Negative Emotions and Emptiness

Jeffrey

I was struck by this quote in my coursepack:

"The basic nature of negative emotions is the basic nature of the state of Buddhahood. If a meditator seeks emptiness apart from the negative emotions his search will be in vain. If he contemplates the negative emotions as emptiness he is said to be engaged in right practice."

~From The Inconceivable State of Buddhahood


This meshed with my observation that if you have like a feeling of deprivation if you examine that feeling and find it in the body (or not) it just can dissolve or become not so much a problem.

Invincible_summer

Everything is empty, right? Nice things, not so nice things...

Jeffrey

Yes and i think there is a relief in seeing your negative emotions as aspects of empty mind. It is like waking from a dream.

Incidentally I had a dream last night that I found my dog chewing on a toxic chemical bottle that contained tetrahydro furan, a solvent from my days in labs and school. I thought it was the worst toxin and I had killed him. Waking from that dream is a relief to know that nobody is hurt.

Similarly my frustration of not living a conventional life and being isolated socially is also just a body feeling. That's not to say I make it go away but rather I recognize it as complex emotions and take courage to relax.

lobster

Emptiness is not quite the right word for me somehow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Śūnyatā

Unformed, uncreated even unattached perhaps . . .
The innate quality, when examined independently of associative arisings is the same for all experiences . . . it is essenceless

"Since everything is an apparition, perfect in just being what it is, as it is. Having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection... You might as well burst out laughing!"
-Tibetan Dzogchen Master Longchenpa (1308-1369)

:thumbsup:

taiyaki

Nothing is established.

That alone makes things workable.