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Sunyata contemplation
Hello,
In the last couple of weeks I've started to understand what sunyata means and am contemplating it pretty regularly.
My question is, as I begin to regularly contemplate sunyata and associate more with awareness, is it normal to do so? Or is it not good to get too absorbed in awareness.
Throughout my day now, when not too burdened by thought, I try to re-align myself with awareness and contemplate it for a moment or two. By doing this I seem to be gaining a better understanding of what it is and feel more complete and one.
I fear that I might be getting too attached to this, but in the sense of awareness is this ok to be "attached" to the idea?
I'm trying not to slip into pitfalls but without guidance (at the moment I havent found a teacher in my area) i feel like I might come across these pitfalls and am trying to do my best to avoid them.
I went to an aquarium yesterday and while looking at the fish and all the different forms of life at the aquraium I found I felt compassion towards all the animals no matter how large or small, this was very rewarding to me because I have never felt this compassion before towards animals like I did. This in turn made me contemplate awareness more and I found that I was marveling at the complexity and simplicity of life in this place and how precious and wonderful it really was, it almost brought tears to my eyes.
It feels very good, I feel like I am starting to find some sort of peace that I have never found before.
thanks!
Sean
In the last couple of weeks I've started to understand what sunyata means and am contemplating it pretty regularly.
My question is, as I begin to regularly contemplate sunyata and associate more with awareness, is it normal to do so? Or is it not good to get too absorbed in awareness.
Throughout my day now, when not too burdened by thought, I try to re-align myself with awareness and contemplate it for a moment or two. By doing this I seem to be gaining a better understanding of what it is and feel more complete and one.
I fear that I might be getting too attached to this, but in the sense of awareness is this ok to be "attached" to the idea?
I'm trying not to slip into pitfalls but without guidance (at the moment I havent found a teacher in my area) i feel like I might come across these pitfalls and am trying to do my best to avoid them.
I went to an aquarium yesterday and while looking at the fish and all the different forms of life at the aquraium I found I felt compassion towards all the animals no matter how large or small, this was very rewarding to me because I have never felt this compassion before towards animals like I did. This in turn made me contemplate awareness more and I found that I was marveling at the complexity and simplicity of life in this place and how precious and wonderful it really was, it almost brought tears to my eyes.
It feels very good, I feel like I am starting to find some sort of peace that I have never found before.
thanks!
Sean
0
Comments
Sean is this similar to what you are refering to---
Sunyata (Emptiness) in the Mahayana Context
1. Sunyata (Emptiness) is the profound meaning of the Mahayana
Teaching.
Two thousand five hundred years ago, the Buddha was able to realise
"emptiness" (s. sunyata). By doing so he freed himself from
unsatisfactoriness (s. dukkha). From the standpoint of enlightenment,
sunyata is the reality of all worldly existences (s. dharma). It is the
realisation of Bodhi - Prajna. From the standpoint of liberation,
sunyata is the skilful means that disentangle oneself from defilement
and unsatisfactoriness. The realisation of sunyata leads one to no
attachment and clinging. It is the skilful means towards enlightenment
and also the fruit of enlightenment.
or
Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit) or Suññatā (Pāli) is a term, translated as "Emptiness" or "Voidness", which constitutes an aspect of the Buddhist metaphysical critique as well as Buddhist epistemology and phenomenology. Śūnyatā signifies that everything one encounters in life is empty of soul, permanence, and self-nature. Everything is inter-related, never self-sufficient or independent; nothing has independent reality. Yet śūnyatā never connotes nihilism, which Buddhist doctrine considers to be a delusion, just as it considers materialism to be a delusion. (as per Wikipedia)
IMO it is another concept to be contemplated and then let go of.
--Tich Naht Hahn
Between Shunya and the mundane there is no difference.'