Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Opening with a verse from Dharmakīrti distinguishing the selflessness of persons from the selflessness of phenomena, Khensur Rinpoche uses this 31-minute guided meditation to build a working understanding of emptiness and dependent arising. He explains how the self arises through causes, conditions, and the names we apply — using the simple image of a flower growing from seed, soil, and water — and argues that because the self is dependently established, it cannot exist as it normally appears: independent and self-sufficient. He then walks practitioners through the proper meditation sequence: first analytic meditation to raise doubt and reach a firm determination, then stabilizing meditation to abide single-pointedly in that understanding. The session closes with ten minutes of silent guided practice and a dedication. Suited to practitioners with some familiarity with Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 GM 1989 04 02 Emptiness and dependent arising.mp3
UUID: 3e6158e7-3622-4f12-890f-3f2810040eee
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Guided Meditations 1988-1992 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1989-04-02
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 31.0 minutes
Words: ~1,984
So we’re going to meditate on selflessness and emptiness this morning. And quoting from a verse by Dharmakīrti, an Indian master who said that with respect to emptiness, there are two types. There is emptiness. There’s the selflessness of sentient beings, and the selflessness of phenomena. So when we talk about the selflessness of persons, we’re including all the various types of sentient beings, whether they’re humans, animals, anything which has a life force, we’re including in this category of selflessness.
And that which does not have a life force, that which is not sentient life, we are calling phenomena. So there are these two types of selflessness. Selflessness of persons and selflessness of phenomena. So it’s extremely fortuitous to be a human being that we have this powerful intellectual capacity, we have the ability to cultivate productive states of mind, that we can lead a very purposeful and meaningful existence. So we have to ask the question, where did this human embodiment come from?
That things do not arise from no cause. They arise from cause and therefore our sentient life, our life as a human being arises from causes and conditions. So it’s easy to understand that we use the example of a flower that it doesn’t arise from no cause. It arises from specific causes such as the seed of a flower in in in conjunction with various conditions such as earth, water, fertilizer, sun, things of this nature. So with respect to humans, the main cause or condition for development is taking a human embodiment is the skillful karma that we’ve created in the past.
The skillful actions that we’ve engaged in. This in conjunction with the conditions of the union of the sperm and egg of our parents represents the necessary causes and conditions whereby we were able to take a human embodiment. So not only do we need these various causes and conditions to be suitably termed a human being, but we also need to have that name applied to us. That is the name of the name human being. We, in our daily language, we use various conventions that we say that this person went to this place and then he or she went to this place.
We’re continually labeling, designating, using these using names and terms in order to establish what an object is. And this the object arises in dependence upon these names that we give them. So we can begin to get the feeling that of the way in which we arose in dependence upon various causes and conditions karma, mother and father and also by being designated by terms, by names. Therefore, there is nothing which exists by its, under its own power. That is to say independent.
That everything is a dependent arising. So then we have to begin to contemplate the nature of the appearance and the way in which things actually exist. Nothing exists without relying on something other than itself. That is to say, nothing exists by way of its own power, independently independent of all other factors. But things appear to exist that way.
Things objects appear to exist as if they don’t depend upon anything else. This is the object of negation in the understanding of emptiness. This appearance in which things appear to be under their own power, that they are not depending upon anything else, is what is to be refuted, negated, that things in fact do not exist this way, though they appear this way. So there is nothing which does not rely on causes and conditions. That if we ask, can something exist the way it appears usually to us, that is to say, under existing under its own power, not relying on anything objectively from its own side, then we can see by these very simple examples that nothing exists in that way, that everything is dependent upon causes and conditions, that they arise in this way and therefore they don’t exist in dependence upon their own side objectively.
So in the coming to an understanding of emptiness, in actually cultivating this awareness in meditation, it’s most skillful to begin with applying the understanding of emptiness to oneself rather than external phenomena. So in the actual cultivation of the understanding of emptiness in our meditation, trying to, it’s necessary to meditate in order to gain a realization of emptiness or selflessness. And how do we proceed in this method? We have to understand that, begin to appreciate that we in fact do not exist the way we normally appear to ourselves. That the way we normally appear to ourselves is that there is a self which does not rely on any other factors outside of itself, which is independently existing, existing under its own power.
But if when we question this, does in fact the I or the self exist in this way? It does not exist in this way. That we can understand from our simple examples that the self, the person, the I, arises in dependence upon cause and conditions. There is no self which does not rely on something outside of itself. And that it relies on the aggregation of these causes and conditions.
And through this aggregation, the self is dependently established. So, the initial procedure in meditating on emptiness is to understand how in fact we do exist. That the self arises in dependence upon causes and conditions, upon being named, upon terms, and that there is no self and therefore the self is empty of an independently existing way of existing. That this way of existing in fact doesn’t exist. Coming to the understanding that using this reasoning that the I, that the self relies on various causes, various conditions, even naming being designated in in order for its existence to be established, using this reason to refute, to negate the usual apprehension of the self as independently existing.
So in general, are two types of meditation. There are analytic meditations and stabilizing meditation. So in the process of coming to realization of emptiness, initially we begin with an analytic meditation using various types of reasoning, using contemplations. We must come to ask ourselves, does the self exist in fact the way it appears to me? And trying to gain an appreciation for the way it appears, and then using various reasonings to refute that this appearance in fact is mistaken.
That indeed I do not exist in this way. That I exist in dependence upon causes and conditions even though I don’t appear that way. And coming to this firm determination, then abiding, making use of stabilizing meditation, abiding single pointedly in this state of having come to this firm determination of the actual nature of the self. So we have to make use of both of these types of meditation and come into a correct understanding to actually gain the realization. If we simply ultimately, we want to we couple these together, these two types of methods of meditating, analytic and stabilizing.
First, if we simply remain in the analytic meditation that is continually using reasonings, then we will never be able to ultimately abide in the stabilizing meditation of simply remaining single pointedly on having come to a determination. That ultimately we have to cease analysis, having come to a determination, and abide within that state. Get used to that state, that productive, skillful state of mind to habituate the mind to this understanding that we’ve gained. So ultimately we want to go beyond the analysis. But then again, if we simply immediately proceed with stabilizing meditation without having thinking, Oh, I don’t exist the way I appear, and simply abide in that state single pointedly without having come to a determination through various types of reasoning, then we will gain no ascertainment actually of the nature of the self. We really aren’t meditating on selflessness, and our meditation will not be stable.
We want to initially create some doubts as to the nature of the self, then come to some determination as to the actual nature of the self, and then abide in that state single pointedly. This is the coupling of analytic and meditative stabilization. So first, proceeding in meditation, it’s necessary to make use of this analytic meditation. Contemplating that whether I exist the way I appear and the various types of reasoning that we can make use of. Trying to an understanding of what, how we do in fact appear normally and then using reasonings to refute this appearance.
If we don’t make use of analytic meditation initially we’re not going to make any progress in our understanding. We have to come to an ascertainment. And if we simply abide in the thought, Oh, I don’t exist this way, then we’re more or less habituating ourselves to some kind of obscuration. We’re not actually clarifying our understanding, coming to a real understanding. So first we make use of selflessness of persons, coming to an understanding that the person is dependently existing, that it’s dependent upon causes and conditions, that the fact that the self does not exist independently without being, without depending upon other factors outside of itself.
And we can use various types of reasoning, understanding simply that the self exists in dependence upon causes and conditions, that it is established through these. If the self was not established through causes and conditions, then there would be no birth, there would be no aging, there would be no death. And all these various faults would accrue from such a type of self which was in fact not dependent because it would have to be unchanging. It would have to be permanent. And then we can understand that the self, in fact, doesn’t exist this way.
Coming to using various reasonings that the type of self which you have generally been accustomed to appearing to you, in fact cannot exist by use of reasoning, coming to that firm determination, and single mindedly abiding in that determination, that conclusion that you’ve come to in your mind as to the actual nature of yourself. And this is the proper way to cultivate the realization of emptiness of this person. So we’re going to you know, meditating in this way is extremely beneficial. Even just creating the doubt as to the nature of the self is extremely powerful in transforming our mind. We create a great deal of positive potential, positive energy through this process.
So we have to we’re going to meditate for ten minutes, you know, to understand how the self normally appears to us, to exist independently without relying on anything outside of itself. And then using various reasonings to refute this normal way of apprehending the self. Understanding that the self must depend upon causes. It must depend upon conditions and in fact is a dependent arising. There is nothing, there is no thing, and in this case self, which is not a dependent arising, does not rely on other factors outside of itself.
Refuting this self and coming to a determination of the actual nature of the self, that it doesn’t exist inherently within itself, but it exists in dependence upon other factors and abiding in this understanding of having negated the type of appearance of an independent self. So I appreciate very much what you’ve meditated on emptiness this morning and that you it’s extremely skillful type of action. Creates a great deal of positive energy for yourself and you too, should rejoice in what you are seeking to accomplish. In the future you will quickly gain a realization of emptiness. So it’s just like planting a field.
You have to put the seed in the ground and now we’re putting the seed in the ground. Prayers of dedication dedicating the positive energy that we create on the back of page the dedication sheet, prayer sheet.