Emptiness and Joyful Freedom

by Greg Goode

  Another way to approach this issue of parity between teachings is to remember that the emptiness teachings can be combined with a wide variety of other spiritual forms. The total benefits one enjoys are never due to only one thing. And no one recommends that emptiness meditations be the only spiritual or therapeutic activity that one engages in.

  You can be a Buddhist or non-dualist or Western monotheist or member of other traditions, and can reap the benefits of emptiness teachings. Your other spiritual activities will condition the flavor of emptiness. They will assist in the realization of emptiness and the enhancement of compassion. And they will also help your emptiness realizations transcend conceptuality and thus go beyond limits and partiality.

  Q: Who would serve as a suitable role model that Western philosophies could point to? Who can I emulate?

  A: As impressive as our Western non-essentialists can be (Sextus, Hume, Heidegger, Derrida, Wittgenstein, Sellars and Quine), they don’t have the same international role model status as the Buddha and perhaps Nagarjuna. But again, this depends on your goals and standards. The question almost answers itself. If you want specifically to emulate the Buddha, you will probably be drawn to the Buddhist teachings. The Western philosophies can be used as a way to assist the practices of Buddhism, or to assist with other paths. You have the freedom to choose your role model, or to choose no role model at all.

  Q: Even among the tradition of Western non-essentialists, there are significant differences in terminology, background assumptions, purposes and goals. How do we harness all these teachings?

  A: It sounds confusing! But it needn’t be. The wide variety of Western philosophies and teachings can be used in several ways. You can devote your study to one thinker such as Sextus, Wittgenstein, Quine, Goodman, Rorty, or choose from a host of others. Or you can use different thinkers’ arguments for different issues. This requires a wider familiarity with the tradition, and perhaps a sympathetic guide or teacher. But it can be done.

  And once you get the taste of how the emptiness meditations work, you can easily generalize from the emptiness of one thing to the emptiness of another. This is exciting and sometimes even thrilling. We give tips on how this happens throughout the book.

  But it’s often best to start off following one bit of advice that the traditions themselves give to newcomers: “Go deep, not wide.”

  PART 2

  MEDITATIONS

  CHAPTER 8 – HOW TO MEDITATE ON EMPTINESS

  There are striking similarities between the Buddhist and Western approaches to investigating emptiness. In Buddhism, emptiness investigation is called “analytic meditation.” In Western approaches, this exploration can be called many other things. But since the procedures are quite similar, and for the sake of convenience, we’ll call them all meditations. Some of the meditations are more analytical, and some are more imaginative.

  Emptiness Meditation in a Nutshell

  This is a quick review. More details can be found in Chapter 2. The core activity is a sharply focused investigation. The goal of the investigation is to find an object that we feel exists in an objective or inherent way. The object is called the “target of refutation.” The investigation is logically structured so as to reveal this object if it truly exists. The investigation covers all the logical possibilities of where the object could be. But in some way or other, we fail to find the object.

  Sometimes we fail to find the object because we find its absence instead. Other times we fail to find it because the object can’t exist without generating a nest of logical inconsistencies and contradictions.

  The investigations are often similar to searching your house for your overcoat. You proceed room by room, looking in all the nooks and crannies. You look everywhere your overcoat could possibly be. When you have searched all the rooms, you are sure that your overcoat is not in the house.

  There are striking similarities between the Buddhist and Western approaches to investigating emptiness. In Buddhism, emptiness investigation is called “analytic meditation.” In Western approaches, this exploration can be called many other things. But since the procedures are quite similar, and for the sake of convenience, we’ll call them all “meditations” (though they could be called “investigations” or “experiments” just as well). Whether the meditations are more analytical or more imaginative, they all have an investigative, even deconstructive purpose. Their purpose is to help us find an object, state, or truth that seems to be inherently established. What we look for is called the “target of refutation.”

  We look for targets in various ways. In some meditations, such as in Chapter 10, where the self is investigated, we look closely for the pre-established self and fail to find it. Instead, we find its absence. In Chapter 11, we look for an inherent presence that serves as the basis for our experience and identity. Instead of finding a self-established presence, we find a kind of presence that is partially constituted by absence, the very opposite of what we were looking for.

  Many of the meditations in the book seem like creative visualizations. They may ask you to imagine things in new ways. They may even invoke a vast, open, oceanic feeling! But their purpose is primarily investigative. For example, we include Thich Nhat Hanh’s well known “Interbeing” meditation, in which we visualize various parts of the world in a simple sheet of paper. The investigative purpose is to use this relational way of looking at the world to critique the idea that objects re unrelated and pre-existent. The very possibility of a new alternative can be freeing, even if we don’t go with the new alternative. Sometimes our usual views and opinions get a feeling of inherency simply because we can’t conceive of an alternative. But the more open we are to alternatives about how things may be, the less we feel that any one way is inherently how they are. So when we visualize the world as related through a sheet of paper, it may provide a tiny sliver of openness. But this tiny sliver is all that emptiness needs to do its work!

  Doing the Meditations – General Tips

  The following tips are not ironclad rules, but they do take advantage of traditional wisdom on some of the mechanics of meditation.

  Find a quiet place. Find a peaceful, comfortable place where you will not be disturbed. This is helpful when you are learning how to do the meditations. The meditations can be subtle, so it helps to reduce environmental distractions as much as you can. Later, when you are more familiar with the patterns of the emptiness meditations, you’ll be able to do them even in the midst of noise and activity, such as in a subway car.

  Find a convenient time. Allow for at least 20 minutes in a session, though longer sessions are fine as well. Again, this is more important in the beginning, as you are trying to learn these meditations. Try to find a time in which the mind is not too sleepy and not too jumpy.

  Find a body position that allows you to be alert and comfortable. This is important in the beginning as well. You can sit on a cushion or on a chair. You can even lie down, as long as your position doesn’t bring on sleep! When you are more familiar with the meditations, you will be able to do them in a wider variety of positions and circumstances.

  Do a compassion meditation earlier on the same day. If you do a compassion meditation earlier on the same day, then your heart and mind will be more open and flexible when you get to the emptiness meditations. You’ll find the emptiness meditations much easier. The compassion meditation can be the well-known metta meditation, where you generate the sincere intent that sentient beings be happy, well and free of suffering. You begin by wishing this for yourself, and then include wider and wider circles of beings, such as loved ones, friends, strang ers, and even those you may have friction with. You may also include non-human sentient beings. For more information on the Metta meditation, see section “The First Stage– Generating Compassion” beginning on page 64.

  Identify the target of refutation. The target of refutation is the object that we think truly exists in an inherent way. Try to get a clear sense of what this object is, to what your fe
elings about inherent existence must be referring. For example, when meditating on the self, the target of refutation is not the ever-changing collection of physical and mental processes, but the true or inherent self that we think exists on its own. Many times we conceive of this self as the owner of these processes. So when we identify the target of refutation in this case, we look for the owner of the physical and mental processes. The target of refutation is always the object that we feel exists in a more-than-conventional way.

  Review the structure of the meditation. Go over the overall logic of the meditation. You re-familiarize yourself with how it works and how it brings about its conclusion. For example, in the Diamond Slivers meditation on causality (see page 68), you would review its overall conclusion, that there is no inherent causality. The logic is based on refuting four possibilities. The cause is (1) not the same as the effect, it is (2) not different from the effect, it is (3) not both, and it is (4) not neither. Therefore, the logic brings you to the conclusion that there is nowhere for causality to reside and nothing that it can be. This is the overall structure that you review. Even though you know the structure in advance of doing the meditation, the process is much more powerful when you actually do the meditation. This is because you are looking intensely and whole-heartedly for causation, and each time, you experience the failure to find it. Most of the meditations have a structure that can be reviewed in advance.

  Investigate whole-heartedly. In other words, don’t just run through the steps in a mechanical way. When you are looking for the target of refutation, really try to find it, even if you know in advance that you probably won’t. As long as you have the impression that the target might perhaps exist, or could exist, or should exist, then it is helpful to do the meditation. Each time you do the meditation, you free yourself more and more from the false conception that things exist inherently.

  Remain in the force of the realization. When you reach the conclusion, you are forced or thrown there by the power of inference. Try to remain there for as long as you can. For example, when you realize that inherent causality doesn’t exist, it is inference that has carried you there. You are carried to “no inherent causality” from seeing how the cause is not the same as the effect, not different, not both, and not neither. Now that you are at the conclusion, this inferential moment is the realization of a vacuity, of a nothing where something quite specific was expected to be found. The vacuity is the absence of the inherent causality that was your target of refutation. It is a specific absence; it is not a vague or general nothingness. It is also not an absence that gets filled in with a positive presence of some sort. While you are there realizing this absence, try to sustain it. When you feel the realization fading, or you feel your mind wandering off to something else, then turn your mind back to the steps of the inference. The steps of the inference will propel you once again to the realization of the absence of your specific target. Again, try to remain there. The more you do this, the easier it gets! And even though the very moment of realization does not last forever, its freeing after effects stay with you.

  Get Ready!

  You are now well-equipped for the meditations, which begin in the next chapter. If you wish, you can print out the pages containing these tips, and keep them by your side when you do the meditations. Some of the activities we offer in the chapters below are more imaginative than analytical, but many of the tips still apply.

  In the paperback edition, to help you find your way around, the meditations are indicated by a light gray vertical bar. In the ebook version, the meditations are indented.

  CHAPTER 9 – FREEING YOURSELF FROM NEGATIVE PERSONAL LABELS

  The target in this chapter is labeling, specifically, the global, rigidly held labels that we assign to ourselves, such as “I am a failure.” This approach is inspired by the work of Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck and Martin Seligman.

  This chapter uses an example from everyday experience to illustrate the key concepts of the emptiness teachings:

  i. how seeing phenomena as non-empty causes suffering,

  ii. how to effectively establish personal labels as empty,

  iii. how recognizing phenomena as empty reduces suffering.

  According to the Buddhist teachings, all phenomena are empty, which means empty of inherent existence. Phenomena include all objects, all sentient beings, all qualities and characteristics, all ideas, all relations, all times, all places and all states of mind. Normally, however, we conceive of things as being inherently existent, which is the opposite of being empty. Conceiving of things as inherently existent means regarding them as rigid, fixed, solid, objective, permanent and independent of other causes and conditions. When we conceive of things in this way, they appear as if they have a fixed, objective essence or a set of essential properties.

  The good news is that the emptiness teachings free us from conceiving of things in this way. They show us that nothing has the fixed, objective, essential qualities we project upon things. We come to see that things don’t have essential nature, but instead depend on many other things.

  Here’s an example of how psychological essentialism leads to suffering. Imagine yourself as a college student who may fail an exam. You may then say to yourself, “I am a failure,” and you may feel that this label “failure” is an essential part of your being. The label says, “I am a complete failure.” When you feel the force of a label in this way, you are not thinking about a label so much as a characteristic or quality. This personal quality, say, “being a failure,” seems to have several characteristics. It seems:

  Definitive and pervasive: “I am a failure at everything.” It seems like a defining characteristic. You feel it as though this characteristic really defines who you are. It’s the old Western metaphysical idea of essential versus accidental characteristics. You feel that this determines your very essence. As much as you want to be rid of this characteristic (say, “being a failure”), it’s almost as though you wouldn’t recognize yourself if you woke up one morning and didn’t feel like a failure. It seems like part of your nature. This feeling gives rise to the sense that the characteristic is pervasive. It seems to apply to everything you may do. You may even look back at successful things you have done and view them at first through this failure-colored lens.

  Permanent: “I will always be a failure.” This is a good link between your feelings and a definition of non-emptiness. It speaks to the fixedness and the seeming independence from causes and conditions. It feels as if it will always be this way. Not that you need to verbalize this to yourself, but it’s more as if you can’t imagine it coming to an end.

  Objective: It feels like you aren’t projecting this characteristic, but that it’s really there. Your own contribution goes unrecognized. This speaks to the independence from cognition.

  How does saying to yourself, “I am a failure” in such an essentialist way (that is, definitive, pervasive and permanent) make you feel? You may notice that it depletes your energy and you feel somewhat depressed. Seligman’s (2006) famous research on learned helplessness shows that people who habitually explain adverse life events in a way that is internal, pervasive and permanent are at high risk for depression. Research shows, too, that people who are depressed use an internal, pervasive, permanent style to explain negative life events to a much higher degree than non-depressed people.

  Translating these findings into our emptiness vocabulary, we can thus say that reacting to life as an essentialist leads to depression. According to the predictions of the World Health Organization (WHO), “by the year 2020, depression is projected to reach 2nd place of the ranking of DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years) calculated for all ages, both sexes.” WHO places depression second only to heart disease in the DALY ranking. Thus, being essentialist about these things may be related to one of the largest health burdens on the planet.

  What can be done about this? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was introduced by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck in the 1960s. It changes these
essentialist labels, and other “cognitive distortions”, as Beck would call them, through teaching the client to dispute them vigorously and repeatedly. This is done by questioning the beliefs using contrary evidence, pointing out logical flaws in the beliefs, Socratic questioning, and so forth. In this way, CBT uses a cognitive method. If we dispute the “distorted belief” over and over again, the belief loses its grip on us. The effectiveness of CBT is well-established through hundreds of empirical studies. It is a highly effective therapy for depression, anxiety disorders and many other mental disturbances.

  From our example, you may learn how to question rigorously the essentialism of your belief “I am a failure.” The questioning allows you to counter the seeming pervasiveness, definitiveness, permanency and objectivity of the beliefs as follows:

  To counter the pervasiveness of the belief, you may ask yourself, “Am I really a failure at everything?” And come up with evidence of some areas in your life where you have actually succeeded.

  To counter the permanence of the belief, you may ask yourself, “Can I really conclude from one failed exam that I will never be able to pass an exam in the future?” and come up with evidence to the contrary, for instance, that if you prepare properly, you are much more likely to pass future exams than not.