Excerpts on Emptiness

• bohiruci

  6 Jul 06, 04:08

  If we contemplate the three marks of emptiness (change, dependence, and impermanence) we discover that the sonic domain most clearly presents us with the nature of emptiness in a manner directly accessible to our sensory awareness. Other sensory domains do not exhibit so clearly these three marks of emptiness, these three marks of existence. For example, most objects in the visual domain do not seem to change in a manner directly available to our senses. The desk I sit at right now does not seem to differ from the desk I observed yesterday. I infer that it has changed and I can establish, through practice, a profound inferential consciousness with regard to the changing nature of visual phenomena. However, I do not directly perceive this changing nature of visual phenomena. Similarly, visual phenomena do not display to my senses their dependent nature; visual phenomena seem to exist as independent and separate entities. Once again, I can infer the dependent nature of visual objects (for example I infer that the desk came from a tree, from a furniture maker, from a truck that delivered the furniture, etc.), and this inferential consciousness can, over time, provide a strong foundation for the understanding of emptiness, but the visual domain does not, for the most part, provide a basis for experiencing emptiness.
  
  http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/dharmajim/sea-of-sound.html
  taken from the Perfection of Wisdom Translation by Edward Conze
  
  
• coolbluewater

  6 Jul 06, 22:56

  Just to share my thoughts here.
  
  Very often, problem arises because there's attachments. Be it to an object, to own views or even to own likings. It's the sense of ignorance, the eagerness to conquer that creates so much frictions among different individuals. People may know, or even understand Emptiness. However, to really practise this understanding is not as easy as it may seems. Whatever thing that attachming is clining on, we all knows that it's never permanent. Even a piece of rock can never remain in it's original shape because it undergoes errosion from the rain, water or soil, and there's no original shape to begin with.
  
• laoda99

  6 Jul 06, 22:58

  Originally posted by coolbluewater:

  Very often, problem arises because there's attachments. Be it to an object, to own views or even to own likings. It's the sense of ignorance, the eagerness to conquer that creates so much frictions among different individuals. People may know, or even understand Emptiness. However, to really practise this understanding is not as easy as it may seems. Whatever thing that attachming is clining on, we all knows that it's never permanent. Even a piece of rock can never remain in it's original shape because it undergoes errosion from the rain, water or soil, and there's no original shape to begin with.
  

  hmmm....sounds very much like Mr. Casino........