{"id":596,"date":"2018-07-19T18:56:38","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T18:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chan.ddmba.ca\/?page_id=596"},"modified":"2018-12-19T01:39:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T01:39:53","slug":"emptiness-and-existence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chanmeditation.ca\/index.php\/teachings\/articles\/emptiness-and-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"Emptiness and Existence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emptiness and Existence<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By Master Sheng Yen<\/span><\/p>\n

From Chan Newsletter No. 20, March, 1982<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How we perceive \u201cexistence\u201d and \u201cemptiness\u201d can reveal how shallow or deep our practice is. We need to understand this to avoid getting stuck and to be able to make progress. Before we have gained some real benefit from practice, we perceive phenomena as real and existent. In this ordinary state of mind, the \u201cself\u201d is still deeply embedded in things: \u201cmy\u201d body, \u201cmy\u201d house, \u201cmy\u201d friends, and so on. After practicing well, we may reach a state of concentration where there are only a few thoughts in our mind. At this time, the sense of self is lessened, and we may feel that we have finally cast away the world and everything in it. \u201cI have thrown off all thinking.\u201d \u201cI am enjoying the bliss of liberation.\u201d \u201cI feel so carefree and light.\u201d Dwelling on feelings of liberation and happiness like this only means that one\u2019s perception of \u201cemptiness\u201d is false and one still sees phenomena as existent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When one reaches the state of only one thought, or one-mind, one may feel unified with the universe and that one\u2019s powers are unlimited. One also feels great sympathy and compassion for all sentient beings. At this point one is at the stage of \u201cdouble affirmation,\u201d or a deeper level of existence. Although there is an expanded sense of self, this sense is not selfish but rather, one feels a sense of energy and responsibility. The degree of mental power depends on the strength of one\u2019s previous practice. One who is not backed up by a strong practice can still reach one-mind but will not have as great a sense of energy and responsibility\u2014will not likely give rise to the feeling of being a savior. Therefore, great religious leaders are a rare occurrence in human history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the next stage of no-thought, or no-mind, one is said to be in the state of \u201cdouble negation\u201d in that one takes emptiness itself as empty. If a person is attached to emptiness (as in stage two), it is called \u201cstubborn emptiness\u201d or \u201cillusory emptiness.\u201d But at the stage of no-mind one actually recognizes that even this emptiness is empty. Since one has emptied out emptiness, then existence is reasserted, but it is an existence of non-attachment. One will definitely not feel that his world is meaningless, nor, if asked \u201cHow is your practice doing?\u201d will one give a reply like \u201cOh, It doesn\u2019t really matter if I practice or not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We usually feel something \u201cexists\u201d when we have strong feelings about it. If emptiness is also based on feelings and emotions, then it is not true emptiness. It is only when, not bound by feelings and motional attachments, one genuinely experiences things as existing just as they are, that is, at the same time genuinely existent and also genuinely empty. For practitioners, only this can be considered the first level of entering the door of Chan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Question: Can progress in practice be described as a series of negating one\u2019s previous stage of attainment and something new?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sheng Yen: In actual fact the previous stage and what you are affirming now are not two different things. We say that vexations are just bodhi\u2014that is, they are not two separate things. So \u201cnegation\u201d is not saying that you have to detest or get rid of vexations before you give rise to wisdom. You cannot achieve nirvana by negating samsara\u2014they are one thing. It is only that in the process of the practice one\u2019s perception of it varies according to one\u2019s experience.<\/span>
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