To say that something is empty is to say something much deeper and more radical, harder to fathom, than that things are inconstant, in flux, in process, or even that, inspected more closely, phenomena are seen to be arising and passing with breathtaking rapidity and that we construct a solidity of continuity where in reality … Continued

A level of insight that sees the dependency of phenomena on the mind, however, will open an understanding of their being beyond existing and not existing, and so bring freedom much more powerfully. But this dependency on the mind is also a more mysterious and radical dependency to fathom.

It can safely be assumed, however, that with respect to what is left unexamined and not consciously and clearly seen to be empty we will have a tacit assumption of inherent existence – it will continue to be there unless it is explicitly exposed.

If we are not careful, we may simply assume a common default position – happily admitting that some experiences and phenomena are somehow fabricated (illusory), while tacitly, or even more explicitly, presuming others to be true (not fabricated, not illusory). As the modus operandi of our ongoing investigations, though, we will keep open the question … Continued

For a minority this radical emptiness seems right from the start to have the ring of truth. Something in the intuition resonates and responds, the heart is touched or excited, even while keenly aware of not yet properly understanding quite what it all means.

We need also to recognize that on this adventure we must investigate and find out for ourselves, without deciding on the truth in advance. Maintaining the openness of an ongoing spirit of inquiry is essential, and it brings the path to life.

Here it is vitally important not to jump to imagining what some endpoint of practice will look like, but rather to proceed gradually with whatever letting go you can actually feel, in your own practice, through seeing an emptiness that’s accessible to you right now.

I have found, in my own practice and through teaching, that the realization of emptiness deepens and brings more felt fruits in life if it is approached not only gradually, but also primarily in relation to whatever is immediate in our experience, including, and even especially, any dukkha that may be present in the moment … Continued

As we learn to let go of grosser dukkha and experiences through realizing their voidness, meditation naturally refines. Then we can work skilfully with more subtle dukkha and phenomena, and insight too becomes correspondingly subtle.

let us take as a loose definition of insight: any realization, understanding, or way of seeing things that brings, to any degree, a dissolution of, or a decrease in, dukkha.

First, insight defined thus is not, in itself, a certain experience that we need to attain. Extraordinary experiences may, to be sure, be important at times but they are not what actually frees. Nor is insight simply ‘being mindful and watching the show’, without any effect on, or input into, the fabrication or dissolution of … Continued

Second, defining insight in this way admits a wide range to its manifestation. It can be present in any situation, or in regard to any experience or phenomenon: gross or extremely subtle, easy to see or more profound, ‘worldly’ or more transcendent. It may manifest as the understanding of a personal pattern that has been … Continued

Third, however, it is important to stress that, as we are defining it here, only what is actually perceivable to a practitioner qualifies as an insight for that practitioner. I may, for example, feel anxious when I check my bank balance and see that there is no money at all in my account. But refusing … Continued

Fourth, and related to this last point: Rather than being based upon faith in the experience of another, or upon blind beliefs – even ‘Buddhist’ beliefs – about how things are, insight, as we are defining it, is based primarily on personal experience of what decreases dukkha. When there is insight, the seeing melts dukkha; … Continued

Insight, then, may loosely be described as any ‘seeing’ that frees.

It turns out that making the relief of suffering and dis-ease the fundamental thrust and concern of practice is not only the most compassionate and skilful support for the alleviation of dukkha, such an approach also begins to uncover the truth of things in the process. In taking the dissolving of dukkha as our primary … Continued

This mode of insight practice is in contrast to another mode in which we can also work at times, where insight itself is more a starting point, a cause, more itself the method. In this second mode of insight practice we more deliberately attempt to sustain a ‘way of looking’ at experience – a view … Continued

To some, this second mode of insight practice, where liberating ways of looking are intentionally cultivated and sustained, may initially sound unattractive. This is quite a common reaction, and there are various possible reasons for it. One may involve a belief that ‘being’ and ‘doing’ are really different. Often then, ‘just being’ is regarded as … Continued