Full or Empty?

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Full or Empty?

Thich Nhat Hanh, the well-known Buddhist teacher, comments1 on the famous Heart Sutras (Prajna-Paramita) and says a sheet of paper contains everything in the universe in it, and yet, according to the revelations of the Bodhisattva Avalokita, it is empty! Removing the apparent contradiction, the author clarifies that ‘empty’ means here, ‘empty of a separate self.’ When we hold a cup of water and ask somebody, “Is this an empty cup?” we get the answer, “No, the cup is filled with water.” When we throw away all the water and ask the same question, we are told, “Yes, it is empty.” The cup is empty of water. In that sense, when we deeply examine this universe or, for that matter, ourselves, we find there is nowhere a ‘separate self’. The ego is always a creation of thought. Deep inquiry – here and now – dispels the false ahankara.

We have lungs, heart, kidneys, stomach and blood in our bodies but none of these can exist independently. They can only coexist. In like manner, the entire universe is filled with things which are interdependent. Hanh coins a new verb – inter-be – in his book and says2, “Lungs and blood inter-are.” We tend to forget the interdependence of things and beings, and get concerned with ‘me and mine’. The illusion is hard to penetrate for the one who has to question is also a part of the illusion. In the famous illustration of the ‘snake upon the rope,’ both the illusory snake and the factual rope are outside us. The onlooker has to throw a beam of light upon the spot of confusion. Here, however, in the context of the illusory ‘I’, the onlooker is not separate from the illusion. She asks, “Why am I miserable?” and looks for a cause outside. She does not suspect that the ‘I’ which is miserable is itself of questionable credentials.

Self-knowledge (atma-bodha) therefore is different from all knowledge. In any other knowledge, the knower and the known are separate. In Self-knowledge, the knower disappears the very instant knowledge takes place. There is only knowing (observation) without a knower (observer). “Can the Self be two-fold? Can there be one Self that knows, and a second Self that is known?” asks3 Shri Ramana Maharshi in one of his works. This scenario seems mystical where there is no knower. We may think such experiences could happen at some point of meditation but it is not practical when we have to work in daily life. We generally put meditation into a separate compartment – in time (like very early morning) and space (like the special room or a cave in the Himalayas). True meditation is not a matter of the right time and the right place. It is rather dependent on the intensity of inquiry and on the maturity of perception. Steer clear of wrong habits of thinking. Give up false beliefs. See life with very fresh eyes. Meditation happens.

The society has, with our full cooperation, pumped ideas into our head. “We are from a prestigious family. We are from a superior religion. We are very good in heart (though we have made 108 mistakes in our life). We must be respected (and it does not matter if others are not.) etc.” These ideas create the false, separate self. As these ideas arise, we must gaze at them with no bias. When my memory says I am superior, I must ask, am I? When it suggests I am worthless, I must ask, am I? This watchful state is the best ‘time and place’ (desha-kaala).

Let us gather our energy and bust this illusion central to our life of conflict and misery. Is there anything more important?

Swami Chidananda
Varanasi,
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

End Notes:
1 The Heart of Understanding, published by Full Circle, New Delhi – page 5.
2 ibid page 10.
3 “drig-drishya-bhedat kim ayam dvidhatma?” – Saddarshanam, verse 35mpty

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