Listen or subscribe in your favorite player:

Esteemed Buddhist teacher and scholar Dr. Jan Willis leads two meditations on emptiness in this episode. One focuses on the emptiness of the I and this belief that we exist, that there is an I. The other meditation is about the nature of the mind itself. 

She shares the analogy that the mind and the nature of the mind is like the sky.  And this “I” is an adventitious, delusional, negative and harmful cloud in that sky.  But we need to be able to notice it and notice where it exists and whether or not it exists in a solid way that we think it does.

Dr. Jan Willis: I want to talk about two meditations on emptiness. One really focuses on the emptiness of the “I”, this belief that we have that we exist, that there is an “I” who is Jan Willis. One meditation focuses on seeing that, and analyzing that, and whether or not we successfully come up with the emptiness of that.

The other meditation is really about the nature of the mind itself.

My analogy would be like this: the mind and the nature of the mind is like the sky. This “I” is an adventitious, delusional, delusional, negative, and harmful cloud in that sky. But we need to be able to notice it and notice where it exists and whether or not it exists in the solid way that we think it does.

My initial comments are this. All meditations have a common part, that’s what we usually call shamatha, the calming part, gaining concentration and calm and focus. The second part of all meditative traditions, is a part that’s called higher seeing or wisdom, this is Vipassana.

Finding calm

To begin to talk about the emptiness of the I, the emptiness, and empty nature of the mind, we must develop some stability in calming the mind. In other words, we should be at a state where we can focus.

We can look, if you will, dispassionately. We can watch. We can use the mind to watch the mind. We should be there, hopefully, in our meditation practice.

I’m going to first do a meditation that’s often done in the lamrim traditions of Tsongkhapa. In that tradition, we are in this meditation looking for the I; this I that causes us so much trouble. Let’s see if we can see it.

Having developed calm, having gotten our focus sharp, just sit comfortably, and take some breaths, and really try as much as possible to really be calm.

You’re about to engage in something, but it shouldn’t get you ruffled or upset. Just be calm. We’re about to look for this idea that we have that we call the I.

Sit calmly, breathe normally, and rest.

Locating the object to be negated

Now, out of this calmness, try to generate a strong emotion.

Try to generate an occasion in which you imagine that you’re quite angry. Or, you’re quite frightened. Try to get in touch with the I that surfaces then. Oh, that person did such and such to me. That was so wrong of them to do. I didn’t do what they said I did.

I am angry.

In the midst of that emotion, see the I. The I of I’m angry.

See if you can locate that I.

Where is the I that generates very strong emotion?

Don’t follow the thoughts that come up. Just stay with the emotion and the feeling, I am angry, and try to locate the position of the I. Where is the I that generates that strong emotion? See if you can find it. This practice is called locating the object to be negated.

Don’t be disappointed if you don’t find it right away. But don’t give up.

It’s very important that you be able to actually locate this I, even though it may, in reality, not exist. Still, there’s something you can do that generates these emotions in us and it’s necessary to find that I before we start to analyze how that I exists.

Don’t give up.

The essence of this meditation is to sit calmly, generate a strong emotion, and in the midst of that emotion, seek to locate the I that stands behind and generates that emotion.

It may take quite a number of times, but it’s important to locate the correct “ohhh” generator of these emotions before we do an analysis that asks is it one with the aggregates, is it different than the aggregates?

This is just the beginning. I’m just suggesting that in order to begin, that we sit calmly, that we breathe normally, that we not follow our thoughts, that we in fact generate a strong emotion. In the midst of that strong emotion, try to locate the so called I, this is the I to be negated.

This is the I that is empty.

Don’t get discouraged. This takes repetition. You have to look, you have to search for this so called I.

Don’t grab the first thing that comes up. Don’t say, Oh, I found it. That’s just another thought. Sit calm.

All we have to do is see it, then start analyzing. Okay, this is a lamrim technique. For those who are interested in following it, I suggest Kathleen McDonald’s latest book. It’s called, How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path.

The very last words, the very last pages here, talk about in much more detail. The meditation for locating the object to be negated, the I, and then raising the analytic points about it.

In other traditions of Buddhism, as well as in the Mahamudra tradition, and in the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, there’s another way of talking about the emptiness, the emptiness of the mind itself. In this meditation, what we come to realize is the nature of the mind.

Here I’m following in particular, Patrul Rinpoche, who not only gave us the wondrous book, The Words of My Perfect Teacher, but who also wrote a number of short pieces in poetry, in poetic terms, on the nature of the mind. One of his favorite sayings, as was Milarepa’s, is, Just let the mind be.

This is one of the things that Rinpoche said in his work called Naturally Liberated Meditation: The Profound Methods for Buddhahood the Ultimate Great Perfection. All of the pieces inside this text are very short, poetic meditation techniques.

Patrul Rinpoche says the following in verse 4, in a piece he called The Mind’s Faults.

“I will present the mind’s faults. Men and women who meditate may think that they do not know how to recognize them. They become depressed, weep, and shed many tears. There is no need to be depressed. There is no reason you cannot understand your mind. Let that very one who thinks there is no way to understand how to recognize the mind be itself, just as it is.

That very one is the mind. Some men and women who meditate say that it’s difficult to develop recognition of the mind. It’s not difficult at all. The problem is not knowing meditation. You don’t need to search for meditation. You don’t have to buy it. You don’t need to produce it. You don’t need to go anywhere. You don’t need to work for it.

Just let whatever occurs, occur. Whatever comes up in your mind, let it be.”

Sit, be calm, and focus

Now in even shorter form, and this is the meditation that he offers, it’s Dzogchen. It’s Zen. It’s like all of those. It just says, Sit, be calm, and focus.

So, let’s do that. Let’s sit calmly. Take a few breaths.

Be very, very relaxed. Don’t chase after anything, but watch. Watch the mind. This is the meditation. Don’t follow the past.

Don’t anticipate the future.

Remain in the present. Leave the mind alone.

Let’s see if we can do that. Don’t follow the past.

Don’t anticipate the future. Remain in the present moment.

Leave the mind alone.

If you start to have thoughts about the future, come back to your breathing.

If you think to have regrets about the past, come back to your breathing.

Remain just where you are, right here.

Don’t worry about the mind.

Just leave it alone.

These are two very brief examples of meditation. Milarepa said, Seems easy, but it’s quite difficult. It seems hard, but it’s so easy.

What is difficult? To just let go.

That’s all we’re asked to do in these meditations. For us, that’s so difficult. We chase after every thought that comes. It is difficult to just leave the mind. To just leave it alone and watch part of the mind.

My advice is to find a good teacher, find a good meditation practice, practice in a good community, and do these practices over and over again. Don’t get discouraged.

Credits