What Everyone Should Know About Emptiness

How to End All Emotional Pain
Using Ultimate Bodhichitta

Buddhist Dharma Jewel
For Ending Emotional Pain

Emptiness of the Self

© 2010 by Doug Remington

Basically it's the same idea that comes to us Westerners from the Ancient Greek Philosophy of Ontology. Ontology is the science of determining what's real. We all think, my emotional pain is real. So what has this got to do with Ontology?

Understanding Emptiness and understanding Ontology is quite similar. I believe these ancient ideas come to us from the ancient Aryans, who gave us the Sanskrit language and influenced most of the civilized world. From the ancient Greek Philosophy of Logic, written in ancient Greek – we get what is called a Tetralema. This is the logic used in all computers today. In fact it's probably the logic used, sorting information in the computer you are using presently to read this information.

Nagarjuna was an ancient, Indian Buddhist who wrote his treatise on Emptiness – in Sanskrit – using this same Tetralema Logic – in the first chapter of his book, Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle way. Sanskrit is considered by some to be the oldest language. Ancient Greek uses the same grammar rules as Sanskrit and some of the words are the same. So there was probably some interaction in those ancient societies.

Aristotle and Buddha were contemporaries. They both founded schools of philosophy about 2,500 years ago. And although they are from different parts of the world, the philosophies are quite similar, that is, emptiness and ontology.

Emptiness and ontology never attempt to prove the non-existence of any thing. Instead the emphasis is always in doubting it's reality by using logic and reason. A rainbow exists, but it's not real so to speak. It comes about as a result of causes and conditions. When these conditions of water vapor and sunlight are present, the rainbow appears.

The same is true of a mirage. When the causes and conditions of heat coming off desert sand or a hot paved road, and the angle of the light hitting it is just right, the mirage appears. It appears as water. But is it really water?

Emptiness is more like a mirage or a rainbow. How it appears is not how it actually exists.

All this is complicated by the fact that emptiness is not understood through the intellect.

But when a formal and accepted definition is offered, unless a person has actually realized emptiness, the definition itself sounds absurd.

Please don't be confused or deterred by the seemingly ridiculousness and absurdness of the following definition of emptiness:

“The precise nature of emptiness is, “Unknowable by analogy.” It transcends all conceptual fabrication. Therefore no example, sign or expression can describe what it is. In fact the only way to lead a disciple to an understanding of it, is to describe what it is not. Thus the Buddha taught that emptiness neither arises nor ceases, is neither one nor many, neither comes nor goes, and is neither existent or nor non-existent. Experiencing it directly with the correct knowledge arising from meditative concentration is the only way to realize it. Otherwise it's impossible to understand it. Someone else can not demonstrate it or show it to us.

That's the bad part!

But here's the good part. With the proper instruction which follows, it is easy to realize the emptiness of emotional pain – thereby ending it!

There are 5 levels of Mahayana realization. And these same levels are accepted in all the major schools of Buddhism that teach Buddha's Dharma called, “NO Self.” It's called, “Anatta,” in Pali for Terevadas. And, “Non Autman,” in Sanskrit for Vajrayana and Zen.

(1,) First Level: The Path of Accumulation. This happens when there is enough information that a person actually wants to try to realize emptiness based on logic. The information presented here will easily help a person enter this First Path and realize the importance of a Second Path realization.

(2,) Second Level: The Path of Preparation: This happens when there is an inferential realization of emptiness. We see smoke coming from a chimney. Inferentially we come to understand there is a fire in the fireplace or wherever. This is not something we realize. Rather it's an intellectual understanding. But inferentially it's easily possible to gain a realization of emptiness. The information presented here will help a person enter this path and have the inferential realization.

When this happens, the person will have direct proof that realizing emptiness of the self ends emotional pain.

The only thing wrong with this path is that it is temporary. Although the emotional pain is ended, it does return easily. There's nothing permanent about this path.

(3,) Third Level: Direct realization of emptiness. 90% of the intellectually formed delusion that cause emotional pain are permanently destroyed. Serious study of emptiness is required to have this experience.

(4,) Fourth Level: The Path of Meditation. More intellectually formed delusions are destroyed. Serious study is required.

(5,) Fifth Level: The Path of No More Learning. All emotional pain is ended and will never return. It's the realization of a Buddha.

Without further ado, here is the Tetralema Logic for realizing the emptiness of Self. There are Dharma Jewels for ending specific emotional pain: that is, each of the tree poisons greed, Anger, and Ignorance. But here is a general meditation that will ultimately end all emotional pain: that is, it's a Dharma Jewel for ending all emotional pain.

For the self to be real, it would have to be either a

First: Part of the Body.

Second: Part of the Mind

Third: Part of the mind and body complex.

Fourth: or the self would have to be something totally outside the body-mind complex altogether.

Otherwise it could not be real.

There can be no fifth possibility. We will attempt to prove logically that the ego self, suffering with emotional pain can not be real because it does not exist in any of the above 4 mentioned ways. No, we are not trying to prove that the emotional pain does not exist – only that it's not real: that is, it has no intrinsic reality.

First: the self can't be a part of the body. If we analyze, the self does not relate to any of the body parts, like the hand heart and stomach. It is not the senses themselves: that is, hearing, smelling etc. It is not the sense percepters themselves like the eyes, nose, tongue, etc. The self doesn't see for example. It's the eyes that see.

Additionally the ego self does consider itself to be the body or any of it's parts. This is because the self refers to the body and all body parts as mine. If the self possesses the body and all of it's parts, it can't be the body. This is because the possessor and that which it possesses must be different. Possession can't happen unless there's difference.

For these reasons the self can't be part of the body.

Secondly: The self can't be the mind either. There is a depressed self and an angry self. Is this the same self? How many selves are there? The self has thousands of moods it seems. Can all these moods be a different self. And besides all emotional pain works on the self to aggravate it in various ways. In order for this to happen, the self can't be the mind. The ax that chops wood is different than the wood it chops. A pen that writes a letter must be different than the letter it writes, etc. Therefore, the self must be different from the mind. And again, the self refers to the mind as, my mind. In which case the self can't be the mind either. 

Thirdly: the self can't be a combination of the mind and body. If the self is not either the body or the mind, it therefore, can't be a combination of the mind and body.

Fourthly: And the only place left for the self to reside – if it were real – is that it's something totally outside the mind-body complex. If that were true, then the self would be able to exist one place and the body and mind in another place. Obviously this can't happen. Therefore the self is not something outside the body mind complex.

And since the self can't exist in any of the above 4 ways, it can't be real. The realization comes as a non-affirming negative. That is, the meditation is on what the self is not.

How long does it take to realize this fact? Once the logic is understood, not long. Meditation is necessary. But you say, I don't meditate. Formal meditation is not necessary. Just sit thinking about the one's emotional pain logically is all that's necessary.

Question:

Thinking about the logic, do I open or close my eyes?

Answer:

It doesn't matter.

-----

Question:

Do I play soft music or light candles?

Answer:

It doesn't matter.

-----

Question:

Do I lie down or sit up?

Answer:

It doesn't matter.

Formal meditation is better of course. But if a person will only do this for as little as 30 minutes a day for a few weeks, there will be an inferential realization of emptiness. And from then on the person can use this Dharma Jewel to end his or her emotional pain whenever it arises.

There is at least one good thing about emotional suffering. It' this, the only way a person can learn about emotional pain and how to pacify it, is when the person is actually suffering from emotional pain.

All of this information comes from the 100,000 line Heart Sutra, and is condensed in Nagarjuna's Treatise on Emptiness called, Fundamental Wisdom Of The Middle Way.

For those who would like to study emptiness with a qualified teacher, I recommend his book:

The son of Wisdom

Teachings on Noble Nagarjuna's

Fundamental Wisdom Of The Middle Way

By Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso

This guy is a Tibetan Lama -- not Zen. But there are ZERO good Zen books on Emptiness. 

I have read many books on emptiness. I never really understood it until I read this simple and easy to understand book. It's written using few big words and mostly in a style that's down to earth and practical. Very little commentary. Easy to understand. And practical so it can be easily applied to daily life.

The Dharma Jewels that I offer on the rest of the web site deal with specific meditations for dealing with the specific emotional pain of greed, anger, fear, depression and guilt. These too come from the 100,000 line Heart Sutra, condensed in his book, Fundamental Wisdom Of The Middle Way.

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