【Description】
What is the state of “awakening to emptiness”? How do we achieve such a state when chanting?
All matters come into being and disappear due to the arising of different conditions. Everyone is a passerby in this world. In the course of our short lives, how can we keep our mind and body transparent, pure and untainted by selfish desires? How do we adapt ourselves to this unpredictable world?
Let’s follow Grandmaster JinBodhi’s guidance and clear our minds to experience the desireless state of emptiness.
【You will learn】
- The concept of true self
- Learn about the world from different perspectives
- Understand the state of “awakening to emptiness
【Featured aphorisms】
- A thought arising means having one more attachment.
- To judge with true wisdom, first let go of what you’ve felt, seen or heard; this opens up the door to another world.
- If you want to see the truth of this world, you can find inspiration in the state of emptiness.
【Content】
Hello, everyone. (Hello, Master.) About our chanting, I have some reminders. You told me you couldn’t focus on chanting; your minds wandered off while chanting. After listening to my teachings, I hope you will be able to calm your mind and focus. The calmer you are, the easier it is to solve problems. Wise teachers from the past such as Mo-tzu, Chuang-tzu and Sakyamuni all said similar things. Calm yourself down in times of chaos. Compose yourself when the world is in disorder. Only the calm ones can survive in times of chaos. Not only survive but also rise through the chaos.
I was a timid boy. I was scared that I would die. I was scared of being alone at home or walking at night. I was scared of being eaten by a ghost. Then, my master told me that everyone has their own fate. There are as many people as there are stars in the sky. Back then, we didn’t have many lights at night, so the stars looked very bright. Even the Milky Way looked exactly like it does in photos. I felt I was one of the stars. If you are fated to live till 80, you won’t die young. It is your destiny. You won’t die before accomplishing what you are fated to do.
Think this way: Human bodies are composed of millions of microorganisms. Think of yourself as formed by microscopic flour particles. With the arising of many different conditions, you were formed. But as the Buddha said, “This is an illusion.” In The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, Buddha mentioned that people have often mistakenly thought the body is composed of 4 elements: earth, water, fire and wind. Is the body that is composed of the 4 elements the real you? No, you have it mixed up. Different causes and conditions brought you to life. Your physical body is “borrowed.” It is not the real you. An illness resides in the physical body. The body is not the real you.
Severe illnesses are due to the arising of conditions; fatal ones even more so. It could be a car accident, or a surgery failure, etc. When you are in a comatose state, your soul leaves your body. Then you will realize your spirit actually floats in the air When you look at your body, you feel like it doesn’t belong to you. It is not related to you at all. That is how you will feel.
I felt like that when I was little. My body was borrowed. My body was just like a photo or a leather sack. It was an illusion formed by different conditions and causes. It is not real. When looking at our physical body, think of my master’s teachings: One of the stars in the Milky Way represents you. I expanded my imagination later: All stars in the Milky Way represent my entire body. But all these stars are borrowed. It is similar to drawing myself using beach sand. The drawing is an outline of me. But none of the sand particles are me. The drawing is due to the arising of conditions.
So if you want to enter the chanting state of “all 4 elements are void”, let go of the 4 elements: earth, water, fire and wind. Let go of your body before thinking anything. Let the 4 elements become void. All 4 elements are emptiness. Originally, they don’t belong to me. Why do you consider them yours? That reminds me of people saying they have lower-back pain or painful fingers; then the pain is gone after a while. The body doesn’t belong to you; the pain is only an illusion.
While I am speaking, your pain is disappearing. You may close your eyes and try to locate the pain. You can’t, because it is gone. That is what it is like. For serious situations, to diagnose cancer or a tumor, the doctor would use a laser scan to find the diseased area. It is the same. After you have truly emptied your mind, 2 days later, the tumor might even disappear. It may seem strange. Some had lumps or warts on their skin; all disappeared after they chanted with this method. Where did they go? It could be anywhere, in the sky or sand. It is just energy or qi.
All humans are made up of 2 forms of qi. One is from their mother and the other, their father. So when the 2 forms of qi combined, you existed as an embryo. This qi will absorb nutrients through your mother’s body to form you. You can imagine yourself being a fish in the ocean. Imagine in the ocean, there are countless schools of fish. Countless fish in the ocean and you are one of them. Or, imagine your body is the school of fish; very beautiful.
With today’s advanced medical technology, if one or 2 fish are sick, replacing them makes you healthy again. The body is like that; made up of cells which are like these little fish. Imagine a person gets into the ocean and doesn’t drown; that is what I think when I look at pictures of the ocean. I visualize myself as one of the fish, or as the whole ocean; all fish are merely my cells. That is the state of all lifeforms. Sounds exaggerated? Not at all. It depends on your perspective of the world. Like how I see the ocean.
On the other hand, the microorganisms in our stomach see us as an ocean. That is how they see me. That is also how they see you. After you drink a cup of water, these germs will say, “Tsunami”. When you sneeze, the germs inside your nose will be sprayed out, leaving your body and floating in the air; some germs want to hold on to something, while others fall to the ground, or into another person’s eyes. Someone once said the world is actually fused together. We rely on each other to survive. That is how the human body is structured. That is how life is structured.
Life is strong yet fragile. Even the powerful, such as the first Qin emperor; he disappeared from this Earth along with his descendants. They have turned into dust and smoke now. Can’t even find a trace of his DNA. So powerful, yet so fragile. Like the germs on our hands, when we wash our hands, they go down the drain, never to be seen again. They will get another chance to be reborn. So, no matter how great a man was, upon his death he realizes he was only a passerby. Thus, there is no point in being so obsessed. No matter how rich or beautiful you are, you will die. Everyone goes through similar states, whether you fear it or not.
Since death is inevitable, fear doesn’t change anything. We can chant to be reborn in a better environment. We sure hope not to be reborn in the gutters, but in brightly illuminated, peaceful, beautiful places. Places where the air is fresh and sweet; no bullies, no beatings, no scoldings. How wonderful the place is.
I hope your visualization can keep up with my words. Visualize you have arrived at the Eastern Pure Land. Everything is transparent there. You become transparent too, upon arriving there. You no longer feel hunger, anger or pain; you don’t need friends, don’t feel like getting married, and don’t want to die. Lastly, you even stop thinking. You feel more at ease than a feather floating in the air; then you stay there for hundreds of billions of years. You have no thoughts or feelings; hence, you become transparent.
Any arising thought takes away your transparency. Like a super-sensitive vacuum tube, any signal will generate color. Then you won’t belong to the Pure Land. The Pure Land can turn all greedy beings transparent. It is like a bleaching machine that cleanses everything inside. Once in there, it makes you transparent. This is the main difference between the mortal realm and the Eastern Pure Land.
The mortal realm is filled with greed because people always have “wants”. Why do we have to live frugally? Because we lack resources, we have to conserve what we have. Like being sick but having no money to see a doctor. Poverty happens all over the world. Some people are so poor that they can’t afford to treat their colds and fevers. Without medical treatment, some die from the flu. Some suffer encephalitis, and they become disabled. Also, death caused by gastroenteritis is quite common in Asia and Africa. People are too poor to seek medical treatment.
In the Eastern Pure Land, just think of what you want to eat, and then you will be satiated. If you want to eat drumsticks, you will see them floating in front of you. Want to eat yams? You get them, more than enough. Stir-fried? Deep-fried? Barbecued? Whatever you want. Yams prepared different ways: balls, mashed, chunks and candied. Whatever food, you name it, you will get it. You don’t need to worry about overeating. Think and you will get tons of food. Then, you will be tired of eating and won’t feel hungry anymore. You get whatever you want. You are no longer hungry, no need to eat.
Everything is free; you can get everything effortlessly. You will lose interest and quieten down. No point in thinking. You will lose your appetite and throw up. Finally, you will stop thinking. Nothing is lacking in the Pure Land. What about the Western Pure Land? Everyone loves money, right? You can find gold everywhere. You can just pick up a piece of gold and bring it home. Houses are built using gold. Gold is so common that it doesn’t interest you anymore. The poor will love the Western Pure Land. Understand? You seem confused. It is OK, listen a few more times and you will get it.
All humans are composed of the 4 great elements: earth, water, fire and wind, with the arising of the right conditions. Humans are all passersby; they take nothing when they leave.
The Pure Land is purity. You may visualize yourself becoming transparent upon arriving there, like a clear glass without greed or fear of death. Tell yourself that everyone dies, and then you’ll be at ease. In meditation, there is a term: “light tranquil state”. What is the meaning of “light tranquil state”? In that state, you speak gently since there is no conflict or quarrel with others. You are at ease, and as light as a floating feather. That’s called “light tranquil state”. You feel lightness and ease, not lightness and fickleness. Nothing shall agitate you. This is almost the highest state a meditation practitioner pursues. Who can reach such a state? Not many.
Many of us are still troubled by our rent, our children’s school fees, and our parents’ medical bills. Some are worried about their son who still has no girlfriend. It is not easy to be in light tranquility with such worries and stress. As people age, they hunch over more. Their head doesn’t seem to be on their neck; it’s in their chest. They bend their back like this. They carry mountains of worries. Being a parent is really stressful. Even single people hunch due to the stress of life. You have worries when you desire something.
Therefore, I will guide you to live at ease while having desires. Finally you will return to Nature. You can get what you desire easily, and let go of what you don’t want. For professionals, this is a great skill, right? We will learn this skill. Learn to be adaptable. Whenever you are in a new environment, find an easeful place where you are able to make a living. I guess this is the first time I have talked about being adaptable. This is what I have learned from experience and I have been using it till now.
The key is to understand that everything happens for a reason, with the arising of different conditions. Remember the sand-painting analogy I referred to earlier. Understand that with the arising of conditions, we have got our human body; this is irreversible. So you need to understand this process of the arising and disappearing of conditions. Thus, fear doesn’t change anything. Be brave enough to think and do what you should. The world is like the sea, at times calm, other times stormy. We need to adapt to it and live well.
If we can find a way to help others, that is a higher realm of living. The opportunity will come. Be wise to identify it. Some believed that only bodhisattvas have wisdom. Not really. If you are observant and self-aware, you can be wise.
Sakyamuni Buddha mentioned this in The Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra reads: “The Bodhisattva GuanYin …” Here, the word “Guan” is used. “Guan” means “seeing”, as if eyes are used, but it doesn’t necessarily mean seeing with naked eyes. It means visualizing. Somebody thought that is Guanyin Bodhisattva. It is normal to associate wisdom with Guanyin Bodhisattva. But I believe Buddha saves all sentient beings. We can have a different interpretation. You can think that you are Guanyin Bodhisattva. Visualize yourself being a self-cultivator. So, this practitioner sees total emptiness in his visualization.
Next, what does “form” mean? I prefer to interpret it as everything our senses pick up. It is a tangible substance which you can see and touch. Sensations mean human feelings that can be expressed. I believe that this is a teaching from the Buddha to the lay public. “Think” means all human thoughts. To have wisdom, then let go of what you see, hear and feel. It is like a secret door to another world. Say, we came to a mountain, and we heard there was a cave with lots of treasure. To prevent people from finding it, someone built a secret door. Trees and big stones are put in front of the door. The obstacles are illusions. So, let go of them.
While visualizing deeper, one discovers that everything is just empty. In emptiness, there is no form. No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind; no form, feeling, cognition, formation or consciousness. In Taoism, understanding emptiness is returning to the truth. What is the truth? Truth is emptiness. Everything starts with emptiness; emptiness becomes qi; then, qi becomes form. The concept of emptiness will make us study the beginning, or the root of all matters in the world.
This beginning is related to every human. Here is a question: Where were you before being born? Most will answer they were in their mother’s belly. What about before you were formed? What state were you in? Let me tell you, you were nonexistent, or empty. In Journey to the West, the Monkey King is called “Wu Kong”, which means “awakened to emptiness”. The third disciple is called “Wu Jing”, which means “awakened to purity”. These dharma names show the difference between their mental states. The ultimate truth lies in emptiness. The intuition lies in emptiness.
I am saying this because I want you to be in the light tranquil state. The truth is, none of us existed to begin with. You might argue that you are alive and kicking now, and that you will strive to live well. True, but you will also die, whether you like it or not. How many great names from the past lived for 1,000 years? Their names may be remembered; that is it. Look at the great emperors and their beauties, where are they now? They don’t exist anymore. Fear it or not, all of us will experience fame, wealth, hunger, pain, love, breakups, compliments, humiliation, etc. Death comes next. Everyone dies; it is either sooner or later.
Have you finally understood? Good, let’s start chanting now. Now is not the time to die; the more you fear it, the easier it comes. After realizing that, we understand we are from this world, and that prior to that we were nonexistent. We should live our lives to the fullest. Because 100 years from now, you won’t exist anymore. If you still exist, you are probably not human. Maybe you are floating in the air, flapping your wings and looking from above. That will be the “you” after 100 years. You existed as a passerby; that is it.
There was an antique collector in Hong Kong. His father was rich from his days as a salt merchant and banker. After the war broke out, he shipped all of the antiques from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Many of his relatives died during or after the war. Not many of them are still alive. With so many antiques, needless to say, he was very happy. He rented a big warehouse to keep all his antiques and named the warehouse “The Keeper.” You would expect an elegant name for such a place with so many historic antiques. His reason was simple. He thought the antiques never belonged to him. He was just a keeper of these antiques. That is an awakened person.
What triggered his awakening? He had seen deaths and separations; that is how he awakened. Many women approached him because of his wealth. He finally shaved his head and became a monk, vowing to achieve enlightenment. He called himself the “Iron Arhat”. He swore to never get married and gave up his lust for women. That is what he did. Only by seeing through can you be enlightened. This is what we are as a passerby: nonexistent, born and then gone.
My dad once told me to pay for his burial plot and what I should do with his dead body. “No, Dad, you will be dead, so I will make the decision.” “But it is my dying wish,” he said. “No, Dad, you will be dead. I will decide.” “Don’t be a disrespectful son.” My dad and I were very close. We could talk about anything. I asked him, “Do you want the bugs to eat your dead body?” He told me that was scary and he didn’t want that. So I suggested cremation. “Does it hurt?” he asked. “Nope, when you are dead, there is no pain.” “I know, but that is still scary,” he said. “Trust me; if you feel pain, we will take you out.”
In the end, he was cremated. The truth is that we feel nothing when we die. That is the truth. We have no feeling then. When we are able to feel, we get all petty and obsessed. When we can’t feel, or we are dying, we care for nothing.
Our existences are governed by the arising of different conditions. Wisdom comes with an awakening to emptiness. Life and death, sorrow and joy are unpredictable yet certain. The light tranquil state comes when we let go of all attachments.