3-8-2011 Beware of "Absolute Emptiness"

The Art Of Meditation 

By Master Sheng-yen Lu
Translated and published by Lei Zang Si Singapore

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 45th book, 坐禪通明法.

Chapter 29 - Beware of "Absolute Emptiness"

Here is a letter by a Taoist cultivator which may serve as a warning to some people:

Jan. 5, 1983
Grand Master Lu,
How are you? My humble surname is Lan and given name is Chao-li. Your name is heard everywhere like a thunder. I am often inspired by your books. I know you are very busy and often visit other counties. Excuse me for this letter, but I need your guidance badly, as I now find myself in a dilemma.
I feel ashamed and repentant to say that I am writing to you because I have failed in my Taoist cultivation, not because I have realized in my Buddhist cultivation to make the perfection more perfect, so to speak.
Four years ago, I made up my mind to engage in spiritual cultivation. However my causal conditions must be very poor, for that was the time when Grand Master closed your door to new disciples. I had to enter another branch of belief. I happened to have read a book on Taoism. I have also read Quiet Sitting Method of Yin Shinzi. Then I practiced blindly for a while. It so happened that I got the vital energy misplaced. Now I am very weak and cannot concentrate my mind on anything. The most important reason is my bad habit of "reaching for what is beyond my grasp." Before the self-nature was cultivated enough, I made haste in my practice, not knowing the correct way to do it. So things went wrong. Now my body is withering. Everything is too late. I have been lost for much too long. How could I plug up my energy again?
I know quite clearly that a man's life is but a hundred years' dream and it is better to cultivate oneself as early as possible. But where are the good teachers? I have consulted many masters, but here I am still circling around in ignorance. Now both my mind and body are "besieged," and nobody can save me. Grand Master Lu, you often met certain events which you say they are pre-arranged or coincidence or pre-determined. Do you really think that my failure is also pre-determined? I don't think so. Now I regularly recite the fixed karma mantra of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva: "Om-ben-lo-muo-lin-tuo-ning. Sa-puo-ha." This mantra is used to break the fixed Karma. I am hoping to get out of the suffering, turn bad luck into good luck, so as to get on the right way and practice the correct doctrine.
I am strong-willed. Since Heaven has left me alive, I must get up, start again, and press forward along the path leading to transcendence of birth and death. After all, I have one failure experience behind me and I will proceed more carefully so as not to make the same mistake again. Now I need Grand Master's guidance. I hope Grand Master will not turn me down on the ground of no relationship between us, or I am too humble, or I am too defiled, or my karma is too serious. I am a man who really wants to cultivate. Please don't let me down. I am waiting for your instructions like a thirsty man waiting anxiously for a cup of water.
1. My body and mind are "besieged"; my mind is totally blank now. I don't know whether it is a demon that has got inside me or it is a wrong relative that has come to deliver retribution. Please instruct me on now to get out of this and return to normal.
2. I believe that my body and mind are defiled and I want to cultivate pure wisdom. Can I renounce home-life and become a monk?
As I have found that my karmic hindrance is grave, I want to purify my body and mind first and then think about saving other sentient beings. Is this the right path? If Grand Master cares to instruct me, I shall certainly follow your teachings and spread the Dharma. If in the future I attain achievement, I will never forget your instructions, but repay the four kinds of kindness about and aid those suffering in the realms below. This is my pledge and I will not go back on my words.
Taoist Peace.
This letter told me that Lan Chao-li has got into the state of "absolute emptiness." What is "absolute emptiness?" We have the contemplation of illusoriness and the contemplation of emptiness. But if you don't understand the essence of the two combined, you fall into "absolute emptiness." Once you fall into that conception, you tend to think that everything is false, everything is empty and you lose the meaning of existence, become bored with life itself; to you, everything is grey and everything is empty; the worst part of it is that your mind is totally blank, and you can't extricate yourself from it.
When you are in the state of "absolute emptiness," it is like having your energy misplaced or breath travelling in the wrong channel. Your energy can not be concentrated and there is nothing you can do. The energy is gone, and you are disheartened. Both the body and the mind feel greatly weakened as if you were disabled. This is a failure in Taoist cultivation. In this state, the best practitioner may go to the Realm of Air in the Formless Realm, the middle class practitioner may go to the lazy land, and the lowest may become a "heartless ghost."
To get out of this dilemma, you have to give up your previous cultivation. Remember, don't learn to fly before you can walk! Start with the four preparatory practices. Don't look down upon "elaborate prostration," "great offering," "fourfold refuge," and "the Vajra heart." The first three are visible, but the Vajra heart is invisible. If you follow these four practices strictly according to the rituals described, the Buddha's light will surely bless you and eradicate your karma. Then the sense of "absolute emptiness" is driven away and you are filled with Dharma pleasure. These four practices are the basis for any other practice. Without the foundation, tall buildings can not be put up. The cultivation of the Vajra heart is especially important, for it can make you strong both mentally and physically.
Defilement of body and mind? Whose body and mind are not defiled? Nobody under heaven is spotless clean. If they are clean, why do they need to cultivate? So you are qualified to become a monk. Pure wisdom is the only true wisdom. I encourage you to renounce home-life to become a monk. You should not only renounce the world but also live in the world, not only to save yourself, but also to save other sentient beings. Your vow is the aspiration of a great Bodhisattva. It deserves encouragement.
Bestir yourself, virtuous Lan Chao-lin, a future Bodhisattva! You have my blessings.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School