Emptiness and Joyful Freedom

by Greg Goode

  To counter the idea that this belief defines you as a person, you can investigate whether failing at one thing could really make you a failure as a person. For example, does it make logical sense to stick one narrow label like “failure” onto yourself, given that you as a person have so many different dimensions and may manifest differently in different circumstances? This also violates the Buddhist insights into impermanence and the dependence of phenomena on causes and conditions.

  To counter the idea of objectivity, you may explore whether you would call your friend a total failure just because she failed one exam. If the answer is no you may recognize that you are applying a double standard by calling yourself a failure, but not your friend. By asking your friend you may find out that she doesn’t consider you a failure either just because you failed one exam. So if there is no intersubjective agreement at all, what sense can it make to think of yourself as being objectively a failure?

  By repeatedly disputing the negative belief, you will see that this essentialist belief is erroneous, and the sadness and depression it has caused will lift.

  We have thus seen that holding a negative self-label in an essentialist, non-empty way causes suffering. The best known remedy is to question the belief rigorously through collecting contrary evidence and applying logical scrutiny and argumentation. Thus the method to alleviate essentialist beliefs is analysis. When one does this analysis, one sees that the characteristic one was applying to oneself is not permanent, definitive or objective. One comes to see this characteristic as more fluid and dependent upon many other things. This widespread dependency is one of the classic Buddhist definitions of emptiness. By seeing deeply the emptiness of this characteristic, one becomes much lighter and more flexible when applying this label and other labels to oneself. This in turn eliminates (or at least reduces) the suffering it used to cause.

  (Note that positive essentialist labels create suffering too, though possibly less so than negative labels, as they also lead to a rigid way of relating to the world.)

  The preceding strategy is a blueprint for how emptiness teachings work. Seeing phenomena as inherently existent causes suffering. Learning to see them as empty, as lacking this inherent existence, eliminates suffering. A highly effective method to achieve this is logical analysis and argument.

  CBT is an excellent way to deal with distorted essentialist thinking related to common psychological problems. In addition to labeling, CBT also deconstructs thought distortions such as “should” statements (“I must be loved by everybody”) or black-and-white thinking (“You are either a success or a failure”). Emptiness teachings refute these thought distortions as well as instances of absolutist or dualistic thinking. However, CBT and emptiness teachings are not the same. CBT addresses other thought distortions which are not explicitly addressed in the emptiness teachings, and also utilizes a number of behavioral techniques, rather than cognitive techniques alone.

  It is important to keep in mind that emptiness teachings are not psychotherapy, and do not intend to be. If you are dealing with psychological issues, you can find the most focused and direct assistance by turning to a professional therapist. In other ways, the emptiness teachings go far beyond CBT by showing the emptiness of all beliefs, not only personal labels. The emptiness teachings also help free the investigator from an entire range of limiting metaphysical conceptions, such as the self, life, death, causality, truth, good, evil, matter, time and space, which are left untouched by CBT.

  For example, I had a tendency to think about the conditions of my life as being fixed. This was especially true when I was feeling down or having a tough day. When I was in a negative mood, I tended to assume that my view of the world was true, and all reassurances and support from friends could be dismissed as them “simply trying to be nice.” In fact, I had long prided myself on my “realistic” view and used this pride as an excuse to cling to my pessimism. These days, I’ve lost the sense that there is an underlying truth. It isn’t that I see the world correctly and my friends are fooling themselves. Rather, I accept that life is fluid and that many beliefs and points of views can be accommodated.

  How Can This Help?

  Seeing the emptiness of labels to which we attach ourselves is enormously freeing. When labels such as “I am unlovable” or “I am inadequate” are seen through, it feels as though one is freed from the prison constructed by taking these labels as essential truths. One opens into “the freedom to be no one,” as Stephen Batchelor says. Expressed differently, we are freed to be many, many things, though not forced to be anything.

  On the level of psychological health, seeing the emptiness of self-labels even in the presence of adversities which can trigger them, goes a long way to protect against feelings of helplessness and depression.

  Meditation – Your Own Negative Labels

  In this meditation, we will identify and dispute our own negative labels. There are several types of negative labels that many of us hold about ourselves at some time or another. For this exercise, we look at two common types. The first is related to being incompetent and the second is related to being undesirable. The first step in the meditation is to identify a charged, negative self-label we sometimes apply to ourselves. (For the purposes of this meditation, if you are among the lucky few who don’t have persistent negative self-labels, just pretend to have one!) The following list of examples gives an idea of some common labels.23

  Negative Labels

  Competency Desirability

  I’m stupid I’m unlikeable

  I’m not good enough to succeed I’m not good enough to be loved

  I’m weak I’m inferior

  I’m inadequate I’m unattractive

  I’m a failure I’m bad

  I’m incompetent I’m unwanted

  An additional strategy to find negative self-labels is to think back to some upsetting situations you have had recently and observe what you might have said to yourself.

  Details

  We assume now you have found a negative label that I (Tomas) will call “I am X,” and you can fill in whatever X refers to for you. Now, if you can, rate on a scale from 1 to 10 the strength of your belief in this label that “I am X.” We can start the disputation as follows:

  First, we question the pervasiveness of the label “I am X.” Are there areas and situations in your life where the label “X” does not apply? List those.

  Then we question the permanence of the label “I am X.” Has “I am X” always been true? Can you really predict from what “I am X” holds now that it will necessarily hold in the future? Can you imagine scenarios in the future so that “I am X” does not hold? List those.

  Now we question the definitiveness of the label “I am X.” You are a person with so many different dimensions, playing so many different roles in your life, inhabiting so many different situations. Given all this complexity, is it even possible to stick one global label “X” on you as a person?

  Now we question the objectivity of the label “I am X.” Would you assign this label to all other people in your situation? Do all other people who know you well assign this label to you? If the answer is no, there seems to be a double-standard about using the label “X,” and it doesn’t exist objectively and independently “in reality.”

  After having gone through this disputation, let’s make an other rating. Check now – on a scale from 1 to 10, what is the strength of your belief that “I am X”? Did the number go down?

  Repeat this meditation over and over again with this and other negative labels you stick onto yourself until they lose their grip and are seen as empty (contingent, unfounded or unwarranted), rather than essential characteristics of yourself.

  In the above meditation, you have looked at one or more labels you stick on yourself. By analyzing several different labels, did you notice that they all turn out to be empty for quite similar arguments? For example, given how many different dimensions your life has, how could it ever make sense that one la
bel or characteristic applies to you in all or most of them ... and across different times where so much might change? Can you imagine any label, real or imagined, which you apply to yourself, that is able to withstand this analysis? If your answer to this question is no, you may focus on the logical consequence of this: doesn’t it become nonsensical, pretty much wrong, to apply any global label, positive or negative, to yourself?

  By seeing that, a wonderful sense of freedom becomes available to you, the freedom from all these labels, good ones or bad ones. Freedom from past labels you have given yourself which have made you feel limited and caused suffering. Freedom from present labels. And freedom from any label you or anybody else might try to stick on yourself in the future. It won’t apply to you as a person, and for the very same reasons that you have already discovered, it can’t stick.

  Savor the insight of this freedom, the insight that you’re free from all these labels. Instead, you are free to be many things on any given day...

  Conclusion

  The last meditation demonstrates the generalization technique that the emptiness teachings often use. It is not just about seeing one or a few of the worst labels as empty, or about changing one negative label to a positive one. Those are nice and a good intermediate step towards greater well-being. But they don’t suffice for liberation!

  The goal of the emptiness teachings is to become free of suffering, which is brought about through the attachment to dualistic extremes. This attachment in turn comes from conceiving of phenomena as inherent and non-empty. Once you see that all labels are empty (as well as all attributions, and in general, all phenomena as well), you will become free of the power these things have to make you suffer. One very practical way to come to these generalized insights is to investigate plenty of individual examples of a given type until you are struck by the insight that your realizations apply across the board. The types of phenomena investigated may include negative labels, positive labels, thoughts, states, goals, beliefs and claims, as well as physical and subtle objects.

  Concluding Meditation – Labels – Generalizing Your Realization

  In order that your realization may generalize, you may inquire, “Is there any example of this type which is not empty?” If you discover something that seems to really be fixed, permanent, definitive or objective, you may investigate it directly and close-up. Try to find the essential pivotal core of what you are inquiring about. And when your answer to this question is a deeply felt no, you have recognized the emptiness of all phenomena of this type!

  CHAPTER 10 – SEEING THROUGH THE ILLUSION OF THE SELF

  ... no such things as selves exist in the world: Nobody ever was or had a self.

  Metzinger (2003)

  The target in this chapter is the self. More precisely, the target is the self that seems to exist independently, as a real thing. Our critique of the independent self is inspired by philosophers David Hume and Daniel Dennett, neurophilosopher Thomas Metzinger, and psychologists Bruce Hood and Daniel Wegner.

  The approach taken by these thinkers is remarkably similar to the one taken by Buddhism. In addition to echoing the meditation known as Chandrakirti’s Sevenfold Reasoning on Selflessness, these Western thinkers offer an account of the creation of the self from elements that are not the self. No matter how closely we look through the physical and mental components of our body and mind, we do not find a self.

  That no one has a self is a most counterintuitive claim. It is made in one form or another across all the different Buddhist traditions, while neuroscience and psychology widely agree today that a single self can simply not be found. Realizing “no-self” experientially is traditionally linked to obtaining Nirvana and liberation. The self is perhaps the most important phenomenon to realize the emptiness of. In this chapter, we will use Western sources with their intuitive and original ways to get at this target.

  I (Tomas) remember the first time I heard a Buddhist give a talk about no-self. It made no sense to me whatsoever. I thought, “Well, if they make the self go away, I’m not interested. After all, that’s going to make my life go away as well. I came to the dharma center to improve my life, not to annihilate it.” So I had the common beginner’s confusion about the no-self idea. If you’re a bit skeptical at the beginning, that’s perfectly normal. It takes some time and study to properly discern what is being refuted and what is not.

  Refuting the Self – Not Too Little, Not Too Much

  The target is the self that seems to exist inherently. This self is the one that feels solid, substantial, and seems to be the basis of your identity.

  What is not the target is the conventional self. This is the everyday self that asks for a cup of coffee at the restaurant. This self exists just as much as the “self” of the computer exists when we say, “My computer didn’t want to start up today.” The conventional self is not defined by a deep identity, but merely by serving as a place holder for things like getting in the car and going to the store.

  The conventional self doesn’t need to exist inherently. This conventional self is the empty self, which exists sort of by loose agreement. This is the same self that does the inquiries and realizes emptiness! This self is not a problem. Because this self is not the basis of suffering, it doesn’t need to be refuted.

  In fact, if we did refute this conventional self, we would be refuting too much. We would be heading towards the extreme of nihilism. On the other hand, if we fail to refute the inherently existent self, we would be refuting too little. That would be the extreme of essentialism. The middle way avoids both extremes by refuting only the inherent self and using the conventional self as a tool to help us.

  So we use the conventional to refute the inherent. The conventional is thereby transformed into something much freer, lighter, sweeter and more flexible. The (conventional) self becomes more like a play of imagery and illusion.

  Looking for the Self

  We will look in a detailed way for the self, and will not find it. This non-finding of the self is the realization of the emptiness of the self.

  But before looking for the self, we need to tune in and find out how we feel it exists.

  According to the emptiness teachings, it is not the self that causes separation and suffering, it is the conception of self. The conception of self can be thought of as a cluster of thoughts, feelings and impressions that seem to make the claim, “There really is a self here!” This conception refers to a self that is not there. So when we refute the referred-to (non-existent) self and realize how it cannot be found, we will dissolve the conception of self.

  What helps in this process is first to get a clear sense for how we feel the self is there. In fact, the more clearly we can get a handle on this conception of self, the more dramatic will be our realization that this self doesn’t exist! The self we will look for feels solid and thick, and often it seems to be in the midst of everything. It is not some abstract philosophical notion.

  Meditation – Tuning into the Sense of Self

  This meditation is very important – the clearer the sense of self, the easier the refutation and realization. Sometimes, this can be difficult for people experienced with non-dual teachings. Most non-dual teachings don’t recommend that you enhance or clarify the sense of self! But in the emptiness teachings, it is actually beneficial to clarify this sense of self. Your realization will be all the stronger when you don’t ignore or deny the sense of self. Why? Because the target is easier to identify, and thereby easier to refute.

  To begin to get a clearer sense of the self that seems to be there, spend a minute doing some introspection to find out how the self appears to you. If it seems that there might be a sense of self that you can get in touch with, try to work with it. Take a look at the following suggestions for how the sense of self might show up. The details are different for different people, but think about the ones that ring a bell in your case. You might be able to add other things as well!

  The self often appears to be the core of w
ho we are. It doesn’t feel like a physical thing, but like a robust, independently existing entity. It may seem to underlie thoughts, feelings, values, memories and the unconscious parts of the mind.

  The self may seem to be enduring and permanent. It may seem to be a stable essence that serves as the fixed basis of change. It may seem that you have exactly the same, unchanged self you had ten years ago, while only passing phenomena have changed. Check whether this is true in your own experience.

  The self also may seem to be unique. Sure, other people have selves as well – but you may feel that your self is special. It may feel like it is what makes you into the unique person you are.

  The self may seem to be single and not divided or multiple. Do you experience yourself as having one self at this moment or more than one? (There is no right answer here!)

  The self can feel quite substantive. Even though you may not feel that your self is a physical thing, it may seem intense, obvious, salient or the center of your experience. This feeling can be heightened in situations when we’re criticized or when we badly desire something. Take a moment to relive a situation in which you were wrongfully accused. Can you notice how a very pronounced, crisp impression of your self arises? Now switch to desire. Can you remember a situation when you really, really wanted something, and other things became insignificant? Do you notice how solid the self appears during those moments?

  The self may also seem to be an actor, a doer, a chooser and decider. It seems to be the locus of control that directs our attention. The self seems to be the seat of free will. Take a moment and bring a color in front of your mind’s eye. Choose the color and make it “visible.” When this color is in place, do you also have a sense of how you volitionally brought a color to mind and decided which color it would be? Or think of any choice situation you experienced that was highly charged, where the outcome was critical (“Do I cut the red wire or the blue one?”). Does this give you a strong sense of self?