What is Emptiness?

…mmm, it’s beyond me!

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the words ’emptiness’, ‘pure awareness’, ‘essence’, ‘rigpa’, ‘dharmakaya’, ‘shunyaya’, ‘the kayas’ spoken by someone in robes, sitting on a throne with brocades and surrounded by paintings of deities, these words sound very special…and beyond me.

But this cannot be ‘special’ as it’s what we are. It has to be ordinary, as it is by this that we recognise our true nature. This doesn’t need special words or brocade! The problem with making something ‘special’ is that the meaning moves away from us. Emptiness is beyond elaborate manifestations – and subtle ones.

I am a Buddhist practitioner, so I’m not having a go at Buddhism, but I do wonder at how the Buddha’s teachings are being presented to foreigners. The Dharma has to adapt to the culture that opens to it.

So, what is emptiness?

You’re aware of being aware, right? In that moment of just being aware, there is nothing to do. It’s a shock, as there is an absence of any identification. The mind is confused and shocked as it wants something to do, but finds nothing. That shock is emptiness.

“Is that it?” Yup! There is awareness, and when that awareness is just aware, it is pure. It is, in fact, ordinary purity.

It’s not necessary to adorn this emptiness with elaborations as it has its own qualities; it is empty, and aware, and unconfined. Unconfined means that it has no limits; this is unconditional love.

It is not complicated, even though it may be expressed with much ‘specialness’ and mystery. If we regard it as special, we are separated from that which just is. This can cause much confusion:

“I cannot understand purity; it’s beyond me!”
You never said a truer word.

Q. What isn’t emptiness?