Emptiness

Adam Mizner's Dhamma Talk on Emptiness. Adam Mizner has dedicated many years to the in-depth study of Daoism, western Hermetics and the Buddha Dhamma, is initiated into and teaches methods from these traditions. He is a senior lay disciple of Ajahn Jumnien in the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This deep spiritual background has a large influence on his approach to internal development teaching.

Please note: This track was recorded live and may contain background noises.

Transcript

It's well known that the Buddhas and the Arya disciples of the past,

Present and the future all expound the truth of emptiness,

For emptiness is at the essence of the Dharma.

Realizing emptiness is at the essence of fruition.

However,

People often use the word emptiness to mean different things or don't understand what emptiness means.

There are many kinds of emptiness.

We could divide emptiness into five different aspects.

First aspect of emptiness would be the emptiness of shamatha or samadhi.

The second,

The emptiness of akasa,

The emptiness of space,

Which is including the formless jhanas,

The arupajanas,

The concept of emptiness itself.

The third aspect would be the emptiness of atta,

To the empty of atta or anatta,

The truth of not-self,

Empty of self.

Fourth aspect of emptiness would be emptiness of object and emptiness of phenomenon or shunyata,

The emptiness of shunyata.

And the fifth emptiness would be the emptiness to be empty of the defilements,

Emptiness of kalesas,

The emptiness of an arahan.

How do we develop emptiness?

How do we discern these kinds of emptiness and what focus to these different kinds of emptiness?

To serve,

Why did the Buddha teach emptiness?

Emptiness of shamatha is developed by resting the mind on a single object,

For example,

The breath.

So we bring the knowing quality and rest it on the breath coming in and the breath going out,

Simply observing the breath.

When we let go of thought and we're no longer analyzing the breath,

We're no longer thinking about past or future.

We are empty of thought or we have emptiness of mind at the first stage of shamatha.

As we absorb deeper and enter jhana,

The breath disappears as well.

There is no meditation object.

The mind is completely empty.

We call this the emptiness of samadhi.

This emptiness is very skillful.

It leads to bliss states.

When one attains the emptiness of samadhi,

One is at that moment free from the five hindrances and free from suffering.

However,

The emptiness of samadhi is impermanent.

It may last even after you exit samadhi for a certain period of time,

But eventually when the causes fade,

The emptiness fades.

When the emptiness fades,

The bliss of emptiness fades.

So ultimately it's unreliable,

Though skillful.

The second kind of emptiness is the emptiness of akasa.

Akasa meaning space.

Space is clearly empty because it's empty space.

So we can use empty space as a contemplation object or as a samadhi object.

When the mind absorbs into space,

It achieves a deep kind of emptiness.

Different aspects of this lead to the different formless states,

The different arupajanas,

The higher states of samadhi.

Through both the emptiness of samadhi and the emptiness of the arupajanas and akasa,

One can develop the psychic powers,

The divine eye,

The divine ear,

And so on.

Through knowing emptiness,

It's easy to see past lives because emptiness and space bridges all things.

Empty space is shared by all things.

Empty space is timeless.

So when we absorb into this,

Many things can be known.

So it is known,

It is used for knowledge and for vision.

The emptiness of akasa and the emptiness of the arupajanas is also very skillful.

It is not absolutely necessary for achievement on the path.

So we do need the emptiness of samadhi.

Without enough samadhi,

We can't practice correctly.

The mind is scattered,

We can't practice correctly.

Wherever the Buddha said,

What is it?

Right jhana.

Right jhana is the practice of the four jhanas.

With the four immaterial absorptions,

Arupajanas,

Only being skillful for some practitioners.

Third kind of emptiness.

Third kind of emptiness is emptiness of self.

No ata,

No enduring self.

The truth of anatta.

The truth of anatta is what is unique to the Buddha's teachings.

Seeing anatta directly is directly the cause of becoming ariya,

Of becoming a noble one.

While practicing samadhi and akasa or arupajana are skillful and can be considered an important part of the path,

They are not a direct cause for achievement.

Only seeing anatta is the direct cause of achievement.

So we set to work in this way.

We can look at the five khandhas with the first of the five khandhas being rupa,

Form.

Our body right here,

This body made up of the four elements and space.

We can watch it with mindfulness.

Keep sati on the body.

The body is sitting,

Standing,

Walking,

Everything that the body does simply watch.

As you achieve samadhi in this vipassana,

As your vipassana achieves samadhi,

The union of this samadhi and vipassana is when the mind becomes still and absorbed in seeing this body as not self.

When we see the body as not self very clearly,

Then under no circumstance will you relate the body to self.

And this is truly achieved,

We call this entering the stream.

Intellectually anybody can understand,

Oh of course I'm not this body.

I must be more than this body.

But parroting information is not the same as directly seeing it.

Seeing not self,

Seeing the five khandhas as not self.

Practicing to see the body as not self.

The way to do this is to pick only one and to look at only one and to do it with samadhi,

To do it with single pointed focus.

Always watching rupa,

Always watching form.

Practicing this way until we break through to see anatta.

Or always watching vedana,

Always watching the arising,

Existing and falling away of sensations.

Sensation is always there,

Whether it be pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral.

Watching sensation come and go until we see clearly and break through to see vedana is anatta,

Seeing that sensation is not self.

We can practice this way with the five khandhas.

But fruition is more than seeing anatta.

We must see anatta and sunnata.

Seeing sunnata is seeing the emptiness of self of object and phenomena.

Not only is this body and mind empty of self,

But also everything else is also empty of self.

The skill to seeing sunnata is actually more difficult in a lot of ways.

It comes as a result of seeing anatta and expanding out.

Whether it can be done purely by jipasana or not,

I don't know.

My experience was that it was from building up samadhi on akasa,

From practicing the arupajana the mind was empowered into seeing space.

Being able to see space clearly and being absorbed in space.

When I came out of that state I could see clearly the arising and falling away of every cell.

The little appearing and disappearing of every atom of matter,

Whether it be the body,

Whether it be the chair I'm sitting on,

Cup of coffee or anything around me flickering in and out of existence.

The seeing is vipassana.

It was empowered by samadhi.

Once again the union of samadhi and vipassana.

This is seeing sunnata.

So when we see anatta and sunnata it can be called enlightenment in the sense of being enlightened to right view.

One has attained right view.

However,

Being enlightened to right view does not mean one is purified nor one has achieved arahant.

It is not yet freedom.

Only emptiness of the kalasas is freedom.

So when we see emptiness of self,

We see anatta,

Practicing like the example I gave before,

Of seeing the body as not self.

When we truly at all times see the body as not self,

With that realization,

When that realization is stable,

Certain defilements also fall away.

Rage,

Jealousy and vengeance will fall away.

What is there to be angry about if there's no body?

This body is not self.

What could you possibly be jealous of?

How could you take vengeance on somebody?

On what?

There's no you or them as far as the body is concerned.

The simultaneous seeing of emptiness of self,

When it is true,

Also leads to emptiness of kalasas.

And this is the essence of stream entry.

Then one practices further to see the emptiness of the other defilements,

Seeing that the other defilements are also sunyata,

That they lack substantiality.

Penetrating through and seeing them as not self and sunyata,

They dissolve one by one as one works their way through the levels of ariya all the way up to arahan,

Until one is truly empty of the kalasas,

Free of defilement,

The emptiness of nibbana.

From the beginning levels of emptiness of shamata and samadhi,

Working one's way all the way up through to the emptiness of defilements,

Nibbana.

Reviews

Please consider offering a course on emptiness. 🙏

Beautiful & Enlightening 🙏🏿

Great overview of the stages of emptiness - you'll want to know some Pali though!

Very nice talk, clear, and very helpful advices for the practice. Thanks a lot 🙏🙏🙏

Thanks for that nice clear explanation 🙏