Most religions (as institutional practices) are an attempt to reconcile the existential issues surrounding life, death, sickness, suffering etc. Buddha didn’t tech “Buddhism” nor did Christ teach “Christianity”. They taught the “truth” and described a path to awaken to this truth. And central to this waking up is some understanding of time, space, and reality.
The Buddhist teachings on impermanence relate to the concept of “time”. For most of us intellectually at least we “get it” regarding impermanence. We all know that things (including ourselves) are impermanent. But we often don’t live from this place. But at least from the standpoint of time we understand the truth of impermanence from our own direct experience.
The teachings on “emptiness” are meant to introduce us to the aspect of “space” (matter, form, firmness, our bodies, and the idea of a self). The Pali word Shunya means empty and Shunyata is emptiness. This was used as an everyday word at the time of Buddha. An empty building, hut, room was said to be shunya. It didn’t have a unique spiritual meaning. Buddha taught that everything is empty. But empty of what? What’s not there (or here)? This core teaching is about the “unfindability” (term used by Stephen Bachelor) of any unchanging or permanent “essence”. The world is composed of myriad of forms, both natural and constructed. We are no different from any worldly form in terms of a findable unchanging essence. If we pay attention and investigate for ourselves we have a difficult time finding some unchanging essence that is “me”.
When we investigate the mind (which we might do in meditation or during a contemplation) we usually discover that between the cascade of thoughts there is a place of “no thought” however brief it may be. That clear, luminous, and aware state is what mind really is (or isn’t). In other words mind is clear, spacious, luminous and aware. What arises in the mind space (thoughts, emotions etc) are temporary visitors. They aren’t intrinsic to the mind. Investigate this for yourself.
What this discovery about emptiness reveals is the truth about the way things are; the truth about our belief of what we are; and the truth about the way the “world “is. In other words; we discover what is real; and what is not real? We might discover that rather than being unsettling, embracing emptiness is a path that leads to peace! We have resistance to this- That’s OK!
If we attach and have a fixed view about emptiness then we have also missed the point. If we attach to emptiness with beliefs such as; I don’t exist; you don’t exist; I’m not responsible for my actions (since there is ‘no me”); there are no rich and no poor! Then we lose compassion for suffering beings everywhere.
And if we deny emptiness we reify (solidify) the self. And when we create a self we also create “the other”. We describe our self as a “Buddhist”, a conservative, as an American, and others as illegal aliens (very frightening term don’t you think?), Christians, Muslims, unenlightened. You get the idea. These definitions arise from ignorance of the way things truly are.
When we see emptiness skillfully then we see mundane conventions as conventions. I was born. My name is … I’m a woman. And these conventions don’t exclude anyone or anything. We’re not “somebody who is aware”. Rather “we are awareness”. We see reality less from a position, attitude or perspective and more from pure conscious awareness.
When this happens our spiritual practice is “in the world” and not separate from it. And when that happens we are truly Bodhisattvas (awakening beings). We engage the world no matter what it presents to us. Nothing gets in our way. Time isn’t an obstacle since we see it clearly as empty. Space and form aren’t obstacles since we see these as empty. This is Right View.
There is a story from the ancient Buddhist Jataka Tales. It’s a story about a grey parrot who saw a fire in the forest and was so concerned about the other beings in the forest that she decided to fly to a pond and get her wings wet, then fly to the fire and flap her wings to release the water. This was a time before parrots were colorful birds. The devas were watching from above and laughing to see such folly. But one of the devas felt compassion for the parrot and took the form of a giant eagle and flew down to the parrot saying “You will never put the fire out- your wings are too small and fire is too great”. The parrot responded that it didn’t matter whether it was possible she was going to continue to try and save the forest dwellers. The deva felt such compassion for the parrot that he began to cry and a great volume of tears began falling. Each tear that landed on the parrot turned the parrot a different color and before too long the quantity of tears was so great that he fire was extinguished. And that’s how parrots became so colorful.
But the real message is that when we muster the courage to do what is skillful (to act on our convictions, to help others, to offer our service to those in need) -we never know what events might take place that leads to our success. Think of the many examples of this truth. No matter how insignificant we may feel there are other forces (and other individuals) that work for the benefit of all beings that may come to our aid.
It is said there are only two mistakes on a spiritual path; not starting and not going all the way. I believe this to be true. May you be well, happy and peaceful.
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