Tantric Meditation on Emptiness of Self
Mind training on emptiness of self requires single-pointed attention and concentration on space, empty space. Emptiness awareness in
equipoise of meditation appears as the empty of space. When we practice this repeatedly with calm abiding we can attain direct experience of non-conceptual realization – true emptiness. Awareness of emptiness experience may occur as a quick glimpse or as an extended experience. Some people note it as if floating in endless, boundless space, while others experience trance-like nothingness. These are only two of many possible experiences. Once we achieve this condition we are ready to see ultimate truth. The conventional experience of I/Me/Mine will challenge us via attachment and grasping. Much practice is necessary to overcome this trap. Keep in mind the huge differences between conventional and ultimate reality.
- Begin meditating on the expectation of experiencing some form of non-conceptual emptiness.
- Then become acutely aware of the re-experiencing relapse into I/Me/Mine norms of conventional, solid, substantial human existence. Note how your thoughts and emotions make it all seem so, so real. When this occurs, note it and move back to expecting emptiness.
- While meditating in this manner, when your mind reminds you of your past pain and suffering, work at not reacting strongly. Recognize that in ultimate reality the suffering self is somewhat of an illusion.
- Now we are ready to focus on the self as the object of negation. Accept for now that you can attain selflessness of the I-phenomenon. Even in the conventional reality of time-space it is possible to be in emptiness. Do not fear it, but if your “gut” tells you strongly to stay away – do it.
- Contemplate that form is empty, and that the “I” of self-grasping is also empty. Recall a time when you experienced fear. Notice the strong tendency to defend and protect the self. Notice how/where the fear imparted you. Remember what parts of the mind and
body reacted, and that the whole is NOT the sum of its parts. Collective parts of the body and mind do not constitute the whole of the person. Here, again, we confront the most difficult understanding of ultimate reality – that the self is impermanent, insubstantial, dependent on causes and effects, a projection of mind, and an illusion – it is empty. - Contemplate how the mind-body of humans, even the entire universe of form, is ultimately space, time, sensory awareness, thoughts, emotions, consciousness, and flowing energies. The particle is part as is the wave, but neither constitute the existence of a permanent, independent, lasting, substantial self.
- Now try to track your sensation of inner flowing energies. We could do the same for thoughts, feelings(sensations), and emotions. Notice it is all about flow – nothing substantial, fixed, hard, stationary, etc. All our self-oriented experiences are imputed by conception and perception in empty time and space. This is the mind at work. This is the mind doing its work.
- Does your personal experience of self exist in the past? In the present? Or in the future? We note that all three are associated with the self. However, we can only exist ultimately in the present moment of experience, so why suffer so much from the past and dread so much about the future. If we exist ultimately in the present, what happened to the conception/perception of self in the past and future?
- Yes, it disappeared even if we have memory or projections of its experiences. See how impermanent the self is! See how the flowing of what we experience as conventional concrete events is also somewhat empty. We may remember events, but the self is here now and nowhere else. This elusive self is empty.
- Work harder on this meditative experience of the self here now in ultimate emptiness. Then breathe and rest! Sit quietly and contemplate your experience, where you have been, and where you are right now.
For more information refer to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (1982, 2014). Clear Light of Bliss: Tantric Meditation Manual. London, UK: Tharpa Publications, pp. 187-204.
Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC
From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont
Author of Mindful Happiness
views and the experience of your deep inner self. Below I have modified her presentation of the “I Am Exploration” meditation. My modifications bring in very subtle Vedanta and cognitive-behavioral implications. This is a quick, useful, and relatively easy meditation to practice. Here are the modified instructions.
interactions. When practiced regularly, it may reduce suffering from excessive stress, shame, guilt, and traumatic life experiences. One key benefit is that wise mind’s effects on emotion regulation may reduce the need to self-medicate, a core cause for all addictions. Rather than simply depending on sensory pleasures for short-term escape from pain and/or a fleeting experiences of joy/happiness, wise mind may improve radical acceptance, sensory soothing, and responding inter-personally with wisdom (kindness, respect, compassion). A valued possible outcome is increased authentic, longer-term happiness.
anxiety, the effects of trauma, addictions, and eating disorders. Various well-constructed meta-analyses have demonstrated that mindfulness practice (mainly regular meditation) produced positive effects on depression, anxiety, chronic pain and emotion regulation. It is important to note that all these conditions may become precursors for addictions, including smartphone addiction. By 2007 it was estimated that nearly ten percent of Americans (30,000,000 people) practiced meditation; add to this other mindfulness practices like yoga, qi gong, and tai chi and that number may double. By 2015 mindfulness-based practices were well-integrated into various skilled therapies: mindfulness-based stress reduction (improves depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and emotion regulation), dialectical behavior therapy (improves emotion regulation, self-soothing, and impulsivity), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (50% eduction in relapse for repeated serious depressive episodes), mindfulness-based relapse prevention (for addictions), and acceptance and commitment therapy. The key variable was clear: if clients practiced regularly, they improved their clinical conditions, but if clients did not practice, they did not improve their clinical conditions. Therefore, two things are very important: doing regular practice in psychotherapy sessions, and the clinician being a regular mindfulness practitioner.
experienced directly. When people pay close attention to positive stories they tell themselves and/or positive emotional memories, serotonin levels may increase. Thus mindfulness practices enhance the experience of happiness. However, if people get stuck into paying attention to negative stories and negative emotional memories, the level of serotonin is reduced. Yes, being chronically stuck in the suffering of your past always makes emotional experience worse.
positive thoughts and emotions. When we get stuck in negative cycles of thinking, feeling and doing our right brain and limbic area dominate. A very old mindfulness belief is that you are not your thoughts, your emotions, or your behaviors; these parts of you are simply associated with your life experiences. When a client learns to defuse a though it means they have changed its linguistic structure and removed it from being cemented into their CABs, or cognition-affect-behavior cycles. In all good therapies, especially Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and various mindfulness therapies (MBCR, DBT, MBCT, MBRP, ACT), helpers often work on truth-analysis of unhelpful, repetitive, negative thoughts patterns – especially those embedded into CABs cycles of ineffective experiences. Self-medication, isolation, and avoidance are commonly associated with these realities. Sometimes this work includes meta-cognitive analysis regarding your thoughts about your thoughts or the patterns of your thoughts. The clear logic is that the words we often tell ourselves in times of stress or fear are NOT often true. Of course, if indeed you are seriously endangered best to allow your limbic brain area to save your life. The list below will note various approaches used to defuse thoughts from our experience of being, our CABs cycles.
example: “I am so worthless” helps solidify your brain plasticity about personal meanings and images. Try this: “Sometimes I feel worthless” or “When really bad things happen, I can feel worthless” or “My unpleasant feeling can relate to feeling less worthwhile.”