Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 48-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen explains why concentration (calm abiding) is essential to understanding emptiness, the heart of Buddhist practice. He compares the sūtra approach—gentler and risk-free but slower—with tantric methods that harness physical energy through subtle channels, offering faster results but requiring careful guidance from an experienced teacher. He covers practical meditation posture (cross-legged spine straight, focused gaze), how to establish mental stability without forcing or struggling, and how to distinguish between distractions like mental excitement and torpor. In the session’s final movement, he introduces emptiness not as nothingness but as freedom from the self-grasping mind that falsely believes in a truly independent self. Suited for practitioners ready to engage with both foundational meditation technique and core Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 LtK no date.mp3
UUID: 4309cf5e-69c4-4aee-89dc-3e890034aaa4
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Letter to a King (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1984 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 48.4 minutes
Words: ~6,204
Or forever or eternally, what you do is you develop these special concentrations. With the power of that concentration, you hold that right conclusion of the emptiness, or how things do not truly exist. So that’s how you develop within your mental continuum. So as a negative action of having that understanding of the truth, the ignorance — or the nature of the ignorance — falls apart. That’s good.
Since the concentration is so important — since the practice of concentration is important to not make a right conclusion or understanding of emptiness — this applies. I think we will talk first about how to develop concentration. The meditation on emptiness is exactly the same with regards to practising sūtra or the lesser or the easier way, or the tantric practice, the secret or somewhat mystic. Sorry. That’s okay. But the concentration and so forth does make a bit of a difference.
Yeah. It is. In terms of meditating upon the emptiness, from both points of view of sūtra and tantra it is exactly the same. It does not make any difference. However, from the point of view of meditating upon concentrations, there is a big difference.
So from the tantric point of view of developing the special concentration, such as completion stage, or generation and completion stages. A bit of, you know, a fractional idea of the generation stage — meditating on the generation stage is: first, you know, you receive the initiations or empowerment or whatever, then after having received that, then, you know, transforming your body into the body of a deity and so forth. So that is that — it will do for the time being. That’s what it is. Mhmm.
It’s basically exercising, you know, it’s basically exercising your physical organism, such as, you know, your subtle energy wind which is circulating through your body, or such as your vein or nerve, or such as energy wind, nerve, or vein, whatever you put — vein, that sort of energy which exists in terms of your bodily organism, you see. You exercise it. You know, you exercise it, and you make that a means to, you know, control your mind, to control your — how to say — to control your mind. And as a way of, you know, exercising your energy wind, you can, you know, meditate on the vase shape type of breathing, or breathe, and the breathing recitations of vajra — or vajra recitations through breathing and so forth. So especially when you do the vajra recitations through breathing, what you do is you basically, you know, exercise the whole existing energy in your body, you know, in your body, and you control the circulating energy wind through your body, and you make that very energy wind enter into your central channel.
You see the central channel? So as a result of entering it, it, you know, it enters and it absorbs — how to say it? Yeah. It absorbs into your central channel. So as a result of that, what you do is you gain a special sort of feeling, or a special joy, or special bliss, as a part of controlling that.
You see, controlling that. So since the mind is somewhat, you know, based upon your physical energy — so when you control your physical energy, you control your mind — and therefore, as a part of controlling the energy wind into your central channel, you develop special bliss, you know, bliss. So with that bliss, then you concentrate upon the subject of emptiness. Thus, in the teaching, or in tantric teaching, in the tantric practice, we often come across this kind of practice, such as the simultaneously born bliss and emptiness. So that means you are doing that sort of thing.
We call it the joining of the bliss and the emptiness. So it means you develop that sort of bliss through controlling your, you know, existing physical energy such as, you know, energy wind, nerve, and so forth, and you develop the bliss. So with that bliss, you know, while existing or abiding or experiencing that very bliss, you understand or you realise the very nature of the entire phenomena, which is emptiness. You see? So doing such kind of practice is pretty profound, and it’s a part of the introduction, as I said.
Yeah. That is yeah. So I personally believe that in terms of, you know, someone wishing to have a quick result of experiential knowledge of whatever type of meditation you do, then I think if you do these sort of meditations as a tantric practice, I think you can have a quicker result. You know? I mean, quicker result.
Because actually what you are really doing is you are working with your physical — or the existing energy or organisms of your own body, which exist within your own body. So you’re working with that. You actually, you know, become in touch with that sort of energy and you’re working with this. So you have a sort of slightly better chance of, you know, some sort of result, some sort of happening. However, it does not mean that, you know, it can be done in one day.
So to be able to achieve, you know, some kind of reasonable amount of success with that sort of practice, you have to, you know, depend upon a well-experienced or well-trained spiritual master who will tell you: do this and that. And you also work hard with him. You see — spend whatever, you know, stage you are in. You just, by meditating or by doing such and such thing — you say, I have that sort of feeling or that sort of experience, or that sort of feeling of something happening. So you report it, and the teacher or whoever will tell you, yes, now you are at this stage and now you have to do the next things with the proper energy and so forth. Then, of course, you do have a quicker chance of receiving or getting success than through the śamatha, or the special concentration, or the calm abiding, as we do as a practice from the sūtra point of view. So how long does it take in terms of actually achieving the, you know, the extent of development of the completion stage? However, you know, it seems to slightly have a better chance of getting some success because you are actually working with your own physical existing energy.
However, it does involve a bit of risk, you know, a bit of risk. If you made a sort of slight mistake, it might cause you, you know, big sort of problems. Sometimes you feel that you — because you’re actually working with your existing physical energy — when you make the wrong channelisations of those sort of energies, it causes you, you know, some problem. It might make you freak out, or it might drive you mad. That sort of problem, of course, does involve with that.
Yeah. As a sort of true event, you know. It’s a true event. A true event which is the evidence that if, you know, you don’t do the right channelisation of the energy, it causes problems.
So one Geshe, you know, called Geshe Jampal, so he took this sort of training of, you know, controlling your energy body and so forth from the Pänchen Rinpoche, which is the next to, you know, next to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s lineage in Tibet. Pänchen. Pänchen Rinpoche. Oh, no. It’s not Pänchen Rinpoche.
It’s Pänchen Rinpoche. Right? So and he did sort of meditations on this energy wind and so forth, and he made a mistake. How to say? Yeah.
He made a mistake. He was sort of directing the energy wind. You know, he directed it to the wrong place. So he — and he tried it again. Yeah.
So because of the wrong direction of the energy wind, he had a sort of extra sort of belly come up, you know, popped out from his left — how do you say it now, belly or whatever. Yeah. Or abdomen. Yeah? Extra sort of abdomen happening here because he made a mistake.
So, however, he tried and tried. Later on, he was able to rectify it, and later on, he became really, you know, well — he achieved a lot of success with that, and he became, later on, it was known that he could, you know, walk about ten times faster than the normal person and things like that. Yeah. When you sort of try to develop the special concentration from the concentrations from the sūtra techniques, you know, such as the nine stages of the mind — bringing the concentration within the mind in terms of sūtra. So these sort of techniques are, you know, risk-proof.
You don’t have any risk. You don’t have to worry. So it might, you know, take slightly longer time. But in terms of hitting the target, for sūtra or tantra, it’s exactly the same. You are going to hit the same target.
You don’t have two different targets. But the method or the means of hitting that target is slightly different because the tantra is — because actually you’re working with your physical energy and so forth. So it does involve a lot of risk. So, I mean, you know, it is sort of quite evident in many sorts of retreat practices: you will come across such as complaining, you know — today I have this sort of fantasy, or today I see such a thing, or next day you say I have the feeling of the red thing, or next time you say I have this, I’m completely blacking out. That sort of feeling.
In actual fact, from the external point of view, nothing happens. What actually happens is because you are actually exercising the entire parts of your body, the knowers and so forth, you know — you are exercising the existence of your nadis, you see, with the psychic energy or energy wind. So when that energy wind is being channelised through the knowers and so forth, part of the body, it hits everywhere. It hits everywhere. That causes you to experience or see very funny things.
So that’s involving a lot of risk. As one of the great Tantric Tibetan masters called Jowo Ensapa — so he had a lot of students, you know, practising. They come, you know — I have this sort of vision, the student thinking it must be something wonderful, but he said it’s not a sign of good or bad. Just keep trying. Keep trying.
He used to say that all the time. So, anyway, basically, you know, in terms of achieving the tranquility of the mind or the concentration of the mind, what we really need is just to think properly and try properly with, you know, right sort of mindfulness. That’s what really matters. I feel that.
And with the techniques of the sutras in terms of achieving concentrations or tranquility of the mind or stabilisation of the mind, that technique has no risk whatsoever. However, sometimes some people, I mean, do sort of find, you know, it’s quite — it takes a long time. I mean — yeah. And that’s very common. He’s a teacher.
So from whom I took teaching. So he told me that during teaching, he said that he had been trying to achieve the special concentration. So in actual fact, he is a pretty high teacher. He said it took him about two years. Still, he said he didn’t have the proper sort of control of the concentration in his mind.
So he sort of kept himself completely in a solitary place, and he tried for two years. Yeah. In the scripture, it does sort of state that one will, you know, achieve the concentration of the mind within six months provided one tries well. Yeah. Yeah.
But it’s mainly quite difficult, actually. Yeah. So I personally believe it would be pretty difficult within six months. However, of course, it does depend upon, you know, each person’s individual, you know, capability of handling the whole things. Basically, Geshe-la believes that you all know the sitting meditation postures.
Do you know? Geshe-la says you all sit somewhere reasonably in a sitting meditation posture. So as Geshe-la was pointing out on the way you sit — your leg should be in the cross leg. Yeah.
Cross leg. Mhmm. And the hand — oh, yes. This is the right hand on top of the left, I think. Mhmm.
Yep. And, you know, keeping your whole spine very straight and your head slightly bent with your eyes focusing on the tip of your nose. Your shoulder, you know, should be, you know, a little bit held high. So, basically, this posture is the same. Doesn’t matter.
The posture of this body is the same for simple sūtra and mysterious tantra. Same. So in terms of achieving the special concentration, it is both in sūtra and tantra the same. You are developing the special ability, you know, the ability to focus your mind on whatever object you choose, single-pointedly, without any distraction.
That’s what you are trying to do. So from the sūtra point of view, you are doing a less scientific sort of development. You see? You’re just basically trying to, you know, focus or concentrate your mind on a particular object and try to, you know, stay in that way as long as possible. So then what do you do?
The longer you keep your mind on one spot, you see, one spot, without any distraction, single-pointedly, then basically your sort of, you know, energy wind or psychic energy, you know, psychic energy wind becomes more comfortable or becomes more serviceable. You know? The more your, you know, wind — psychic energy — becomes serviceable, the easier it is to focus your mind on the chosen specific object. So in tantra, what you do is you are actually more sort of technologically developed. You know?
You try all sorts of means of your body and psychic energy. You activate them and you try to get hold of the mind. So that is basically what you’re trying to do — try to achieve the stability of the mind, or the ability of the mind focusing on one spot, or whatever object you choose, single-pointedly, without any distraction, as long as you wish. The — mhmm. Normally, the mind is being used to, you know, sort of going everywhere.
You know? So as it’s used to going, or, you know, wandering everywhere, you see, it has its own sort of vision of, you know, how things should be. So when you are doing the meditation, when you try to hold back the mind, you are trying to discipline your mind somewhat in a violent method. That’s it. You cannot go that way.
You see, you try to hold back your mind strongly. Therefore, you know, it misses its usual type of vision, you know, that the mind has been used to. You know, you’re trying to discipline the mind in some other way than it has been used to. So it sees some different sort of thing — that could be the reason he believes. The kind of feeling — so you said it’s a kind of orange thing sort of you experience inside. Is that something that is externally happening in front of you or just on the inside?
No. It’s happening — Inside? — around my body, and the body was now inside the shell of this sort of — Oh, I see. — light. And — Oh, okay.
Is that sort of feeling — is it inside, or did you actually see the whole sort of thing — you feel this happening outside? You’re just actually seeing it. The body seemed inside and the light seemed outside. It seemed like we’re looking down. Oh, yeah.
So you’re actually seeing it? Yeah. Seeing it. Geshe-la is asking: are you sort of keep seeing whatever you see all the time everywhere you go? Nothing.
Yeah. There’s slight difference, you know, how to say, about the way your mind looks. So yeah. You started, you know, to practise meditation, so if you have that sort of sign, if it is not a wonderful thing, for sure, it’s not bad. Yeah, you can — I mean, reasonably you can feel quite happy with yourself.
So you never know what that could mean. Maybe you’ll be a good meditator later on. Yeah. Those people who are brand new in terms of doing meditation practice — for them, it is very important to keep the whole body very relaxed, you know, keep the whole body very relaxed. You know?
First thing. While you’re keeping your body very relaxed, at the same time, then you have to feel some sort of very, very quietness — sort of, you know, quieting out. So it is also very important, you know, when you are sort of, you know, keeping your body relaxed and at the same time you’re trying to be quieting out, you see, at that time — but it does not mean that, you know, how to say, you become sort of sleepy, or your mind becomes somewhat sort of messed up, or your mind is getting into boredom. Nothing like that.
You know what I mean? Is that clear? Rather, you know, keep your mind very actively, not boringly. Yeah.
Actively or very alert. So first, you know, keeping the body relaxed, then, you know, feel kind of, you know, quietness. So the mind, you know, being so clear — maybe clear, or clear, or very alert, very alert.
And on top of that, what you should do in the beginning: all of a sudden, you shouldn’t be sort of struggling. You know? You shouldn’t be struggling with your mind. You know? You’re just trying to push your mind on the objects.
You see? You should not be struggling like that. Rather, you try to, you know, get some bit of control on that — you know, keeping the body relaxed and this bit of feeling more quietness and not blanking out, but rather sort of a bit of an alert mind, or a very clear mind — and not straight away struggling, you know, trying to jump onto the object or whatever meditation you’re going to do. Yeah. The object of meditation you have chosen — you should not stir away from it.
Rather, you know, keep your mind somewhat in the sense of, you know, a sense of voidness. You know, then you sort of keep your mind — or feel some kind of voidness. Then when everything is somewhat sort of, you know, reasonably settled, then what you do is: now, whatever the object of meditation, maybe like a light or whatever you want to do, you see, then you try to bring the clear mental picture of that, and you try to get the mental picture of whatever you’re going to meditate. For instance, if you’re going to do the meditations on the bodies of the Buddhas — which we’re doing last time — such as, you know, you think from the lotus and each part of the bodies, and you try to get more and more familiar with, how to say, the whole things. Once you gain the clear mental picture of that, then you try to set your mind on top of that and try to, you know, hold it — or try to intensify the clarity of whatever the mental picture you have.
So if you find you are slightly blanking out or you find you are losing that clear mental picture you have made — don’t stir away. You know? Don’t let it struggle that way. You see? Don’t let it go slightly that way.
Don’t try to, you know, sort of struggle with this — oh, saying that I’m, you know, blanking out, so I must try to get it back. You know? Don’t jump in that way. Because if you do that, then there’s a problem of getting mental excitement.
Is that clear? The idea is that you should not be struggling. No. You should not be struggling. If you sort of, you know, try to struggle with that as someone is being knocked out of the boxing ring or whatever, then there’s a problem of, you know, mental excitement, you see, mental excitement.
So when you sort of develop that mental picture and you try to, you know, hold that, you see, and when — if you are losing it slightly or somewhat — if the state of that losing is somewhat like that when you see some kind of movie or pictures: you see, you can’t see so clearly, but at the same time, you have the vision of the whole things, you see, the vision of the totality of whatever you are seeing. You see, if the losing state is somewhat like that, doesn’t matter. You try to keep that. So either way, you try to gain the state of the mind. You know?
State of the mind means, you know, you try to keep your mind — make your mind stay on that. That is the main thing you’re trying to do. So the whole thing, the whole feeling after doing that should be somewhat effortless, you know, somewhat effortlessly. Not that you’re putting a tremendous amount of pressure onto yourself, but rather effortlessly. Try to gain the stay of the mind on whatever object you choose.
You see? In that way, what you’re trying to do is achieve or trying to achieve the state of the mind on that object very effortlessly. Don’t sort of, you know, make a struggle against that. So that is the very much beginning thing to be, you know, put into consideration. Mhmm.
If you are losing the whole thing, or if you are beginning to blank out completely, then what do you do? Try to, you know, develop a bit of the clarity of whatever the mental picture you have. So in that way, you try to prolong the duration of the stay of your mind on whatever particular object you choose. So that’s why you try to prolong your stay of your mind on that particular object, whatever you choose. You see?
That way, you know, make it longer and longer. How to say it? Make the duration longer and longer. So, of course, there are the techniques. There are nine types of techniques, you know, about how to accomplish or achieve the special concentration, you see.
So as we said, if one has the super meditation, then one would be super slow. Is that clear? Means if you who has a super meditation, they are also super slow. You know? They do very slowly.
Yesterday, we were discussing about how to develop concentration through different aspects of meditation. The one which we discussed yesterday was the very much initial process of how to get or how to achieve the stabilisation of the mentality in terms of, you know, achieving calm abiding or concentration. So actually there are many more advanced techniques such as the nine stages of the mind and so forth. And whatever the case — whatever the advanced practice maybe — the first thing is what we discussed yesterday, which is important to be able to fully do in that way. As we discussed yesterday, first of all, try to get a bit of clarity of whatever object you try to meditate on.
Now after that, even if you don’t get a hundred percent clarified picture of whatever you want, don’t have to worry. What you do is try to get a bit more of the state of the mind, whatever mental picture you made. So after a while, if you can — if you have achieved more control over the state of the mind in whatever the particular object you choose as the subject or object of your meditation — then what you should do next is: now in that state, then you have to try to intensify your clarity, so that you make sure you get the picture as clear as possible. Mhmm. You’re sort of meditating on a slightly messed-up picture.
It must be clear. Yes. I know. You take it. So people finding it difficult to concentrate through the external objects — for them, it’s easy to try to achieve that sort of concentration or stability through meditating upon your own breath.
You know? By doing the breathing meditation, it is said that one can achieve the stabilisation or the state of the mind much more quickly than by trying it upon external objects. From the point of view of the distraction that is awaiting to destroy our meditation on achieving the state of the mind or stabilisation of the mind — such as, you know, thinking, or torpor — that sort of thing. So the main thing you have to do is try to develop more mindfulness and alertness. You see?
Through mindfulness, whatever object you choose, you can hold it. And through alertness — or mental spy — what you do is you make sure that you’re on the right track. So then you can know through your alertness what sort of thing you should be, you know, emphasising more. If you need more clarity of the mental picture, then you will work on that and try to intensify the clarity of the pictures. And if you think you need more stay of the mind on the object of meditation, then you will know through the alertness that I need more practice of stay of the mind.
So with your mindfulness, you hold that or you will work onto that. So through the combination of mindfulness and alertness, then one has to make the necessary decision — benefiting or helping or contributing to whatever stage of the mentality one is involved in. You are especially, also reading the information about how to meditate or how to achieve the calm abiding. You see? You will, you know, come across such things: such should be abandoned, or such should be eliminated, or such should be done — but you can’t exactly do that way.
You’ve got to check and you’ve got to know what sort of — you know, what is the stage of achievement within your mind. So just because it is said in the book, if you try to do it, then you are making a big mistake. So such as in the technique of meditation, it has been said that the subtle thinking has to be abandoned. See, it has to be abandoned. But the subtle thinking can only occur during such an advanced stage of your meditation practice, such as when you have very good control of the clarity of the pictures, you have a good state of the mind — and so at that time, actually, the thinking can happen.
So when you have the trouble of the subtle thinking, it means you are already advanced in terms of practising, or in terms of achieving the state of the mind or clarity of the mental pictures. You see? How do you say? Mental pictures. And when you have the problem of the subtle thinking, it means you’re about to hit the target of achieving the full calm abiding.
So subtle thinking — it means something like that. You have, you know, good sort of clarity. You have a good state of the mind. However, the intensity of your mind, which is going — the mind is somewhat slow. You know, somewhat slow.
It is not too sort of tightly, you know, holding the whole thing. It’s like that. If you are holding, you know, a cup of tea in your hand — you just hold it, but you’re not holding it too sort of, you know, strongly or, how to say, actively. You see, that sort of stage is called the subtle thinking. You have the good clarity of the mind and good state of the mind.
However, your mind is not sort of fully able to grasp it. You see? That is the stage of the subtle thinking. So as you can understand yourself, when you have the trouble of the subtle thinking, it means you are very advanced — you are already sort of quite advanced in terms of practice and so forth. Therefore, when you read the book, it is said subtle thinking has to be abandoned.
You instead of, you know, trying other — you’re trying to abandon the subtle sinking — it means you’re making a mistake. I’m asking. So the relaxation of the mind and the body before meditating is important. You see, important. As in the technique itself says, the enjoyment or the joy of the suppleness or the relaxation of the mind and the body, you see, the bodies.
So it means that when you relax your body and you try to, you know, meditate by keeping your body very relaxed and very calmly, so that time your body becomes very workable or serviceable or controllable. Then as a result of that, you have a kind of, you know, physical sort of joy, you see, physical joy. So as a consequence of that, there arises a mind which grasps that joy — which holds that joy of the physical joy, joy of relaxation. So then that mind enjoys the whole thing. When you are able to achieve that sort of, you know, joy or enjoyment of the relaxation of the mind and the body, then thereby you are able to, you know, concentrate — or you are able to do the whole technique of meditation without any trouble or effortlessly.
At that time, you are not actually struggling doing it. You are enjoying doing the whole thing. So once you are enjoying doing something, it means you don’t feel it as problematic, or as a kind of, you know, very troublesome. You enjoy it. Therefore, the more the intensity of the joy of the physical and the mental relaxation, the better the chance you have to actually sort of work in terms of achieving the full calm abiding or concentration.
Yeah. I think we can do that. Special concentration — or special, because that’s the calm abiding. You see? So at this stage, when we are trying to concentrate on something and if we think or if we try to analyse something else, what happens? We suddenly lose our concentration.
We cannot, you know, carry out these two things simultaneously. When we do the one thing, we lose the other one. So, then you know, by developing that sort of calm abiding, then you develop a special sort of insight — special insight — which means while you are meditating or concentrating on something, you are at the same time, or simultaneously, able to carry out the whole analytical approach to whatever the subject you are trying to meditate. So when you are able to carry out these two things — analytical special insight and calm abiding together — as a sort of mutual cooperation with each other, that is called a special practice, or the special unity, or the unified practice of calm abiding and special insight.
Yep. After achieving the unity practice or unified practice of calm abiding and special insight, then what you do is you use that power in terms of realising the wisdom, understanding emptiness. You see, emptiness. So the understanding of the emptiness is the only power, or only antidote, or remedy to fight or to counteract the basic ignorance, which is the cause of the entire problem. So the emptiness is the crux of Lord Buddha’s teaching, Buddha’s teachings.
So we will try to talk a little bit about the emptiness in actual fact. The subject of, or the concept of, emptiness is so profound, so profound, that it’s, you know, hard to immediately understand for the student, and it’s also hard to immediately tell from my side. Of Buddhist, all Buddhist doctrines — when is it? — after the enlightenment of the Buddha, he said out of extreme joy that I have found the natural-like Dharma, or teaching, which is so profound.
So peaceful. Clear light — which is clear light. So now this — what do you call this? Whatever I said, three things — these are the terms which we use, and all these are the meaning of the emptiness, and these are synonymous with emptiness.
Perhaps, you know, perhaps you might have come across the term clear light, especially in terms of dealing with the tantric practices. So sometimes this clear light has been used as the cogniser of emptiness, or the mind which cognises emptiness has been referred to as clear light. And whereas sometimes this clear light has been used from the very objective side — the emptiness itself. Emptiness is also known as the free of conceptual elaborations. So it means that when you enter into the extreme meditation of emptiness, at that time you are free of all those unnecessary mischievous conceptual elaborations you make.
Means you have no fantasy, nothing. You just see the bare, solid reality. Mhmm. What does it mean? So when we meditate, or when we want to meditate upon the subject of emptiness, if you ask: what is that emptiness?
So first of all, it’s important to know that the emptiness does not mean the complete — how do you say? — extinction. Or emptiness does not mean the nonexistence of everything. It’s not like just, you know, empty space. Meditation upon the emptiness is not meditation upon the nothingness. Nothingness and the emptiness are two totally different things.
See, the reason why we meditate upon the emptiness is actually, you know, to try to counteract, or actually try to get rid of, the basic ignorance — such as which is, you know, self-grasping, you know, self-grasping, or grasping at the true existence of oneself, whatever you may call it. So that is the ignorance which we are trying to get rid of through the meditations upon emptiness or shunyata. So if the meditation on emptiness is the meditation upon nothingness, then that nothingness would do nothing in terms of getting rid of the basic ignorance. So then it means we haven’t got any purpose of doing the meditation upon emptiness.
It will become rather a philosophical imagination. That’s good. Mhmm. What we should do here — it means, first of all, we find out the inborn sense of grasping at oneself, or the sense of grasping at the true existence of the entire thing. So which is, you know?
So now you have to find out: does everything — do all phenomena — exist in the way that I look at them, or in the way the self-grasping mind looks at them? We have to find out whether the entire phenomena really or actually or truly exist in the way they have been looked upon through that mind of grasping at the true existence of oneself. Okay. Before starting the experiment of the emptiness idea in conjunction with the other internal phenomena, it’s important to start the experiment with oneself. So, generally, you know, when we have the idea or the sense of I or myself — so when you have a strong sense of myself, or of me, or I, or when you have the strong sense of the me-ness or I-ness — at that time, you see, we check how that sense of the I is, you know, looking or relating with oneself, you see, with oneself.
How does that mind look at or consider or recognise oneself? So then we will find that that mind, you know, that mind or that sense of I will, you know, look at oneself as, you know, I as being truly existent, as not depending upon any parts of the body, neither depending upon the imputation of the name. Nothing — as if there is a substantial thing of I or me existing, which is the overall boss, something like that. The inborn sense of grasping at oneself — the way of looking at or way of relating with oneself, or with I — is something that, you know, that I exist all by its own, without depending upon any name, body, and so forth. It just has sort of — you know, it is completely independent.
So, and normally, when you really try to find out where the I exists within ourself, sometimes we are lost. We can’t — or we are unable to find where that I exists. That’s it. Yeah. Last time.
As we said, we have to investigate or we have to experiment the idea of emptiness with oneself through finding how the self — the inborn self —