28. WISDOM THROUGH SPECIAL INSIGHT

THE NEXT PRACTICE is that of wisdom, based on the cultivation of vipassana or special insight. When you undertake the practice of special insight you should visualize your spiritual guru in the aspect of Manjushri and make the request.

The actual meditation on special insight is explained here in terms of meditation on the identity-lessness or selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena. When the self-grasping attitude arises within you, it is the self-grasping attitude focused upon phenomena that arises first and that leads to the egoistic attitude of grasping at the inherent existence of your own self. However, when you do the meditation, because of the significance of the objects on which you qualify the emptiness, meditation on the selflessness of persons prior to meditation on the selflessness of phenomena will prove more effective and powerful.

SELFLESSNESS OF PERSONS

To do the meditation on the selflessness of persons, think that the self or person is nothing other than a label imputed on the composite of physical and mental aggregates. As Nagarjuna explains in his Ratnavali:

A person is not the earth, nor water,

Nor wind, nor space.

Neither is it consciousness, nor all of them;

Yet apart from these what person is there?

For example, right now you feel that you are sitting on the mat, but now search for that self or person. You will find that it is not to be found in the physical or mental aggregates. It is none of the four elements, such as the elemental particles that form the body. These elements cannot be posited as persons from their own side; the collection of them is not the person; nor are they individually the person. The person is only a label imputed on the aggregation of all these designative bases, and therefore it exists only nominally. There is no such person that exists inherently, truly, and independently.

The tradition explains that undertaking the analysis on the emptiness of inherent existence with the four essential points is very powerful and effective. These points are (1) identifying the object of negation, (2) ascertaining the pervasion, (3) ascertaining the absence of singularity, and (4) ascertaining the absence of plurality.

The first essential point is identifying the object of negation. We all possess within ourselves an innate notion of self as existing inherently and as something self-evident. Especially when very powerful emotions arise, for example when you are accused by others, then you feel your “self” very strongly. Under such circumstances, you will have an intense feeling of I-ness or selfhood. At that point you should immediately try to see, from a corner of your mind, how that self or the person appears to you and how you relate to it.

Then you will be able to identify the mode of apprehension of the innate self-grasping attitude and how the person, your own I, appears to that consciousness. The natural attitude apprehends a self existing inherently, truly, and totally independently of the body and mind. You will find that it is as if there is a person or self that is like a master dominating the body and mind—a totally independent entity, that seems to solidly exist. On the basis of such a misconception, all the negative emotions such as desire and hatred arise.

If you undertake the meditation described above, you will be able to identify the self as apprehended by this misconception quite clearly, through your own experience. When you do this analysis, you will get to a state where you will feel rather impatient at being unable to locate the self or person at all and will conclude that you are forced to posit the person as existing merely on a nominal level.

It is important to relate all this analysis to your own way of thinking. You can reason that if things, the self or the person, exist as they appear to you, when you analytically search for the essence behind the label you should be able to find it. But you cannot find it; as a result of your analysis you end with seeing through the deception of your misconception! If you follow the instructions on the analytic examination as explained in this text, identification of the self as apprehended by the misconceived attitude will become clearer. That is the essential point of identifying the object of negation.

The second essential point is the ascertainment of pervasion. Pervasion refers to an element of the logic of necessity that one finds underlying phenomena. In the present context, it is the premise that if anything exists inherently and objectively in its own right, then it should do so as either inherently one or multiple, with no third possibility, just as everything that exists at the relative level does so either as a single entity or a multiple. Thus, if the self exists as apprehended by this misconception—as totally independent or inherently existing within and amidst the body and the mind, the aggregates—then the self or the person should exist either as one with the aggregates or as totally separate from them. Since single and multiple form a dichotomy and there is no third possibility, these two together observe the law of the excluded middle. That is how you ascertain the essential point of pervasion.

The third essential point is that of ascertaining the absence of singularity. This is done by analyzing whether or not the self or person exists as single or totally one with the aggregates. If the self exists as single or totally one with the aggregates, then the contradiction arises that just as the aggregates are many, the self should also be multiple. Also, when this present life ceases at the time of death, the continuity of the self should also cease right then. And, if the self or the person is totally one with the aggregates, how can one have the natural feeling of the self being the master of these aggregates and the aggregates being the subjects and possessions of that self? Furthermore, how can one logically maintain that the basis of designation and the designation itself are one and the same thing?

To ascertain the absence of plurality, consider that if the self or the person exists independently, separate from the aggregates, then after mentally disintegrating the aggregates one should be able to point out a self or person existing independent of these aggregates—but one cannot. If the self or the person is a totally different and separate entity from the aggregates, then there should be no relation between the self and the aggregates at all.

Thus, when you analytically probe in such a manner, you will not find the person or the self: the person or self cannot withstand the analysis of such an ultimate scrutiny. If the person existed independently, truly, and inherently, then it should be able to withstand any form of ultimate analysis. When you employ such an examination or analysis you will be able to reach a state where the self as apprehended and perceived by your misconception does not exist. And you will really begin to question the validity of your natural tendency to believe in an inherently existent I or self, which you take to be such a self-evident phenomenon.

Just as Lama Tsongkhapa explains in his Gongpa Rabsel, a commentary on Madhyamakāvatāra, you will come to the conclusion that the self or the person is a mere label imputed upon the basis of the aggregates. Gaining such an understanding constitutes a realization of the selflessness of persons. When such a realization is maintained and reinforced through constant meditation and familiarization, you will be able to develop it into an intuitive or direct experience.

Within the selflessness of persons there are many different levels, some that are gross. A gross level of selflessness of persons is the person as not existing substantially, or not having a self-sufficient identity. If any level or degree of selflessness, once having been realized upon the person, brings you the realization of emptiness when applied to other phenomena, then it is a genuine understanding of the subtle selflessness of persons. An understanding of all these different levels of selflessness is very important for leading you to the final and ultimate nature of things, emptiness.

Having developed certainty and ascertainment in your realization of the non-inherent existence of the person and the realization of the person as a mere label imputed upon the designative bases, the mind-body collection, you should maintain a meditative equipoise. When the ascertainment becomes weaker, you should reaffirm it by applying the analytic process as before. During meditative equipoise it is important to keep your concentration deeply absorbed on the mere absence and total negation of the inherent existence of the person, without having any speculation as to any implication of another level of existence.

It is during the post-meditational period that the meditator will be led to the realization of the conventional reality of phenomena. Although phenomena lack inherent existence, still they have a certain level of existence which, you can conclude, is only conventional and relative. Thus, you will be able to perceive all phenomena as if they were illusions. There is no need to make an extra effort to have such a realization: If your understanding of non-inherent existence or emptiness is perfect during meditative equipoise, then during the post-meditational period the understanding of the illusion-like nature of conventional reality—the fact that although phenomena appear in one way they exist in another—will come naturally as a by-product.

SELFLESSNESS OF PHENOMENA

The meditation on the selflessness of phenomena is divided into two: meditating upon the selflessness of compounded phenomena and meditating upon the selflessness of uncompounded phenomena. Just as the person or the self lacks inherent existence, all one’s belongings and the environment and phenomena lack inherent existence.

The category of compounded phenomena is divided into three: matter, consciousness, and abstract but transitory phenomena. The first, matter, includes the body. When you think of the body you ordinarily have the natural feeling that the different parts—such as the head, arms, and so forth—exist independently, or have an inherent existence, from their own side. This feeling is not valid: when you analyze the parts of the body, you will find that they are just mere labels imputed upon the aggregation of their designative bases, their own parts.

You should also apply the same process of analysis to the body as a whole—is the body totally one with its parts or is it totally independent and separate from its parts?—and to external phenomena like houses, towns, mountains, trees, forests, and so forth. What is a forest? Is it the collection of all the trees or the individual trees themselves? You will find that forest is a mere label imputed upon the collection of all these different trees. Similarly, the various qualities—good, bad, long, short, tall—are relative terms imputed in relation to something else. This shows their nature of dependence. There is no independently and inherently existing long or short that is an absolute in itself.

The same form of analysis should also address the topic of consciousness. Consider whether or not consciousness exists independently and inherently, and then whether consciousness is one with the consciousness of an earlier instance or is totally separate from it.

The third category of compounded phenomena is that of abstract but transitory phenomena. This term refers to phenomena such as time, year, month, day, and so forth which are not tangible. If a year existed independently, then it would not depend upon its parts, such as the months. But without depending upon months, how can one posit a year? So year is nothing other than a label imputed upon the collection of a number of months. The same kind of analysis should be extended to uncompounded phenomena, such as space, as well. Nagarjuna said in his Mulamadhyamaka Karika (Fundamental Treatise on the Middle Way): “If things compounded are not established, how can those that are non-compounded be established?”

In short, you should be able to get to a realization that not only your own person but also all phenomena lack inherent existence and are illusory in the sense that, although they appear to be truly existent, they lack such a status.

Thus meditate upon the emptiness of all phenomena. Meditation on the emptiness of non-compounded phenomena is very important, especially a focus on the non-inherent existence of emptiness itself. This is because there is a grave danger of falling into the trap of conceiving emptiness as truly existent. Having negated the true existence of all other phenomena, you might tend to apprehend emptiness itself as being truly existent, because it is the ultimate nature. Just as all phenomena lack true existence or inherent existence, so does emptiness. There is no independent emptiness or inherently existent emptiness that is not dependent upon the subject which it qualifies. Emptiness is always a quality or a property, and there is no emptiness which can exist independently, without a basis on which it is qualified.

Therefore, emptiness is a mere label imputed upon a basis, as, for example, the emptiness of vase is nothing other than the ultimate nature of vase. The very absence or negation of the inherent existence of the vase is emptiness. Just as the subject vase is empty, so too is the quality emptiness.

Overcoming the misapprehension of emptiness as truly existent is crucial. Many texts speak of this misconception as an irreparable view. Because there is a great danger of misapprehending emptiness as truly existent, the sutras mention many synonyms for the emptiness of emptiness: the emptiness of ultimate nature, the emptiness of ultimate truth, and so forth. The explanations of all these are designed to overcome the misapprehension of emptiness as truly existent.

Realization of such an emptiness through analysis both during meditative equipoise and the post-meditational periods, when accompanied by a physical and mental pliancy achieved through calm abiding meditation, marks the attainment of special insight focused on emptiness.