Emptiness - 空 from Collection of Rain Blossoms

Looking at the night sky, you can truly sense the vastness of space. Aside from the stars and planets, would you call the space between those celestial bodies empty? Image: Shutterstock.

When we see the word emptiness, the mind quickly divides. It compares, it separates, and the heart drifts from the true meaning. The Hinayana path teaches careful watching, yet that alone cannot wipe away the attachment to emptiness itself. The real meaning stays hidden.

Emptiness does not mean nothing exists. It means the mind does not judge, does not cling, and does not push away. Think of a stick of incense. It surely has form. But the mind need not separate it out or turn it into something special. Whether incense, candle, or fruit—they are all just things. When the mind does not label or react, it rests in true emptiness.

Looking past “having” and “not having”

The Mahayana teaching says: In what exists, not truly existing; in what is empty, not truly empty. True emptiness is the principle carried all the way through, leaving nothing outside. What does this mean? You may hold something in your hand, but there is no need to keep thinking, This is mine. You can have something, but hold it lightly, as if you did not. You can have nothing, yet still feel whole.

Think of money. If you do not have it, you may think of it as stored in the bank—that is still a kind of having. But if all your money is locked away, unable to be used, that is just the same as not having it. The point is not to let the mind cling to having or not having.

Seeing that “empty” is not “nothing”

Now the second part: In what is empty, not truly empty. People say space is empty. Yet in that vastness, the sun, moon, and stars shine. If it were truly nothing, how could these remain? So emptiness is not nothingness.

This is why the teaching says: Empty upon empty. It means completely letting go, with nothing left to hold onto. Ru (如) means true suchness. When the mind is empty upon empty, it enters the state of ru ru (如如): living in suchness, steady and unmoved, pure and at peace, no matter what happens in life.

空

雨花集

濟公活佛

你們看一個「空」字，多有分別之心，一起分別心，便很難悟透空義。小乘之法，只知觀法，而不能泯滅空義。

所謂「空」，並非無物之空，乃是不起分別心。譬如一炷香，係有實體，但你對此實體不可有分別之念，燭也好，香也好，果也好，都是一物，不起作用之心，乃謂之「真空」。

大乘論解釋空字，謂「在有不有，在空不空」。理無不極，謂之真空。此八字作何解釋？何以在有不有？譬如在某種事物之前，你雖然得了牠，但你不必堅持已有之念，自無作用之心。所謂有等於無，無等於有。

世上許多人想有鈔票，在無中，你可以當自己作為當人以鈔票盡存在銀行一樣，亦等於有；當人所有均放在銀行，亦等於無，不可起分別心。

在空不空，又作何解釋呢？太空，人人皆承認為空。但在空之中，何以又有日、月、星辰呢？可知在空不空。

因此，我們應該要「空空」，所謂空空如也。如者真如之意。能夠空空，便達到如如之境。

This translated text is a chapter from Collection of Rain Blossoms, a scripture written by JiGong Living Buddha in the 1900s through spirit writing. Here the link to the original Chinese source.

If you are interested in other chapters of this book, here is the link to the table of contents.