which I refer to as 'the beakon'. Today, I found a clip from a martial arts flick called 'Bullet Proof Monk'. In the end the monk talks about how gravity doesn't exist if you believe it doesn't. This is a outrageous belief. I know gravity keeps my centre of balance which is an essential fundamental for all martial arts. Is it ironic the first blissful absorbation I experienced was when I felt there was no gravity? It's called 'innate awareness'. When he talks about 'air' being everywhere, that reminds me about how I discovered 'emptiness' before Buddhism. Now that I taught vipassana to some of my friends I'm hearing complaints about emptiness. They say that it can't be fully put into words. Here is a clip I wanted to share:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F1-Awda8TE

[Sekishi]

Hi Beakon,

Stories are stories. These brains love to make them.

Shunyata / emptiness is not a view about "reality". The true well of emptiness is beyond any particular view. When sitting, we just sit. When there is suffering, we offer compassion.

That is just my particular view though.

Deep bows,
Sekishi #sat

[Kyonin]

Hello.

Emptiness? What on earth does that mean?

Here's a nice way to feel gravity is real. On your rear. Use it for sitting zazen.

Gassho,

Kyonin
SatToday

[Mp]

Hello Beakon,

What is emptiness?

From the Heart Sutra ...

Form is precisely emptiness, emptiness precisely form. Sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this. O Shariputra, all things are expressions of emptiness ...

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Shokai]

I'm with Kyonin; just sit. It'll come to you

gassho,

sat today

[Jishin]

Begin by pulling the plug on words.

My 2 cents.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

Hmmm. Why's everyone jumping on Beakon? This is lovely .... I don't think they are just intellectual words, but more he is describing poetically what he felt flowing from the heart (if it is just an image or idea, however, that would be a different story) ...

I visualized it like this 'force feild' of energy covering the entire world. Another way I imagined it was floating inside the deep end of a swimming pool legs crossed in meditation. Now when I look outdoors I can see the sublime. My mind is calm like a clear river. I relized that their is no physical limitations in the universe. Even when I'm looking up in the sky there is no limit to how high that sky is. The universe is infinite. More sublime is the fact I'm breathing 'air' from the environment we all share to sustain life and procreate. The universe is like this very dense blanket that covers our 'selfs'. In this mindset I don't see 'people', I see 'sentient beings'. In this mindset (if you want to call it that) I can feel warmth inside my heart region which I refer to as 'the beakon'.

Yes, sometimes there is such feelings. But don't get stuck there, and don't assume that such feeling is all there is to emptiness. Emptiness is also the townspeople and the town, you and me, maybe god and jesus, and all things in the world, including gravity. I don't actually think that Zen Masters or Karate Masters can turn off gravity, but do you know that gravity is empty even while still gravity? The heaviest, most seemingly solid mountain is empty. Tripping and, by gravity, falling hard on your butt ... all empty (but empty or not, OUCH!). We say that "emptiness" and every "form" are one beyond one, not two.

In fact, emptiness is so "empty" that even the name "emptiness" limits this which cannot be limited, so it is just the finger pointing at the moon. It is so intimate to all of us that there is no "viewer" nor "viewed." On the other hand, Master Dogen said that the finger is empty too and so is the moon. Do you know the moon that points as the finger? Moon and finger are not two, and the finger captures the whole moon. There is in fact a viewer and a view, and both are emptiness, all are the moon! I disagree with Sekishi when he says that this is not "reality." It is a vision of "reality" ... a "reality" so real that even the word "reality" must do such an injustice.

Don't get trapped in fantasies of "energy" or "force fields" or "swimming pools" or "rivers" or "boundless sky" no matter how nice and cozy such sensations feel. Emptiness is as vast as the universe and as small as the smallest particle ... the little feelings and models of your mind do not even begin to cover this any more than an image of "the moon" can capture the truth of the moon itself. "Blissful absorbtions" are a nice and pleasant place to visit but don't want to live there (and they can hook you like any drug). I am glad such help you understand "emptiness", but realize the "emptiness" is all around you right now.

Gassho, J

SatToday

PS - Fun to watch, but don't mistake cheap chopsocky kung fu movies for real martial arts, real zen or real life.

PPS - Yes, go sit! Would you mind sitting before you post, and noting so?

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?12995-Signing-SatToday-Please-Sat-before-Forum-Chat

[Hoko]

The trouble with describing It is that it's like painting a picture of the Grand Canyon and then sending it to a friend. It's not the same as seeing the Grand Canyon but all the same it's still a beautiful picture. I'm grateful there are compassionate people constantly failing at painting beautiful pictures. No pictures, no painting, no people. Just this. Thanks for the post and for everyone's reply.
Gassho,
Hōkō
#SatToday

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[Beakon]

It appears I have failed to express emptiness properly. As expected this is a very difficult topic for discussion, I appreciate the Sangha's encouragement to practice. I have felt very agitated lately, bad habits are returning. Gravity does exist. I've been a science fan my whole life. This post was written in a semantic mindset to share some thoughts on emptiness. The concept of emptiness is hard to capture in words to precisely convey the experience of perceiving emptiness. I've been a martial artist for half of my life. Jundo, you reminded me of what an important teaching I learned in my early years in Buddhist study, that everything even bliss states are temporary. Apart of my post that is even more difficult to describe is the sensation from perceiving emptiness. I fear if I don't feel that sensation of bliss I am not perceiving emptiness correctly.


Take for example, I work in a chaotic and loud environment, where it's difficult to feel at peace. The customers can be rude, the staff can be dramatic, and there is always a feeling your being watched. My responsibility is to take payments, communicate with the kitchen staff, and serve food to customers. Before work I recite the Heart Sutra as I'm getting ready or doing samu. On the walk to work I get blissfully absorbed in 'emptiness'. My mind tends to wander. I find it difficult to stay focused on one thought at a time. Sometimes I'll hear 'earworms' during this long walk. By the time I arrive at work I feel great. I'm calm, relaxed, and at peace. After dealing with people in this environment I don't feel the same way. Sometimes I feel like flipping people the bird, tearing up, making a fool of myself or leaving without notice. I find reciting any sutra, gatha, very very difficult. Reciting The Heart Sutra or visualizing emptiness gives me this feeling of unlimited faith in oneself, heightened mindfulness and universal love. Seeing as it's difficult to say it in my head during work hours, I can't calm down easily.


In fact, I quit smoking pot because I wanted to acheive a blissful absorption state again, like there was no other. The drug was like a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress of public relations. Anger is like this feeling that gets stuck in my neck and back area. It gets very painful sometimes so I need to walk away from situations I can't handle. Martial Arts is a way for me to release my anger, to vent, and express my frustrations. I was trained in a hard martial art that focuses on agility and striking. The exercises in the martial art empower me. As a practicing Buddhist I am worried that, I will memorize these emotions that arise during training, and they will turn against me. Like if I am exercising my anger through martial arts it will become stronger.


Meditating can be the best coping mechanism for dealing with stress. Since I am living with my mother, meditating can be difficult at times. She doesn't seem to show any interest or want to learn anything about meditation. We practiced Qi Gong once. That is the limit of how much we discussed meditation and Buddhism. If I am meditating during wakeful hours she will speak to me, bang loudly on my bedroom door, require my attention, look for me when I'm hiding to meditate. During these meditations I feel very uncomfortable, sensing nervousness and anxiety. I feel like if I don't meditate I'm not being a good Buddhist. My meditation practice is always being disturbed. I feel close to Buddha-Nature when I'm outdoors. I try to visualize emptiness, talk about it, contemplate it as if it were like my own meditation. I started meditating again while being unemployed, living with my mom and while in despair. I have never been able to talk about this sublime experience with anyone from a Buddhist background. Getting around to consistently meditating is challenging so I am attending tomorrows meeting at 7:00a.m. for the first group meditation in a long time.

[Jakuden]

Yes a very tricky subject. As was pointed out to me in another thread recently, I sometimes feel that when I am stressed, annoyed, flustered, etc. that I am not being "Zen" enough... not experiencing emptiness enough... and while I am probably right in one aspect (i.e. I need to keep practicing), another perpective is how could any of it not be emptiness? Bliss and lack of bliss are equal manifestations of emptiness. I just love to judge one as "right" and the other "wrong." There certainly can be feelings of relief when one is momentarily awake enough to let go of all the judging and worrying. But to get attached to those feelings will just perpetuate the cycle of suffering, IMHO. Back to the cushion I go, :-p

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday (and was free of interruptions, but still felt the anxiety that they might occur at any moment)

[Getchi]

If you can't meditate formally, consider exercising the Paramtas. There is intimate opportunities throughout the day to practice accepting our own shadow too.

Jundo has some beautiful videos on this in the teaching section, and being gentle is something we can always aim to do :-)

Be that example you need to see, don't give up and you can't "do it wrong".


However, I am not a teacher just a friend, really value your time on earth and nothing is wasted


Gassho,
Ge off

Sat today


/ninebows

[Beakon]

Yes a very tricky subject. As was pointed out to me in another thread recently, I sometimes feel that when I am stressed, annoyed, flustered, etc. that I am not being "Zen" enough... not experiencing emptiness enough... and while I am probably right in one aspect (i.e. I need to keep practicing), another perpective is how could any of it not be emptiness? Bliss and lack of bliss are equal manifestations of emptiness. I just love to judge one as "right" and the other "wrong." There certainly can be feelings of relief when one is momentarily awake enough to let go of all the judging and worrying. But to get attached to those feelings will just perpetuate the cycle of suffering, IMHO. Back to the cushion I go, :-p

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday (and was free of interruptions, but still felt the anxiety that they might occur at any moment)

Where I originally trained in Buddhism (back in 2009) our sangha had a saying. We often said 'it's all in the practice' as a substitute for 'the end', 'fin', 'to be continued'. Bonita, our senior, talked about how a young man was trying to sell pot to the neighborhood children in her backyard. The situation did not go over well. She always rehearsed these words, 'it's all in the practice'. It's rubbed off on me even after all these years. I remember once when our sangha had to move to the art district. The members at the boxing gym close by all mistaken us for a cult. That day we were practicing walking meditation Lama Lodro taught us during his visit. The dharma talk was filled with all sorts of interesting topics, but I remember Bonita sitting in the arm chair, breathing in and out. She said 'it's all in the practice'. The next week when we returned to the centre Harold told us he received a complaint about him leading a cult. He lended his business as a space for our meditation centre. His jewlery store is in an old building that rents out business space. Hence the complaints about their being a 'cult' upstairs. We made jokes about it. I can still remember Harold's expression when he laughed it off.


We were far from a cult as we made regular contact with the university, the karmapa, dharma teachers, even the boyscouts. The boyscouts have a badge they earn for exploring world religions. The dharma teacher there, used the socratic method of teaching children how to understand mindfulness, and critical thinking. The parents who accompanied their boyscouts did not appear amused! After they the sangha recollected they did not look happy as the children did. Bonita asked Gerry, 'do you think the parents were suspicious about the bodhisattva tapestries?'. The important lesson from The Winnipeg Dharma Centre is to laugh at life. My friend Johan used to tell me, 'Sean, you take yourself way to seriously!!! You need to learn to laugh at yourself'.


My attempts to express 'boundless sky' on camera.

388058_10151057776365494_627570761_n.jpg

12374935_10156323260230494_351320483388743716_o.jpg

920648_10156376883320494_5048247200311142593_o.jpg

[Beakon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-PWjt04g3M

Thay does the defintion of 'emptiness' justice.

[Jundo]

... Jundo, you reminded me of what an important teaching I learned in my early years in Buddhist study, that everything even bliss states are temporary. Apart of my post that is even more difficult to describe is the sensation from perceiving emptiness. I fear if I don't feel that sensation of bliss I am not perceiving emptiness correctly.

In some schools of meditation, Buddhist and otherwise, bliss is cherished. In Shikantaza, we do not chase after, cling to or need bliss sensations. Take em or leave em. One might say that there thus results a kind of subtle Big B Bliss so blissful that one need not even feel blissful. Perhaps a good model for this is to recall that the sun is always shining on both sunny and cloudy days, even when unseen. Our Practice is a profound awareness of this truth, and we know the sun in/behind/right through and as the clouds themselves, not two.

In traditional Buddhist terms, I sometimes compare Shikantaza to the Fourth Jhana, considered the highest of the Buddhist meditations in many quarters, which is sometimes described as a placing aside of bliss sensations.

Shikantaza practice is very close to what is referred to as the "Fourth Jhana in the Suttas" ... as opposed to the highly concentrated, hyper-absorbed Visuddhimagga commentary version. The Fourth Jhana in the Pali Suttas was considered the 'summit' of Jhana practice (as the higher Jhana, No. 5 to 8, were not encouraged as a kind of otherworldly 'dead end') and appears to manifest (quoting the sutta descriptions in the book) "an abandoning of pleasure, pain, attractions/aversions, a dropping of both joy and grief", a dropping away of both rapture and bliss states, resulting in a "purity of mindfulness" and "equanimity". Combine this with the fact that, more than a "one pointed mind absorbed into a particular object", there is a "unification of mind" (described as a broader awareness around the object of meditation ... whereby the "mind itself becomes collected and unmoving, but not the objects of awareness, as mindfulness becomes lucid, effortless and unbroken" (See, for examples. pages 82-83 here))http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...l=1#post180600

Also, being so concerned with bliss states is just some kind of drug.

Take for example, I work in a chaotic and loud environment, where it's difficult to feel at peace. The customers can be rude, the staff can be dramatic, and there is always a feeling your being watched. My responsibility is to take payments, communicate with the kitchen staff, and serve food to customers. Before work I recite the Heart Sutra as I'm getting ready or doing samu. On the walk to work I get blissfully absorbed in 'emptiness'. My mind tends to wander. I find it difficult to stay focused on one thought at a time.

Enlightenment is a profound knowing that this is all the clouds too, the sacred and profane not two, and so is the sucky job and all the sentient beings on staff.

If you run to find this some place away from all that, you are missing what is right in front of the eyes and the eye itself.

Tis also a Big P Peace so peaceful that one need not even feel peaceful, a Peace at the heart of peace, a Peace at the heart of war.

During these meditations I feel very uncomfortable, sensing nervousness and anxiety. I feel like if I don't meditate I'm not being a good Buddhist. My meditation practice is always being disturbed. I feel close to Buddha-Nature when I'm outdoors.

Both feelings of "sublime" and feelings of "disturbed" are in your own head. Don't chase after sublime, don't be disturbed. There is no inside or outside except by your little "self's" measure. One sits to realize so.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jundo]

PS - An attempt to dance Emptiness ...

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7723-Buddha-Basics-%28Part-XVII%29-%C2%97-The-Dance-of-Emptiness