Emptiness has been one of the most important themes in Buddhist teachings since their very beginning. This talk will explore how the realization of emptiness unfolds in us through dharma practice to lead to greater and greater degrees of freedom.
Meditation is often approached from the standpoint of a person who ‘does’ the meditating. This self view is not a position that will give rise to calm or release – it’s the condition we want to be released from. Meditation can be used to change the ways we attend that form the separate self. Eventually the steadiness of mindfulness, rather than the ‘I am’ sense’, can become the orientation.
Citta jumps and rushes towards experience it thinks will bring security. It’s a compulsion, an addiction. But citta can turn, starting with disengagement, then stabilizing and calming. Settle into the happiness of these effects, and you have a good foundation to eliminate the irrational drives and compulsions that cause suffering.
In meditation we rest into what’s always here. Like dropping a net into the river and seeing what we catch, we simply take note with awareness, deep listening and open presence. Use structures and qualities as a skillful tetherings, to turn citta away from the complexity of stimulation, activity and abstraction. When energies are no longer running out, citta settles in itself. This is samādhi.
