“What is the actual experience of shunyata? Shunyata should not be thought of as some sort of fantastic experience or monumental breakthrough. Beginners, people like ourselves who study these teachings and contemplate shunyata, have a tendency to think of shunyata as a kind of pop-gun approach; at some point all the air will be compressed, and pop! We will experience twofold egolessness. Not so; the experience of shunyata is a simple gap. The past is running down, and the future hasn’t happened yet; it is a simple moment in between our memories and our expectations. Just a little space, a little gap, and that gap is full of possibilities. We should not confuse that possibility with the alaya which is already conditioned or tainted with self. This gap which is full of possibility is unconditional. It is important, in terms of your practice, to distinguish between the two. Now, ordinarily we associate the experience of this particular gap, or moment, with hope and fear. Frequently we associate it with the bodily sensation of hope and fear—our anticipation of something and our depression about what has just passed leave us feeling hollow and at the same time quivering. That experience of being in between, that gap, has to do with fundamentally not knowing what to do—nothing whatsoever comes up in terms of motivation or conception. Ordinarily, we would say this is the state of ignorance. And that ignorance state would cause fear, because from ego’s point of view, the worst thing is ignorance. However, ignorance is fertile ground. That gap is the birthplace of the prajnaparamita. And such a situation only occurs when we run out of the ammunition of concepts. Again, it’s nothing much; just a moment of not coming up with anything. But with prajna, we can penetrate that unknowing and see that it is actually the thread, the space of things as they are.” The Vajra Regent, 1988 Vajradhatu Seminary Transcripts pp. 39
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 00:56:04 +0000
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