Emptiness Is Me

"You can meditate on emptiness in different ways. Sometimes meditate by focusing on the I, as I described before, and try to get an idea of the emptiness of the I. You may have the experience of everything dissolving. There is nothing there—no color or form—but it is still just ordinary emptiness. In the middle of this space, you may have the feeling of me; that there is an I in space meditating on dharmakaya. That I who is meditating in space is what has to be negated or destroyed. That is the target to hit with the atomic bomb of dependent arising. Identify that as the refuted object, false, hallucination, totally non-existent.

Sometimes you can meditate on emptiness by applying the same analysis to the eight visions as the elements absorb. There is no other way for the visions to appear except the false way, as existing from their own side. For example, the black near-attainment vision appears as inherently existent, that is, as something real from there, as existing there on the base. Then you meditate, “A real black near-attainment vision appearing from there does not exist there.”

If you are familiar with the refuted object and can recognize it easily, you do not need many words. Simply saying, “This is the refuted object” will facilitate your understanding that it is empty. If you can do this, you get into emptiness quickly. If you are not as familiar or cannot identify the refuted object properly, using logical reasoning is helpful. Whether you use many words and many logical reasons is up to you. It is your choice and depends on your familiarity with meditation on emptiness. See which way is most effective for you and do that.

After meditating on emptiness for a while, think that the wisdom seeing this emptiness experiences the greatest bliss non-dual with emptiness, and meditate on that experience a little bit. Then think, “This is my future, resultant holy mind, dharmakaya, the transcendental wisdom of non-dual bliss and emptiness of Yamantaka.” Make the determination, "This is me."

The most important meditation is practicing mindfulness of emptiness as described before. You can spend a weekend, a week, or even a month just practicing mindfulness in sitting meditation and in break times. It is extremely powerful. Break time does not mean a break from meditation but a break from sitting. You should continue your mindfulness in the break. In the morning, practice guru yoga and at the beginning of each meditation session do strong preliminary practices. Then focus on the different methods of analysis in your sessions. You can recite the Heart Sutra each session or even do retreat on the Heart Sutra or on the Perfection of Wisdom. If you really try to do this, your view of yourself and the world will change. Due to that, your attitude towards life will be totally different. You will see the interesting movie of your own mind.

The vipassana people do very strict, intensive retreats and always practice mindfulness. It would be good if you could practice with this intensity and strong focus, but your object of mindfulness should be different. Theirs is just walking, breathing, and sensations in the body. I have not heard of common vipassana meditation related to emptiness, where you are aware of the false appearance and the false view. If you could meditate as intensively as they do but use the methods described here, you would definitely cut the root of samsara.

In our courses, we tend to have many teachings and less meditation, and people lack the time to digest or experience the Dharma. You need to continue to meditate after the course. On the other hand, if we had less information and more meditation, people would not get a broad view of Buddhadharma. They might have some experience, but their general knowledge would be limited. When time is short, people cannot get much of an idea about the path to enlightenment. Learning the Four Noble Truths is good, but it is also limited, and so the purpose of your life becomes limited. Hearing teachings on bodhicitta and the Mahayana path makes the goal of your life profound and vast, like the sky. This is the idea behind the Kopan courses. People get a broad view of the path, depending on how much of the lam-rim is covered. In addition, they get some philosophical teachings and do some meditation. Many different types of people come to the courses. Some need more information, some need more meditation." -- Lama Yeshe