What is this?

Opening, Tuning, and Relating to the Imaginal: Instructions (1) - (Path of the Imaginal) 24 mentions

• and perception comes out of and is implied in emptiness practices i know i keep referring to emptiness on
• implied in emptiness practices i know i keep referring to emptiness on this retreat but i'm actually we don't
• have time to talk too much about emptiness so let's just say this if you're
• so let's just say this if you're familiar with emptiness practices different emptiness practices
• familiar with emptiness practices different emptiness practices um then you will recognize that both
• that is those factors those aspects are always there in emptiness practices and there's a like so many things
• so there's a there's a range of degrees of of of certainly of depth of emptiness practice and somatics are a bit of how
• understand and develop skill with emptiness practices um all the way down to really knowing
• um everything if you like is liquid this these emptiness practices themselves again
• is rendered and substantial that view of emptiness of liquidity is really there and again it's a very very fertile
• and with it with a lot of practice with with emptiness practices and there can be a very fluid movement and with the
• somalia as well fluid movement between either the samadhi or the emptiness practices and the imaginal practices
• and particularly with with a lot of practice with the emptiness practices um sometimes we can sort of
• imaginal realm um just by invoking uh some emptiness products engaging some emptiness
• um just by invoking uh some emptiness products engaging some emptiness practice or invoking the felt uh insight
• there the memory of the insight or the memory of that depth of emptiness to let go in that moment of the perception of
• so with a lot of practice but when just emptiness practices one just leans into letting go of the perception of
• and that comes as a fruit of of uh in most cases quite a lot of emptiness practice and then as i said one can play
• so that's a second there's a samadhi and then the emptiness practices um the third possibility for uh
• whole range of that and and states of come through emptiness practices and states of emptiness if we can use that
• come through emptiness practices and states of emptiness if we can use that phrase on one side being quite fertile
• and sometimes doesn't have to be a lot of samadhi or really deep emptiness practices whatever
• lovely deep states of samadi or emptiness or meta going deep and on one hand and on the other hand the more
• samadhi in in both those ways and that we talked about the emptiness practices if you're familiar with them and thirdly

The Psychodynamics in Meditation (Part 3 - Dimensions of the Personal Journey) - (November Solitary) 23 mentions

• when we see that things are empty this is not a talk about emptiness actually i'm moving quite quickly through all
• this it's definitely not to talk about emptiness when we see that things are empty
• there everything has the equality of emptiness something very very profound and beautiful in that
• milarepa and feeling clear light well meditating on emptiness of mind when i get a lot of stuff coming up i
• i just want this is not a talk about emptiness but i wanted to give you a sense of the it's the most
• powerful thing is understanding emptiness getting that view in the heart in the eyes and then
• explaining fully what i mean by emptiness today and so i don't really understand
• and i talked a lot elsewhere about emptiness i'm not going to go into because what i wanted to go into is
• we say not seeing not knowing understanding in our being the emptiness of things that's delusion and that is
• so it turns out as someone was saying the other day that seeing emptiness is the kind of trump card it's the trump
• there's nothing that will beat it there you go emptiness um it's by far you know by
• out of that it's not quite the total emptiness thing yet but there's a lot of freedom
• let go of the personality if i only see the emptiness of the personality this is a question is it possible
• important as important equally important in its way as seeing the emptiness of the personality it's a question
• personality view it's different could have chosen an emptiness view but it's different actually involving seeing
• so seeing not self seeing no self seeing the emptiness of self and again good talked about this a lot
• incredible incredible radical power of of say seeing emptiness is available to us it really is available to us so also
• different areas than sometimes the emptiness piece maybe they're complementary
• re-understanding of existence that comes through emptiness and the totality of that the depth of that
• personal and they just kind of give a lip service to the emptiness piece oh yeah yeah and everything's empty
• okay so i wanted to say something some of you are working on emptiness and some of you are working on concentration
• please do not abandon the emptiness thing because of what i'm saying today it's just something to put
• the stuff i was talking about anyway but if you are exploring emptiness particularly please continue to do that

From Mindfulness to Divinity: Towards the Tracing of a Phenomenology of Soul (Part 2) - (Eros... 23 mentions

• the unfabricated beyond the unfabricator to recognize the emptiness of all things all absolutely all things
• all absolutely all things so that we see the emptiness the thorough emptiness not just of the self
• so that we see the emptiness the thorough emptiness not just of the self but also of all all things all objects
• existence they are fabricated as well we see the emptiness of space of time and even the emptiness of the
• we see the emptiness of space of time and even the emptiness of the unfabricated and following this
• unfabricated that we see the emptiness of that duality eventually and it collapses so
• if or when we really understand for ourselves the emptiness of all things the thorough and radical emptiness of
• ourselves the emptiness of all things the thorough and radical emptiness of absolutely everything
• what that does that realization that radical thorough emptiness of absolutely everything it softens the divisions that
• of between real and unreal it actually uh this is the least that emptiness does to open up a permission and a legitimacy
• empty but they're not quite the same still the seeing of the deep emptiness of things or trust in the deep emptiness
• still the seeing of the deep emptiness of things or trust in the deep emptiness of things conviction in the deep
• of things conviction in the deep emptiness of things and thorough emptiness of all things
• emptiness of things and thorough emptiness of all things um gives as i say at the very least that
• once one realizes that that kind of level of emptiness and then to me it's possible to explore
• both are empty we share an essence of emptiness and nature of emptiness um
• with that beauty of understanding that knows the emptiness of things recognizes image as image and makes pregnant with
• and we understand through the exploration of emptiness through the exploration of fabrication
• with ways of looking etc understanding emptiness understanding dependent origination one
• that awareness is an attack it's already quite a deep level of emptiness practice going further and deeper that mind and
• from the objects and those are empty too so this becomes with a lot of emptiness practice as i would conceive this
• there's nothing that is basically true this is the understanding of emptiness thorough emptiness there's nothing
• this is the understanding of emptiness thorough emptiness there's nothing that's basic there's nothing that's

Eros and Desire (Q & A) - (Roots into the Ground of Soul) 22 mentions

• i'm not quite sure how much to choose um can emptiness be imaginal yes
• sometimes is skillful unfabricating so samadhi practice metta practice emptiness practices are all unfabricating they all
• and then finds at times that the emptiness itself becomes imaginal um so there's a couple of there's
• it faded and there was just the emptiness and there was a lot of bliss with that and and you just kind of
• um step back a little bit and see the self in relationship with this emptiness yeah
• a relationship comes between the emptiness and the self and the emptiness starts to feel it starts to gain
• steering or pure emptiness practice and the quietening of fabrication back into
• really fine if it always keeps happening that the emptiness fills with stuff then again then i might think okay how can i
• again then i might think okay how can i keep it a more pure emptiness practice and go deeper with that
• yeah that's one that's one of the ways that the sense of emptiness itself becomes an object and that object there
• is it becomes a book if you love emptiness it becomes a beloved object and then there's a way that that could
• enter imaginal practice is via some kind of emptiness or let's say via some kind of quietening fabrication absolutely and
• taught is exactly that you do the emptiness and then you you do your visualizations or your deity yoga or
• has become liquid it's a alchemical maxine and emptiness will do that but also so will samadhi and so will matter
• and love the uh the the the the the the promise of emptiness and the teachings of emptiness even when i don't even
• promise of emptiness and the teachings of emptiness even when i don't even understand it or love whatever glimpses
• they have and start to practice with emptiness or or even aspire to practice to some degree with emptiness
• emptiness or or even aspire to practice to some degree with emptiness emptiness or the unfabricated or
• to some degree with emptiness emptiness or the unfabricated or whatever there is eros for that
• to move towards it and one loves it and uh so it becomes emptiness itself uh or the idea of emptiness or the idea of the
• uh so it becomes emptiness itself uh or the idea of emptiness or the idea of the unfabricated becomes an uh an erotic
• that sort of thing does this make sense yeah so that's another way emptiness can become imaginary there's more in a more

The Experience of Self (Personality and Beyond) - (Meditation on Emptiness) 21 mentions

• we talked about the two selflessnesses or the emptiness of the personal self and the emptiness
• the two selflessnesses or the emptiness of the personal self and the emptiness of phenomena
• and not really being separate kinds of emphasis the same emptiness but just as a sort of pedagogical tool
• so tonight i want to start talking about personal selflessness the emptiness of a personal self
• experience of self and understand means understand its emptiness understand it's emptiness we want to
• understand its emptiness understand it's emptiness we want to really understand and see the emptiness
• understand it's emptiness we want to really understand and see the emptiness of the self
• the fundamental question and questions of emptiness and selflessness and all that stuff are kind
• saying we're talking about emptiness of selfness and well if there is no self
• um very very normal reaction to hearing teachings about emptiness but there's there's a different approach
• definitions of our self and confidence and emptiness and that's crucial rather than fear who will i be means
• sometimes people say when they hear teachings about the emptiness of self sometimes they say well
• the time that we're really focusing deeply on this sense of emptiness of self or emptiness of something
• deeply on this sense of emptiness of self or emptiness of something um
• um when i'm not focusing on it on the emptiness of something so deeply it's like but i've seen the emptiness of
• emptiness of something so deeply it's like but i've seen the emptiness of things deeply things can appear
• really deep deliberately condemning the emptiness of something that self or whatever will actually disappear from it
• talk about this afterwards it's almost like the knowledge of the emptiness of things
• has the the knowledge the understanding of the emptiness so to speak in the background and and it takes on a kind of
• actions and effects within knowing this emptiness of phenomena so things function causes and effects function
• function causes and effects function within knowing emptiness from he says is even more amazing than the amazing

The Way of Non-Clinging (Part 2) - (Eros Unfettered - Opening the Dharma of Desire) 21 mentions

• fabrication of the self the dependent arising the emptiness of the self through this and developed art of
• self are the world time space etc the emptiness of these things yeah maybe it wasn't such a good analogy
• it becomes something in my heart knows the emptiness of all things so if i don't understand in in this
• and then then you get teachings which conflate impermanence and emptiness so just in those in that way of limited
• moments or to say that that could say that of anything but emptiness is saying something much deeper than impermanence
• buddha can contemplate the full emptiness of things
• they're using a way of looking that also knows thoroughly the emptiness of of that object then that object fades only
• um everything fades when they fully contemplate emptiness or they have to kind of go into a mode where they're not
• actually leaning so much on that inside of the emptiness and if you like this residual avenger
• um a full experience a full leaning on the inside of emptiness at the same time as i have the appearance of an object it
• that i allow the fullness of that of that knowing of its emptiness into the way of looking only a buddha it says
• allowing the our our insight of the emptiness of whatever is we're perceiving we're allowing that to
• relatively transparent and i know it's emptiness but i'm not leaning on that um insight into him because so much that i
• on that insight too much of the emptiness as i'm looking at this object i'm not going away from the object i'm
• i'm not going away from the object i'm looking at it but knowing it's emptiness that object will fade so tantric
• faking of the buddha mind that can actually fully know the emptiness and have the appearance
• and all this implies as i said the emptiness of everything self of the mind of consciousness
• of that in the tradition it means the emptiness of things that they are not what they appear to be they are exactly
• just that exactly as it is suchness means emptiness means their lack of inherent existence means that
• dependent on clinging and through that seeing emptiness of things these are interchangeable means the empties of of
• view of anatar even clinging to the view of emptiness so there's a way of um or rather the process of non-clinging

The Love and Demands of the Imaginal (Part 2) - (Path of the Imaginal) 21 mentions

• world of space and time so through emptiness practice there is a deeper and deeper unfabricating of the
• is predicated it rests on an understanding of emptiness so this wisdom awareness is empty
• thing rests on an understanding of emptiness not a kind of concretized um rarefied view
• think they're practicing tantra and they don't the the view of emptiness is not really developed that well
• really developed that well so in practice it's emptiness meditation it's meditation on emptiness and
• so in practice it's emptiness meditation it's meditation on emptiness and developing skill with emptiness
• it's meditation on emptiness and developing skill with emptiness meditation deeper and deeper and wider
• the understanding that comes out of emptiness meditations and those that developing the emptiness meditation of
• emptiness meditations and those that developing the emptiness meditation of skills that allows this whole tantric
• so through the understanding of just through skill and emptiness practice and understanding that
• divine so that the more skill and emptiness practice for a lot of for most people
• practice for a lot of for most people the more skill and emptiness practices one has and more understanding deeply
• one has and more understanding deeply and widely of the thorough emptiness of everything the more the perception
• their understanding i would say and skill and emptiness practice to see the world and the world of things itself and
• in other words when i when i um see its emptiness its equivalence with nothingness if you like it's
• become something else because knowing its emptiness the perception becomes malleable
• understanding of fabrication and emptiness and one if you like plunges into that uh at emptying and then on
• the mind is is flooded if you like with this knowing of the emptiness of all things there's a malleability and it's
• the doors of perception and appearance and recognize emptiness and then see now what's possible now that i know that
• the advantage of um whether one uses the word emptiness or not or seeing images image or
• you're new to all this and talking about emptiness and things but what then if if we open up this kind

Wisdom, Art, Balance (Part 2) - (Eros Unfettered - Opening the Dharma of Desire) 21 mentions

• um a buddha that represents wisdom into emptiness uh that that or wisdom into
• indestructible element of being um which which is related to emptiness um and
• balance of there's the imaginal but there's the knowing of the emptiness and just putting those two in in
• there's also the knowing of the emptiness there's the form of the imaginal and there's the uh lack of form
• imaginal and there's the uh lack of form in in the emptiness there's the imaginal with the eros implicit in it and there's
• the coolness of of the knowing of emptiness and knowing of images image so sometimes putting those two
• um emotions with the action or the emotions with the emptiness or the action with the emptiness and so so in
• emotions with the emptiness or the action with the emptiness and so so in in activism and in engagement how many
• um but again what would it be to balance akshobia the emptiness the buddha of emptiness the the vajra being that the
• akshobia the emptiness the buddha of emptiness the the vajra being that the diamond quality indestructible quality
• relation to that i'm underline the emptiness thing is um
• um emptiness or the realization of emptiness here is is really uh at
• emptiness or the realization of emptiness here is is really uh at whatever depth or whatever fullness you
• and so i know i put a lot of stress on saying emptiness means more than this and it's more than that experience and
• it's more than this and it's and this is what we really mean by emptiness but um
• awareness cosmic consciousness or emptiness is ground of being these are all things where
• um you may have heard me or say that this isn't emptiness in the way that we mean it there's more to understand
• mean it there's more to understand there's a deeper emptiness etc um but still they can be really valuable
• um but still they can be really valuable so emptiness at whatever level the and depth of fullness you understand it can
• intuitive wisdom that something in us knows emptiness for example at this deep level knows the the co-constellation and
• whatever level of understanding of emptiness you have if you're going to play with this kind of thing and

What is Awakening? (Part 2) - (The Mirrored Gates) 20 mentions

• um is to uh to to realize uh in the emptiness of self or to let go of personality view and let go of this
• um problems with language around emptiness starting in the pali canon for sure but
• language with with the concept of emptiness and at times you know quite sloppy and and the concept being used in
• that different traditions using the same words like emptiness and meaning very very different buddhist traditions same
• for the modern practitioner in in what does this word emptiness mean what's it pointing to what is involved in a
• pointing to what is involved in a realization of emptiness etc um
• name that means the same thing as the knowing of of the emptiness of things or it's involved in that trajectory to
• that's the point of um knowing the emptiness of everything knowing the dependent origination of
• can be right there in in the knowing of that emptiness and and then out of that comes uh the
• tube it's away from the kind of the rootedness in that view of emptiness so there is the kind of relative forgetting
• there is the kind of relative forgetting of that emptiness i might know it somewhere in my being but right at that
• at the bottom of knowing complete emptiness um so you can you can fill out this
• that if i completely know emptiness thoroughly utterly and deeply
• moment that i completely thoroughly and deeply know know the emptiness of all things there will be a cessation of
• thoroughly um the utter emptiness of all things because if the buddha is in that in that
• more quickly to that uh sense of emptiness and thus less clinging less verification and so more freedom or less
• fabrication explore fabrication because through that you will see the emptiness of any self view
• um seeing really the emptiness of all and any self-view which involves seeing the
• any self-view which involves seeing the emptiness of any and all phenomena because
• if i say stream entry means seeing the the radical emptiness of all phenomena

Love and the Emptiness of Things - (Lovingkindness and Compassion as a Path to Awakening) 20 mentions

• what i want to talk about tonight is love and the emptiness of things the emptiness of things
• love and the emptiness of things the emptiness of things but first in a way i want to review some
• and for those who have seen say deeply into emptiness i'd say i've seen unconditional exercise see deeply into
• unconditional exercise see deeply into emptiness love is not based on anything so at the beginning of the spiritual
• and for those who have seen deeply into emptiness love is not based on anything now we could certainly hear something
• there's the emptiness of how things are there's the emptiness of what is
• the emptiness of how things are there's the emptiness of what is so-called
• with so in that this teaching of emptiness is called the middle way it's a middle
• experience is actually to begin to see into emptiness to begin to see into emptiness
• into emptiness to begin to see into emptiness to begin to see into relationship is to
• to begin to see into relationship is to begin to see into emptiness and to begin to seem to emptiness is to
• begin to see into emptiness and to begin to seem to emptiness is to begin to see into freedom it's that's
• coming when when one goes deep into emptiness or there's that kind of opening what can begin sometimes to get
• means to see things like impermanence and this very emptiness to see that more clearly that's what it means
• now it can be that hearing about emptiness when we first hear about it sounds very nihilistic very destructive
• practice over and contemplation of emptiness is not leading to love and compassion it's not opening love and
• and how we're practicing and how we're viewing emptiness so by its nature it should lead to more of a sense of
• probably something in it that doesn't cover quite emptiness has a lot of aspects to what it means and a lot of
• yes it rarifies that and when and then people substitute the word emptiness for that empty space and it's a beautiful
• state but when the buddha talks about emptiness and talks about awakening he's talking