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I think I've made a start to realising what Emptiness is...
Tosh
Veteran
I think I've made a start to realising what Emptiness is.
I've had trouble with understanding this Emptiness business, but this evening I think I may have started to realise what it actually is.
Here's some background first. I have a 14 year old daughter, with all the suffering that entails! But, for a few weeks now, when we interact together, I have been trying to imagine that she's my Mother from a previous life; and it's really been working and our relationship has greatly improved.
It makes me speak to her on a more human-to-human level, rather than from an authoritarian position of father to daughter.
I initially thought that this was because it deflates my ego when I speak to her; but a thought occurred to me that it could also be because when I imagine her to be my mother from a previous life, I am forgetting all about our previous history of stroppiness, bad behaviour, and cheekiness; i.e. I'm not labelling her in a negative way.
So, is this a start to the realisation of 'Emptiness'?
I've had trouble with understanding this Emptiness business, but this evening I think I may have started to realise what it actually is.
Here's some background first. I have a 14 year old daughter, with all the suffering that entails! But, for a few weeks now, when we interact together, I have been trying to imagine that she's my Mother from a previous life; and it's really been working and our relationship has greatly improved.
It makes me speak to her on a more human-to-human level, rather than from an authoritarian position of father to daughter.
I initially thought that this was because it deflates my ego when I speak to her; but a thought occurred to me that it could also be because when I imagine her to be my mother from a previous life, I am forgetting all about our previous history of stroppiness, bad behaviour, and cheekiness; i.e. I'm not labelling her in a negative way.
So, is this a start to the realisation of 'Emptiness'?
0
Comments
Drugs Increase Delusion.
The impermanent nature of reality, your death.. your daughter's death.
Everyone's substance is fleeting and essentially empty, whatever arises in this world is also empty and impermanent.. it's emotions, thoughts, images, sensations..
All coming and going.. changing, never staying..
When you accept this fully, you can treat your daughter with compassion. Realizing that what has happened yesterday has passed and is rotting away..
Please let go of these concepts. Concentrate on what's actually happening. Go meditate and see all these things come and go for yourself, it's painfully simple.
Come off the delusion, why imagine when all the answers are right in front of you.
Accept the nature of reality and let go.
It's time to stop beating around the bush.
I would think of some crazy concept, then I would want to tell it to my friends, so I'd start speaking, but in my mind I would have to go back to the concept in order to describe it, but upon going back to the concept, I just remember thinking "what?" because I was looking at the concept and trying to find its nature so I could describe it, and saw how it was empty, and i couldn't finish explaining. This is a very poor description of the experience but it's the best I could do with this english language. That was at the beginning of my trip. The whole rest of the day I said the word "nothing" dozens of times. I had koan experiences. I would ask myself "what?" which would then point to mind, and then "it's nothing!"
Check this link out http://www.brainwave-sync.com/page.html?id=10
I am not making another post condemning all drug usage as right, I am fully aware of the precepts but this substance in particular is in my opinion a different matter entirely. I do not take any sibstances now and have not for a long period of time, they are for the most part destructive and a hindrance.
At one time I considered myself a Gnostic Christian, and in one of the Gnostic texts Jesus says that the man who has found the world has found a corpse.
I was looking out the window the other day when the truth of the saying hit me, phenomena are dead, the world is a corpse. Things aren't inhabited by life, at their core they are void.
Correct It is an assumption, Putting Intoxicants into the system dont result in Natural clarity, It can in some cases result in Induced clairty like hallucination but now where near the bliss of actual insight and concentration, It is an obstruction in itself to make the mistake of thinking that Drugs that are well known for their Hallucinagenic qualities will produce anything other then Hallucinations, Realization and insight come through turning the mind Inwards Buddha never reconmended this approach as it is like getting lost In a Dream within a Dream where you struggle to tell the difference between what is a correct path and what May be similar to but not.
The drug is just molecules. They are not part of this discussion. what is being discussed is their effect. a COMPLETELY different thing. I don't think that these effects are "well known." I mean direct experience. Yes, there are many well-known ideas regarding them, but I tell you it is dangerous to go by these.
What I have found through direct experience is that psilocybin temporarily increases certain facilities that are already present when we're sober. The same facilities that a meditator cultivates! They allow for extreme concentration on the present moment, and an extremely un-biased experience, because they somehow temporarily minimize the mind's conditioning. That's the best I can explain it. I will also say that in the four or five times I took psilocybin, and the one time i took LSD, not once did something that wasn't there appear in my vision, and nothing went wavy or changed shape or color.
I don't do drugs anymore. But I don't like when people make claims about the direct experience that contradict what I have directly experienced.
Like you said I think it can be very helpful. But for me the dangerous part of it was that it leads to an addiction to stimulation. Which is not good. For meditation practice or life in general. I figured, smoking marijuana very infrequently would be a good compromise. But just like how fat people on diets never actually stick to their diets, I knew that I would not be able to keep my use down to a minimum. I used to love marijuana, it used to be my life, but now I am not going to do it ever. And I really do feel like I'm on the right track. You can feel it! It's freedom.
It ripped me from myself, forced me to confront reality as it was.. all my mind could do was define life as insane.. therefore suicidal thoughts, depression, panic attacks.. etc.. some of which continued after my trip.. which eventually led me to the Buddha Dharma and the nature of the mind..
Enabled me to see how I created this reality thru words, and whilst meditating saw the impermanent nature of these things.. and how I really didn't know what life was..
These drugs are dangerous.. LSD may lead you to come face to face with your delusion.. but it can also lead you down the illusory existential rabbit hole which leads to the loony bin if you aren't mindful .. (which isn't what you are on intoxicants).
Therefore, take it easy.. you have time.
It's been a year since my trip and subsequent panic attacks for a few months based on 'absurdity' of life.. and existential angst.. to finally see thru meditation what hell I've been creating for myself..
The druggie 'enlightenment' 'bliss' blah blah path doesn't exist..
Different states of bliss, love, happiness, sadness, depression, euphoria will come and go .. whichever state you attach to you will become.. (you become your thoughts essentially as they shape reality) as Buddha succinctly describes..
It's all really testable.. but what if you accept that you know nothing.. you no longer believe in the interpretations of these thoughts, emotions, sensations, images.. just rest.
Do absolutely nothing and let go.
And so it goes.. Forget all the drugs, just be mindful
Pretty soon it'll be effortless and you won't need anything or anybody to tell you what's up you'll naturally follow the path Buddha set out for us and see intuitively that everything is just as it is..
Meditate and see for yourself.
Intoxicants lead to futher Delusion, If they where a source of true happiness you would be without problems now and the more you would have the more your happiness would increase...But we know this not to be true now dont we
But, just to make you smile, here's what happened after a lesson on Emptiness at my local Buddhist centre:
I was having a chat with a monk and I remarked that "I think being a Geordie (joking that Geordies are thick) is a bar to understanding Emptiness!"
The monk replied, "Point to me where a Geordie is!"
I'll get it from Amazon; thanks.
I think emptiness is one of the hardest concepts to understand in buddhism, but it is only one part of it remember. I personally like to start with compassion, leading a clean honest life and things that are pure and innocent such as this. Then work my way into the deeper concepts as I go. But good luck anyway
What is Bristol? Take away the daft accents, is that still Bristol? Probably!
Yes, Tom, I live in Chepstow and I'm a fairly frequent visitor to the Amitabh Centre on the Gloucester Road. I can see the bridge from where I'm sat!
I hope it's warmer in Thailand than it is here!
I see you have been influenced by your talk with the monk today, they have that affect on you lol. Today I have been trying to examine how things come into being due to causation and how they come to their cessation through the cause that brought them into being. All because I read a little of what a monk had written somewhere :P
It is warmer in thailand yes, very much so. I have adapted to the heat though and seeing as the 'cool' season is approaching, I notice it. Last night I was laying outside under the stars at around 2am and it was nearly cool enough to want to put a t shirt back on. When I come home over xmas I am in for a shock I am sure
Hehe Excellent
And what you said about "do absolutely nothing and let go" I think is unrealistic. The Buddha himself taught the fourth noble truth. And he himself took 6 years. I think it takes a lot of gradual change to get to the goal. All I'm saying about drugs is that they can be a powerful tool to help us make this change. To be clear, I believe that after one has progressed to a certain level, drugs will not be much help anymore, and because of their problems, he should no longer use drugs. This certain level is around the beginning of the path too. But I believe that at that point in the path, they can be quite powerful, getting a lot of progress done in a short amount of time.
I never said that drugs were a source of true happiness. We do indeed know that to be the case, so I am confused about why you said that. I hope you didn't misunderstand me. I will explain more.
"Intoxicants lead to further Delusion" you said. Again you are generalizing, and I have had direct experience that is a logical counter-example to your claim. Not only did I have an experience which led to a temporary decrease in delusion, but this same experience caused me to realize the degree of delusion usually filling my mind when I was not on any drug. That is an important step in the process of decreasing delusion. Also, I would like to mention that meditation can cause delusion too. I know when I started meditating I would come away with delusional ideas. I still do, but less. Also you said "If they where a source of true happiness you would be without problems now." I have been following the Buddhist path, and I am not without problems now. So should I avoid meditating? No. Because it helps. That's the claim I am making about drugs. They can help. Another claim I have made is that no drug should be taken too many times, for various reasons. Please do not judge my words without reading them carefully.
I hope I have made myself clear. I do approve of abstaining from drugs entirely even though they can be helpful. I just would like to share my observation of how helpful they can be.
To NOT answer your question, I think we need to stop trying to measure our progress, especially using our mind to get us there when it is our thoughts that are a big part of the barrier to enlightenment. Relax and enjoy the journey.