Seeing That Frees PDF
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SEEING THAT FREES Meditations on Emptiness and Dependent Arising ROB BURBEA Copyright © 2014 Rob Burbea The moral right of the author has been asserted. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. Hermes Amāra Publications® Gaia House West Ogwell Devon TQ12 6EW [email protected] ISBN: 978 0992848 927 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The publishers wish to thank all those anonymous donors whose kind and generous financial assistance has supported the publication of this book Contents Foreword, by Joseph Goldstein Abbreviations Preface Part One: Orientations 1 The Path of Emptiness is a Journey of Insight 2 Emptiness, Fabrication, and Dependent Arising 3 “All is Void!” – Initial Reactions, and Responses Part Two: Tools and Provisions 4 The Cultivation of Insight 5 Samādhi and its Place in Insight Practice Part Three: Setting Out 6 Emptiness that’s Easy to See 7 An Understanding of Mindfulness 8 Eyes Wide Open: Seeing Causes and Conditions 9 Stories, Personalities, Liberations 10 Dependent Origination (1) Part Four: On Deepening Roads 11 The Experience of Self Beyond Personality 12 Three More Liberating Ways of Looking: (1) – Anicca 13 Three More Liberating Ways of Looking: (2) – Dukkha 14 Three More Liberating Ways of Looking: (3) – Anattā 15 Emptiness and Awareness (1) Part Five: Of Highways and Byways 16 The Relationship with Concepts in Meditation 17 The Impossible Self 18 The Dependent Arising of Dualities Part Six: Radical Discoveries 19 The Fading of Perception 20 Love, Emptiness, and the Healing of the Heart 21 Buildings and their Building Blocks, Deconstructed Part Seven: Further Adventures, Further Findings 22 No Thing 23 The Nature of Walking 24 Emptiness Views and the Sustenance of Love Part Eight: No Traveller, No Journey – The Nature of Mind, and of Time 25 Emptiness and Awareness (2) 26 About Time 27 Dependent Origination (2) 28 Dependent Cessation – The Unfabricated, The Deathless Part Nine: Like a Dream, Like a Magician’s Illusion... 29 Beyond the Beyond… 30 Notions of the Ultimate 31 An Empowerment of Views A Word of Gratitude Bibliography Index Foreword The experience of emptiness is one of the most puzzling aspects of the Buddha’s teaching. While we can intuitively understand and experience, at least to some extent, the truths of impermanence and unreliability, it may be difficult to relate to the term ‘emptiness’. In fact, in English, the word is not all that appealing. We may think of emptiness as a grey vacuity or as some state of deprivation. Yet, in the Buddha’s teaching of liberation, of freedom from all suffering and distress, the realization of emptiness plays a central role. Rob Burbea, in this remarkable book, Seeing That Frees, proves to be a wonderfully skilled guide in exploring the understanding of emptiness as the key insight in transforming our lives. This is not an easy journey. Beginning by laying the foundation of the basic teachings, he explains how these teachings can be put into practice as ‘ways of looking’ that free and that gradually unfold deeper understandings, and so, in turn, more powerful ways of looking and even greater freedom. This unique conception of insight as being liberating ways of looking is fundamental to the whole approach, and it makes available profound skilful means to explore even further depths of Dharma wisdom. Rob is like a scout who has gone ahead and explored the terrain, coming back to point out the implications of what we have been seeing, and then enticing us onwards. He shows how almost all of the Buddha’s teachings can lead us towards understanding the fabrication, mutual interdependence, and, thus, the emptiness of all phenomena. And that it is this understanding of emptiness that frees the mind. Following the thread of this understanding leads to great flexibility in how we view things, and it is this very flexibility that informs the entire approach to insight that is offered here. Many times throughout Seeing That Frees we discover how different and often opposing notions can be integrated into our practice. Instead of being caught up in a thicket of metaphysical views and opinions, the basic criterion here is, ‘Does it help to free the mind?’ Such discernment and understanding make possible a greater breadth in our approach to practice, which is illustrated in many ways throughout the book. For example, different traditions often hold quite different views regarding the place of analytical investigation and thought on the path: for some, they are an indispensable part of our journey; for others, they are seen merely as an obstacle. Rob very skilfully demonstrates the role that each of these perspectives can play as we deepen our practice. Yet Seeing That Frees is much more than merely an attempt to form an approach that is broad and inclusive. Consistently, the limitations in and assumptions behind each view being considered are pointed out, and, each time, understandings that transcend that particular view are explored. Rob shows how so many of the insights that we might at first consider ultimately true are still only provisional, and yet he also shows how these very provisional perspectives can be used as vital stepping-stones towards a deeper and more complete understanding. Another example of this progressive questioning and unfolding involves the various contrasting views of different traditions regarding the nature of awareness itself: Is awareness momentary? Is it a field? Is it the ground of Being? Rob has done a masterful job of highlighting how each particular view can help us see experience from a different perspective, and how each one furthers our ability to let go. But rather than simply resting in this appreciation of what each perspective offers, he goes on to demonstrate the conditional, fabricated nature of even the most sublime awareness, and then shows the emptiness of fabrication itself. In realizing emptiness, there is no place at all to take a stand; indeed, no place, and no one who stands. It is rare to find a book that explores so deeply the philosophical underpinnings of awakening at the same time as offering the practical means to realize it. How does one talk about what is beyond mind, beyond concepts, beyond time? What does it mean to say that even emptiness is empty? Seeing That Frees does not shy away from these most difficult tasks of describing the un-describable. Although these descriptions could so easily become an exercise in abstraction, because this book is so rooted in experience, exploring with great subtlety and depth how we can put insights into emptiness into practice, it brings to life what Rob calls “the awe-inspiring depth of mystery”. This great book can inspire us to the highest goals of spiritual awakening. Joseph Goldstein Barre, Massachusetts January, 2014
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