It’s everywhere. It’s everywhere. (Who is she?)
Review
Every realthing (every thing or situation in the real world) is a story.
Our inner Goddess Samsara learned or created these stories, in order to help us meet Basic Human Needs.
We cling desperately to these stories. This clinging, is the essence of what it means to be ‘real’. If we say a thing is ‘real’, then we are desperately clinging to its story.
We emptify a realthing (in other words, we realize a thing or a situation’s Emptiness) when we accept that the realthing is only a story, and we stop clinging to that story.
(If these notes don’t make sense, check out the ‘Samsara the Goddess’ essays. Go to http://ompoem.com/ and skip the ‘subscribe’ option.)
Avoid the G.R.U.N.GE. Five ways to WRECK Emptiness:
G-rasping: believing there is a thing called Emptiness, reaching for it, and craving to possess it.
R-emembering: grasping for a remembered experience or practice, instead of practicing in the present moment.
U-nderstanding: understanding a practice without actually doing it. Understanding is useless at this point. You’ve got to LOOK! Again and again and again.
N-egativity: abusing yourself because you’re not feeling successful at a practice.
G-igantic E-go: big egos beware. These games ARE DESIGNED to shrink your ego down to the size of a grain of sand.
Introduction
Visualize this! Imagine that! EMPTINESS!
It’s all over the place. There are COUNTLESS Buddhist paths to Emptiness.
I want a simple path, which sits right in front of my Western smartphone-addicted face. I want to shop at the Emptiness convenience store and buy Emptiness potato chips. I want Manjushri’s pocket knife.
I suppose there is a price to pay for not dedicating myself to years of learned teachers, thick books and Preliminary Practices. On the other hand, maybe cheap Emptiness and expensive Emptiness are the same stuff? What’s the difference between ‘phenomena arising dependent on causes and conditions’ - that isn’t there, and some chewed gum under the table - that isn’t there? If it ain’t there, it ain’t there.
This post is a collection of quick-and-easy recipes for Emptiness. Some are classic; some I made up. Being that I’m bumbling down the path, I encourage you, dear readers, to create your own recipes and variations. The possibilities are endless.
Lately, every time I turn around I find myself suffering. :(
And the thought occurs to me: “Hey. Ouch. This dang suffering would disappear if I just cooked up some Emptiness.”
So I spend more and more of my time cooking.
Warning warning warning
Beware of plunging into nothingness and nihilism. We are generally so STUCK to the real world, that we see ‘unstuck’ as the opposite — nothingness. I do it all the time. I walk around chanting ‘zilch zilch zilch zilch…’
But if we actually feel ourselves falling over the edge into nothingness and nihilism, put on the brakes. We’re not trying to explode our brains. Our intention is to zero in on the Middle Way.
Emptiness Snacks and Recipes
~~ Life Is But a Dream ~~
Pretend you are dreaming. Imagine everything as if it were a dream. This is a traditional Buddhist preparation for realizing Emptiness.
I love this recipe because it’s easy and almost instant.
Does it prepare one for realizing Emptiness? After a few years of doing this practice, I’m suspicious that it’s not preparation; it’s the real thing. We ARE living in a dream. Are we?
Seriously, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE between waking reality and dream reality?
Imagine what awaits, if we allow this real world to be/become a dream.
“This is my dream. This is my dream. This is my dream…”
~~ Mirror Wisdom ~~
Many Buddhist traditions include practice with a mirror.
Imagine ALL THINGS Everywhere Inside and out In every direction As reflections in a mirror Tireless dancing Untouchable Lighter than light True yet False Complete yet Empty
~~ Concentrate —> ~~
The object of your concentration doesn’t matter. Concentrate on one thing, or several things in a circle.
Feet in shoes (walking). Hands in pockets. Wind on face. Sound of raindrops. Something catches the eye; concentrate on that. Something beautiful. Something ugly. It’s a practice and not a practice.
Within the Six Perfections we find a heavenly mathematical equation. This equation is an anchor and a foundation. IT’S LIKE BEDROCK.
Joyful Effort + Concentration = Wisdom (Emptiness)
When my practice goes to hell, this equation saves me.
Regarding Shamatha. Shamatha (Calm Abiding) is highly skilled concentration. Shamatha allows meditators to focus steadily on an object, for like forever.
Nope! Shamatha is not an endurance sport. Shamatha is for the NEXT THREE MINUTES. It’s for revealing what is right now, in front of your face. If you can focus like a hawk for 15 SECONDS (which is forever in Nirvana-time) you’ve got it made in the shade.
~~ Ouch! ~~
It’s easy to meditate on suffering, because the pain frames and focuses our attention. Concentrate on the ouch until it reveals it’s Emptiness. This works with emotional and physical suffering.
I’m not blowing hot air. This is a serious tool for grabbing a handful of Emptiness.
Suppose I’m lost and drowning. I’ve tried everything and I can’t stop the MONKEY MIND. Where the heck did Dharma go? I’m on a klesha merry-go-round. What to do?
There’s a fix — SUFFERING. If I weren’t in touch with the discomfort and pain, I wouldn’t be complaining. So there the ouch sits, in plain view, impossible to miss. CONCENTRATE ON IT!
~~ The Present Moment ~~
Hang out in the present moment. You can get a lot of milage from this one.
Watch the present moment
Feel the touch of the present moment
Hear the song of the present moment
Dance to the present moment
Balance on the present moment
Watch it’s birth and death
Find the terror
Find the bliss
And when the sh!t hits the fan
TAKE REFUGE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT!!!
But I thought we were supposed to take refuge in the Buddha?
(It’s the same thing :))
~~ Pretend You’re Already There! ~~
Pretend — that you are selfless.
Pretend — you are Enlightened.
You already know Nirvana.
You just don’t know you know it.
Anyway, it’s all TRUE. Right?
So you’re not actually pretending.
~~ Infinite Patience ~~
The next time you walk across a room or down a hall, let it take forever. Wait for a call from Bodhicitta before each footstep.
It’s fun in a cafe. With each step you will broadcast Emptiness to everyone in the house. Out of the corner of your eye you’ll see other people walking weirdly. Spread the Dharma!
No infinite patience while driving, please.
~~ Where is I ? ~~
Go on a manhunt (or womanhunt?) for the dastardly ego-maniacal fugitive a.k.a. ‘I’. Scan your universe. Do a serious search. They MUST be somewhere. Behind the door. Under the bed. Where is that son-of-a-bitch?
This is NOT NOT NOT a practice to do once, in order to learn the answer. Whenever it feels like your ‘I’ is crushing you, DO THE PRACTICE. Do it again and again.
~~ Who Decides? ~~
This one is difficult.
I personally, do one thing after another. You too?
Who decides to do the things I do? Well mostly they just happen One thing happens after another Like rain or a rockslide. I don't remember deciding But I don't think I'm possessed or controlled by aliens So if anyone decided It must have been me. But did I actually decide? Maybe I was just asleep at the wheel And some reflex inside my brain Made the decisions. Sometimes I do Consciously make a decision. But now I wonder Who decided to consciously make that decision. OK, lets watch and see. Where in hell decisions come from? Fingers type letters Eyes glance around Ears hear music The dude at the next table Fumbles with food I feel my palms on the laptop OMG - I breathed! Oh no - I laughed Who decided all that stuff?
I find this line of introspection to be slightly radioactive. But dip your toe in the water.
~~ Shrinking Shrinking ~~
Take a look at your normal waking reality. Imagine a blob in the center, which is you perceiving everything. Now begin shrinking the blob, smaller and smaller. Shrink it until (BLIP!) it disappears.
Or
Get a sense of your self and your ego. Then begin repeating, “less and less and less …” With each “less” feel your self shrinking smaller, and smaller, and smaller...
~~ First Time, Last Time ~~
Look around and imagine you are seeing everything for the FIRST time (before the Goddess Samsara gets her mitts on it, and covers it with gobs of samsaric sludge).
Now look around and imagine you are seeing everything for the very LAST time.
‘First Time’ make sense. But ‘Last Time’ works too. I wonder why?
~~ Contemplate :( Death ~~
Imagine your death. Imagine the cremation and funeral. Walk around and imagine the world without you. Imagine the infinitude of beings who died before you, and the infinitude who will die after.
Compare death by impermanence, to death because your were born. From your perspective (not Buddhist dogma) are they the same?
“I am dead, this is my death, I am dead, this is my death...”
I’m dead as a doornail. I’m 99% ghost. I’m one of a million marching zombies, all lost and forgotten.
~~ Pendulum ~~
Imagine everything that you see is Empty. Now see it as real, then Empty, then real, … Back and forth.
A lama told me there was a mudra to go along with this. If I remember correctly, it was ‘palm facing outward’ for real, and ‘palm facing inward’ for Empty. Palm out, palm in, palm out, palm in…
“Nothing. Something. Nothing. Something. Nothing…”
~~ The Eyeball 👁️ ~~
You are like an camera Which photographs ALL things Inner things and Outer things But In all the vast universe Throughout endless time A camera Can not photograph it’s own film You are like an eyeball Which sees ALL things Inner things and Outer things But In all the vast universe Throughout endless time An eyeball Can never ever look at itself You are a self Which perceives ALL things Inner things and Outer things But In all the vast universe Throughout endless time You cannot perceive, that which perceives You cannot perceive your self
~~ Shut the F*** Up! ~~
In other words, STOP THINKING. Complete inner SILENCE. This is a drastic solution but sometimes it’s the only way.
~~ Squint Your Eyes ~~
Half-closing the eyes, making everything a little blurry, causes Samsara to loosen her fierce grip. It quiets the mind.
Alternatively, one can focus on the sharp division between the half-closed upper eyelid and the visible panorama.
Almost every single Buddha statue in the world has half-closed eyes. IT EVEN WORKS IN THE DARK!
~~ No Preference, No Self ~~
If you sit quietly, without an agenda, without wanting anything, there ain’t no self. The self only arises when you want something. True? This is a classic snack.
I give up I give up I give up
~~ Read and Reread the Heart Sutra ~~
People read the Heart Sutra but don’t really buy into it. They look at it like a strange animal at the zoo.
But if you take it seriously, the Heart Sutra is like getting repeatedly hit over the head with a rock. Sooner or later your skull is going to crack.
Of course your skull is pretty thick, so it’s going to take a while.
~~ Mantras ~~
There are probably hundreds of Emptiness mantras.
Vajrasattva
Memorize in Tibetan or Sanskrit, the short or long version. (I use the long,100 syllable version)
Within the thunderstorm of afflictions A quiet universe in each successive word
Mandala Offering
“Om idam guru ratna mandalakam niryātayāmi”
I offer this jeweled mandala offering up to the guru (Buddha, Lineage or Emptiness)
Offer it up One thing after another Until there’s nothing left!
The Heart Sutra mantra
“Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā”
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, awakening, svāhā! (so be it!)
Mine
“Nothing - Nada - Nil - Mu - Zilch - Zero…” (all day yesterday)
“Less and less and less…”
“Empty empty empty empty…” (for high stress situations)
“I am dead. This is the moment of my death…”
“This is my dream. This is my dream…” (discovered this morning while trying to get out of bed)
MAKE ONE UP!
~~ Body Awareness ~~
Regarding extended concentration on the body, and ‘body work’, as in Yoga, Tai chi, Qigong, Feldenkrais, Alexander…
These practices support Emptiness. Body work practitioners know this without thinking.
Body Awareness silences and refocuses the mind. It strengthens intension. It involves lots of concentration practice. It sort of throws one into a stable wordless reality that’s highly compatible with Emptiness (maybe it should be it’s own realm).
(Of course one can nullify these nice effects by practicing with a goal-oriented, ‘achieve a perfect posture’ sort of attitude.)
~~ General Awareness ~~
Such a simple recipe. Look…
Conclusion
I hope this helps.
Empty - empty - empty - empty …
Editing and re-editing this post made me high as a kite.
Maybe I’ll make a set of cards. Whenever I have a spare moment I’ll pick a card and BOOM!