Appetizers

It seems as though my experience cuts across several lines of beliefs. I would have a hard time saying that this was a “mystical” experience, because I proceeded rationally and logically each step of the way, going from one “level” of silence to the next. Witnessing quite clear headedly, what was going on, and acting intentionally.

And, while I came to an unexpected result, awaken-ness, I didn’t have any expectations of what I should, or would find. My motivation was merely to calm myself in order to be more present, not to find some mystical truth. And yet, my experiences of no-self, transcendedness, and emptiness, were experiences that many people would think of as mystical.

All the same, my experience doesn’t fall very neatly into the category of the empiricist either. Or whatever it is called, that those who believe Buddhism is without a mystical nature, would refer to themselves as. Because, while I followed a very logical, empirical methodology, the end result was not an empirical one, but a transcendent one.

Likewise, to those who would say that no self and emptiness, merely refers to the sequence of logical that says because the self is not a separate being, it cannot be identified and is therefore “empty” of a being. I would have to say sorry, because I have experienced no-self and emptiness personally, as visceral real experiences. And, not for just a moment either, but as an ongoing daily experience. Emptiness is not a philosophical characterization, or merely a way of speaking about reality in a contrived manner.

And to those who would say that there is no self at all, I would have to say posh. It is transcendent, unknowable in its way, but it is.

However, I wouldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater and deny that dependent origination does affirm that emptiness can mean that there is no separate discernable being. It’s just that this is not all that it means.

And, not leaving any stone unturned, I would add that seeking after enlightenment and mystical experiences could be a great waste of time.