6.4. Emptiness
At last we come to the heart of the matter.
cakkhu attā’ti yo vadeyya taṃ na upapajjati. cakkhussa uppādopi vayopi paññāyati. yassa kho pana uppādopi vayopi paññāyati, ‘attā me uppajjati ca veti cā’ti iccassa evamāgataṃ hoti. tasmā taṃ na upapajjati – ‘cakkhu attā’ti yo vadeyya. iti cakkhu anattā.
Whoever says, "I am the eye / The eye is me", that is unacceptable. The coming into being and disappearance of the eye is evident. Then one would have to conclude, "I am coming into being and disappearing". Therefore it is unacceptable to say, "I am the eye / The eye is me". The eye is not oneself.
MN 148 chachakkasuttaṃ
By the same logic, the sutta goes on to discuss every aspect of six sense experience from the same logic.
Whoever says, "I am visible forms / visible forms are me" ...
Whoever says, "I am eye consciousness / eye consciousness is me" ...
Whoever says, "I am visual experience / visual experience is me" ...
Whoever says, "I am vedanā / vedanā is me" ...
Whoever says, "I am craving / craving is me", that is unacceptable. The coming into being and disappearance of the craving is evident. Then one would have to conclude, "I am coming into being and disappearing". Therefore it is unacceptable to say, "I am craving / craving is me". Craving is not oneself.
What is this sutta emphasising? If the process of experience is entirely made out of parts, and all those parts are dependent on each other, then it's impossible for one of the parts to be some kind of permanent essence or Self. And yet, this is exactly what we believe. It doesn't matter if you come from an Abrahamic religion and believe in a soul, or follow Hindu ideas and believe in a Higher Self, or even be a scientific atheist with no belief. Still, we almost all believe and act as if there's a self right here in experience, an experiencer if you will. Nobody even questions the validity of this belief, it seems to be a self-evident truth. But when we analyse experience, subjectively or objectively, it turns out to be a false idea, an unfounded belief.
We consider ourselves to be rational human beings, and yet this magical belief of an experiencing self persists, despite all evidence to the contrary. There certainly is the illusion of a continuous self that's experiencing the objective material world, and having this inner subjective experience. But when we zoom into experience, we can clearly see it is made out of component parts, and that there's no self hiding within any of the parts, or outside the parts, or in relation to any of the parts.
Without any investigation, almost all of us take consciousness to be some kind of continuous entity, our true being. "Sure, consciousness keeps changing," we might say, "yet I'm still the same person". But if we put consciousness under the spotlight, it becomes obvious that it is completely dependent on things which are very clearly not oneself, leading to the ridiculous situation mentioned in the sutta above, where our self must be arising and passing away on the whims of impersonal external objects.
The other thing which we really take to be our self are our wishes, wants, desires and loves. And on the opposite side, our dislikes, grudges, grievances and hatreds. Even the smallest preferences are taken as part of oneself. Nothing could be more personal than what we love and hate, surely? And yet an investigation of vedanā clearly shows that all our likes and dislikes are based on the impersonal push and pull of feelings in the mind which arise due to their own causes and conditions. So even our personal desires turn out to be highly impersonal and conditioned by external forces.
Another important point that becomes clear from examining experience is this: the world that we all think of as 'out there' turns out to be a very much constructed 'in here'. There is no way to separate the visual form 'out there', from the eyes that see and the consciousness that knows it is seeing. All of the beauty and ugliness we see in the world turns out to the result of vedanā within our mind, not qualities of the world outside. The experience is full of colour and shapes, but completely empty of the one thing that matters, a self, an I, a me, mine, anything that can belong to a self.
This is precisely the question Ananda asks the Buddha about in this sutta from the Saḷāyatana-saṃyutta in the Saṃyutta Nikāya.
suñño loko, suñño loko’ti, bhante, vuccati. kittāvatā nu kho, bhante, suñño lokoti vuccat'ti?
yasmā ca kho, ānanda, suññaṃ attena vā attaniyena vā tasmā suñño lokoti vuccati.
kiñca, ānanda, suññaṃ attena vā attaniyena vā? cakkhu kho, ānanda, suññaṃ attena vā attaniyena vā. rūpā suññā attena vā attaniyena vā, cakkhuviññāṇaṃ suññaṃ attena vā attaniyena vā, cakkhusamphasso suñño attena vā attaniyena vā,yampidaṃ cakkhusamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṃ sukhaṃ vā dukkhaṃ vā adukkhamasukhaṃ tampi suññaṃ attena vā attaniyena vā.
Bhante, it is said, "The world is empty, the world is empty. In what way is the world empty?"
Because, Ananda, the world is empty of a self or anything related to a self, that's why it is said, "The world is empty."
And what is empty of a self or anything related to a self? The eye... forms ... eye consciousness... visual experience... all that is felt, pleasant or unpleasant, based on visual experience, that too is is empty of a self or anything related to a self.
(And likewise for all the other senses including mind)
-- SN35.85 suññatalokasuttaṃ
The first thing to notice about this sutta is that the Buddha describes the world not as the world 'out there', but as the subjective world of experience. That's the only world anybody actually knows. And while this world is full of experiential phenomena, it's truly empty of a self, empty of any essence, empty of any entity, empty of any soul, empty of any kind of lasting being.
This idea of emptiness can really freak some people out. They think, "Before I had an I, now it doesn't seem to exist any more. Where did I go!? What happened to me!?" But there never was an I, there never was a me, it was always just empty experience. Others leap towards this idea of emptiness, because they understand the simple truth of it. This is what's happening now, this is what's always been happening, just empty experience arising and passing away. When there's nothing to hold on to, the mind can let go.
Ultimately, clinging onto something that isn't really our own to possess just causes endless amounts of hardship and suffering.
When we see this with the eye of wisdom, how all things inside and outside are completely impersonal, the illusion breaks. We see that dragging an imaginary self and all its possessions around is a huge burden, an unnecessary stress. Not taking that heavy burden to be oneself, we can drop the weight to the ground, lighten the load and get relief.
Holding on to a sense of self is merely holding onto dukkha. Letting go of the sense of self is merely letting go of dukkha. Everything else continues as normal.
When we realise that the thing we are gripping so tightly is causing us suffering, we drop it naturally, like a burning coal. Nobody needs to tell us to drop something hot. And yet, in a way, that's what we're all doing—clinging tightly onto the very thing which is the source of the pain.
This practice helps to provide a vivid, clear understanding of the process by which suffering is being created. Understanding how dukkha is made, it becomes possible to stop making it.
"Where does this practice go?", we may ask. To find out, let's take it for a test drive. What happens when we see the world as empty? What happens when we let go of taking this world of experiences as I, as me, as mine? Most people experience an incredible sense of relief. It's such a great feeling to put down the invisible weight that we've been carrying around unnecessarily as long as we can remember. It's a heavy load, dragging an imaginary self through existence.
Meditation on emptiness
Transcript
Let's examine all the components of experience, experience itself, and all responses to experience, understanding the emptiness of each part of the process. --- The eyes are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Visible forms are empty. Eye consciousness is empty. The conscious experience of seeing is empty. All *vedanā* which arise from seeing are empty. All the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. From start to finish, the whole process of seeing, the components of visual experience, the experience itself, and all responses to it are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- The ears are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Sounds are empty. Ear consciousness is empty. The conscious experience of hearing is empty. All *vedanā* which arise from hearing are empty. All the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. From start to finish, the whole process of hearing, the components of auditory experience, the experience itself, and all responses to it are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- The nose is empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Smells are empty. Nose consciousness is empty. The conscious experience of smelling is empty. All *vedanā* which arise from smelling are empty. All the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. From start to finish, the whole process of smelling, the components of olfactory experience, the experience itself, and all responses to it are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- The tongue is empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Flavours are empty. Tongue consciousness is empty. The conscious experience of tasting is empty. All *vedanā* which arise from tasting are empty. All the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. From start to finish, the whole process of tasting, the components of gustatory experience, the experience itself, and all responses to it are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- The body is empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Physical sensations are empty. Body consciousness is empty. The conscious experience of feeling physical sensations is empty. All *vedanā* which arise from feeling are empty. All the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. From start to finish, the whole process of physical sensation, the components of somatic experience, the experience itself, and all responses to it are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- The mind is empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Mental phenomena are empty. Mind consciousness is empty. Any conscious mental experience is empty. All *vedanā* which arise from mental experience are empty. All the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. From start to finish, the whole process of mental experience, the components of mental experience, the experience itself, and all responses to it are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- With open awareness, stay aware of every experience. Understand that all the components of this experience are empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. Understand the experience itself is empty. Understand that all *vedanā* which arise from this experience are empty. Understand that all the mind's responses to *vedanā*, craving, aversion, ignorance, even equanimity are empty. Understand that, from start to finish, this experience is empty, empty of a self or anything that belongs to a self. --- Keep paying deep attention to the emptiness of every experience.Q&A
Q: Do you have any questions or doubts at this point?