This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Guided Meditation: Resting in Emptiness; Insight (40) Freedom in the Emptiness of Self. It likely contains inaccuracies.
The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.
So hello everyone. Today I can greet you from Nevada City, California, at the Insight Center that’s the sibling to IMC, called Mountain Stream Meditation Center. I think one of the delights of the name that the founder, my good friend John Travis, emphasized many years ago is that the initials for Mountain Stream are MS, which can be pronounced “emptiness.” This points to the wonderful Buddhist teachings of emptiness.
This brings us to what may be a final talk on the topic of not-self, the insight into not-self. Perhaps we’ll continue with another week to finish up the whole series. In the Theravāda1 Buddhist tradition that I teach from, the expression “not-self” is comparable, or almost the same, as the Mahāyāna2 teachings on emptiness.
As valuable as the self is in a certain way—the Buddha didn’t reject all forms of self, and I’ll talk more about that—he did emphasize that all forms of self have a certain form of emptiness. They’re empty because they’re always changing and shifting, because they’re constructed in some way or other, built up by life experience, by different mental constructs and understandings we inherit from our society and cultures. There’s no inherent, original, timeless self. There’s no soul, but rather it’s all contingent. It’s all in flux, all dynamic.
So, rather than taking self as the center of our experience, as the center of who we are, there’s something about taking the empty center as our center. It’s like in council3, a wonderful process of people gathering together in a big circle. Council processes can lead to very profound conversations, but no one person is the center. No one person dominates or is on a pedestal in the middle. The empty space in the circle represents the potential of a community coming together to have a profound conversation that can go much deeper, fuller, and richer than one can do alone.
Each individual person can create this empty circle with emptiness in the middle, and all the parts of ourselves, all the different aspects of ourselves, can gather together in council where they all have a valuable place. But most valuable is the emptiness in the middle. That’s where the potential resides, where the possibility of freedom resides, and that’s where we can rest.
The switch in Buddhism is from placing the self at the center to placing non-clinging at the center; to take the absence of a preoccupation with self at the center, and an openness to possibility. It’s an openness to not needing to be anyone, for anything, for anybody. And to rest there, to allow the potential and possibilities of that empty, friendly space to welcome us into its freedom and allow all parts of ourselves to be in a profound relationship of council. They all can be respected this way.
So, we begin in meditation by closing your eyes.
And with your eyes closed, spend a little bit more time now feeling your way into your posture. Maybe wiggling a little bit, swaying a little bit, so you can enter into and feel and sense the body.
And then, to enter the body more fully with the help of a fuller breath. Almost as if the deeper breath is guiding you, holding your hand into your body to feel it, to discover how it is. And on the exhale, to relax.
Then, letting the breathing return to normal. Take time to feel through the body as present moment experience, how you are. How are you physically? It’s as if you’re welcoming all the parts of yourself into the circle, the council. Not trying to change anything right now. Just recognize, feel, sense how your present moment experience is. Checking in.
Almost checking in as if it’s your movement of breathing which is doing the checking, guiding the checking, in sync with the rhythm of breathing. Touch into your thinking mind, your heart, how it is.
And breathing normally now, as you exhale, relax and move your whole system towards resting here now. Resting. There’s a kind of a downward movement, as if you’re settling into the pull of gravity.
In whatever way you can feel that there’s a place of rest inside, let yourself rest in that. A place within where all the effort around self, all the concerns about me, myself, and mine, can rest for a few minutes. Nothing to be, nothing to become. Nothing to attain, nothing to fix, nothing to resolve during these minutes of meditation. But now, allow all the efforts to do so to experience rest, to settle, relax.
And in any place where there might be some rest, even hints of rest, there you might find the glorious emptiness, the wonderful center of council, the circle of all your parts. They can all be there in the circle, but let the very center of it all be a peaceful, empty space. A place of rest, empty of self. Whatever self might be for you, it’s on the edges of the circle.
Rest in the rest. Rest in the emptiness. Rest in that place inside that’s free of self. Even if the self is around the edges, rest in the empty space of awareness.
In council, the idea is that everyone can speak in turn, but the idea is to speak briefly from the heart. Don’t let any part of you go on and on, speaking endlessly. Let whatever part of you speaks, and then come back to the empty middle. Rest there. Let that empty middle be large, peaceful, spacious, with lots of silence before someone speaks again. And let them speak briefly if they do.
As we come to the end of this sitting, to continue this metaphor of council, all the parts of who you are can be included in the circle, sitting in council, having a profound conversation. Each part has its place, but each part is clearly part of the whole circle. No part sits in the middle dominating, being the loudest, taking up all the attention.
Something profound happens when all parts are included, each in their own way, with this wonderful empty middle in which and through which we hear each other, see each other, respect each other. Allow something profound.
When I was taught the process of council, we were told to speak from the heart. In council, speak briefly and speak from the heart. We were also told not to plan ahead what we were going to say. So in the moment, now, here, speaking briefly, speaking from the heart for oneself, in care of oneself.
And then imagine that other people, people in your life, strangers, are invited to sit on the edges of the circle, and that you can make your circle larger and larger. Everyone can be included in this place of respect, a place where everyone’s heart is welcomed. And from your seat in the circle, you sit with respect and care for all the different parts, all the people there, the whole world.
And through and across the empty middle, the vast, peaceful center of this great circle that we are as the human race, wishing everyone well.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.
I don’t have a bell with me, so I’ll offer my gratitude and bow, and that’ll be the end of the sitting. Thank you.
Hello and welcome to this continuing series on insight, the center of insight meditation. This will be the last talk that’s specifically about not-self. For those of you who were here yesterday, you might recall that in sitting in the middle of impermanence, in the changing nature of phenomena, we turn the attention around 180 degrees to the one who is observing change. Whatever that one is—the experience, the sense, the location of observing or knowing or being aware—we observe that it also disappears, that it also comes and goes, is part of the river, part of the constant flow.
Each current in the river is valuable for carrying the river along. Each little wave of the river is part of the river, for sure. And so this sense of self that we have is just another wave, another current that shifts and changes and comes and goes. In that process, something deep can be let go of: any attachment we have to self, any clinging to self.
Whether there is or is not a self is not a question that the Buddha was interested in. In fact, he was less than interested. He felt that this whole question, “is there or is there not a self?” was a detour, a dead end, and not useful. But there is freedom from preoccupation with self, freedom from attachment, freedom from the stress of self.
If you’re paying really careful attention—and mindfulness helps a lot—we can start seeing that a fair amount of our self-concern carries with it stress and tension, and sometimes it’s quite extreme. So extreme that for some people, self-concern, self-criticism, feelings of not belonging, not being important, being somehow wrong, or being guilty make their life so difficult that they cause self-harm. It can be quite depressing for people.
But what we’re doing here is not necessarily working through depression or these things, but questioning the very basis upon which that stress and tension arises—the clinging, the orientation around self, the making and building of a self. And it’s possible to let go very deeply. The deeper the letting go, the more freedom we can experience. And the more freedom we have, the issue of whether there is or is not a self is not particularly important; it becomes more of an intellectual interest.
But how we get attached to self—that’s interesting if we want freedom. And when we’re free, then things are as they are. One of the things that happens with deep freedom is that we’re much more aware of the contingent, impermanent nature of the ways in which we construct self: the roles of self we have, the assumptions of self, the self-becoming that we’re involved in in different roles, different parts of life, different situations. We call on different ways of being organized as a human being in order to engage in the world.
A fascinating teaching the Buddha gave is that rather than being concerned about whether there is or is not a self, he says if the way that we’ve constructed a self or hold a self in a particular situation is harmful or unhealthy for you, if it’s unwholesome, then you can let go of it. If how you construct and hold a self in a particular situation is healthy for you, if it’s wholesome and beneficial for the situation, then continue in it. Don’t make it a problem. But do know that it’s temporary, it’s constructed, it’s a coming together of different aspects of who we are. Don’t make that into the self that we are. Don’t hang on to it. Be ready for it to shift and change so you’re ready to construct another healthy way of being and organizing yourself.
One way to understand this that I value is the idea that whatever the self is, whatever the self-construct is, it is constructed, and it’s empty of any inherent, permanent existence. In Buddhism, it’s not a soul that continues over lifetimes or continues after death. And it’s not not a soul. That whole question of what it is, is there a soul or not a soul, is the same as the question of whether there is a self or not a self. It’s all empty and contingent. Whether there is or is not a soul is not relevant for Buddhism. What’s relevant is what we can actually experience, always going back to how we’re experiencing here and now. Because it’s in the experience here and now that we build our stress and tension, and where we find our freedom.
In that freedom, it’s kind of like we discover at the center of all things, the center of our life, the center of this world, is a vast emptiness, or a vast freedom, a vast spaciousness. And in that spaciousness, I love the analogy that it’s like the great, beautiful empty space in the middle of a circle of people sitting in council. People have sat in council for millennia in wise ways, sitting around a fire or in a circle in the woods or a temple, in order to have conversations where everyone is an equal, where everyone has a voice, but no one person can make a decision for the group.
Everyone’s welcome to speak from the heart. And what that means for me is that all the different parts of yourself, whether it’s a wise or foolish part, have a place. There’s an art in mindfulness to stop and listen and to hear deeply: where is it coming from? From the heart. What’s underneath it? What’s the deeper call or expression that’s there?
This idea of the emptiness of self actually creates space to listen and feel and know more and more deeply, and to do that with other people as well. Make space for them, hear them, and get to know what their heart is about. Some people don’t even know their own heart, but maybe you can feel underneath, see through their words, or help and support them to discover what their beautiful heart is like.
This whole teaching of not-self is a profound teaching, a profound possibility. You do not need to believe any teaching having to do with self, not-self, or no-self. Just assuming another belief, that you’re supposed to understand and believe this and act accordingly, does a huge disservice to you. In insight meditation, the idea is to have insight, to see for yourself, to have it revealed how all this inner life works. So we get to see the operation, the construction, the dynamics of being attached to self, building a self, assuming a self, and feeling the tension and stress of it. And especially if we see this tension, let it go. There’s no need for that tension around self. In fact, it gets in the way.
There’s something much more profound here in you, in this world, that is this empty, friendly space. This empty, compassionate place where the phenomenal absence is not a diminishing of who we are, but is the very space that allows for love, for freedom, for creativity, for intelligence, for respect for all things to come forth.
Let your circle be as wide and full and complete as you can. All parts of yourself, all parts of the world, let them all sit in your circle. You don’t have to deny yourself just because you’re not at the center. But you don’t have to be asserting yourself by being at the center of all things. Let freedom be the center. Let rest be at the center. Let peace be at the center. Let this empty, spacious, porous, transparent love be at the center. Not you, but you have an important place in the circle. And share in the circle. Keep the circle going. Keep the love, keep the connection, keep the generosity to care for your circles.
Thank you. I hope that this week on the topic of not-self has given you new perspectives and new understandings to look at your own life.
A couple of things I’d like to announce before we end. Next week, I won’t be on YouTube. We’re very fortunate to have Matthew Brensilver back, and I’m delighted that he’ll be able to share his wisdom with you, be in your circle. I’ll be back the following week.
I’d also like to ask for support for this phenomenal activity we’re doing on YouTube. It’s been over five years now that we’ve been gathering and broadcasting. When I’m at IMC or here with my laptop, I can do it myself. But when I invite other teachers, some of them don’t know how to get onto YouTube, as it takes a little bit of technical knowledge. It’s difficult to invite people who don’t know the technology. We have a few people who provide support to manage these productions when we have guests, and we might be having more guests who don’t know how to do this. It takes connecting to YouTube through Zoom. So, if someone with a little ability with Zoom might want to volunteer to help us with this, we could also use people who can help with some of the editing we do after the production. It’s pretty simple. If you have a little bit of interest in the technology and want to support this, you get to meet the guest teachers this way and talk with them beforehand to set it all up. If any of you are interested in volunteering, you can go on IMC’s website and look up “volunteering.” There’s a volunteer email and a volunteer form.
Finally, for those of you who came in late, I’m up in the Sierras in a place called Nevada City, a small town, at a meditation center that was started by my good friend John Travis 35 years ago. We both started teacher training together with Jack Kornfield, and we’ve been deeply, heartfully connected all these 35 years, slowly growing as teachers. Both of us ended up developing centers. This is his in Nevada City, a beautiful property with wonderful trees, and it’s very peaceful.
I’m going to be here tomorrow, Saturday, doing a half-day retreat together with John Travis. It’s a fundraiser for his center here. All these centers do wonderful work, and they succeed through the wonderful generosity of volunteers, donors, and people who support the teachers who are teaching freely. Tomorrow is my wonderful opportunity to support Mountain Stream Meditation Center by doing this half-day retreat as a fundraiser. Somehow, the title of the fundraiser, which I’ve never seen anywhere before, is a “happy fundraiser.” So maybe just the fact that John Travis and I will be doing it together makes him happy. I’m delighted. We’re delighted with each other and being together.
It’s called a retreat, so there’ll be some meditation, teachings, maybe some guided meditation, John and I having conversations, maybe talking about our experience as teachers. Exactly how this unfolds, we don’t know. But Mountain Stream will have it on Zoom. So if some of you would like to come and be part of it, and be part of the circle of support for Mountain Stream, that would be great. You can go on Mountain Stream Meditation Center’s website to find the Zoom connection or registration.
Thank you all, and when I return in a week from Monday, I’ll be back at IMC. Thank you all, and bye-bye.
Theravāda: “The School of the Elders,” the oldest surviving branch of Buddhism. It is the dominant form of religion in much of Southeast Asia. ↩
Mahāyāna: “The Great Vehicle,” one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. ↩
Council: In this context, “council” is used as a metaphor for a process of inclusive, non-hierarchical dialogue, both internally among the different parts of oneself, and externally with others. The empty space in the center of the council circle represents potential, freedom, and a space where all voices can be heard without any single one dominating. ↩