Form and Emptiness

They call Him Emptiness who is the Truth of

Truths, in Whom all truths are stored!

There within Him creation goes forward, which is

Beyond all philosophy; for philosophy cannot attain to Him:

There is an endless world, O my Brother!  And

There is a Nameless Being, of which naught can be said.

-          Kabir

 

 

Form is known to us through the mind and senses.  We live in the world of forms and become attached to them.  However we forget that all forms exist with the space of emptiness.  Form is the surface level of existence.  For example, you find yourself attracted to a person who is physically beautiful but once you get to know him or her you are repulsed.  Form is the package, presentation and veil which appears to hide a deeper truth. 

Does this mean that form is bad?  Of course not, we might be attracted to someone’s beauty and come to know how wonderful they are as a person.  Form is simply superficial and if we get stuck on this level we might be in for trouble.  We might actually feel we are bitten by the rope we mistake for a snake!  When we become attached to form we suffer because all forms are transitory.  As the philosopher Heraclitus put it, “Change is the only thing that is permanent.”  Try as we might we can’t cling to anything in this phenomenal world.  If we are deeply attached this thought in itself might cause us anxiety or despair.  As Ram Das says in Be Love Now:

When we realize how finite are the limits of gratification or possible fulfillment within the play of forms, then despair arises.  That despair is born of the world-weary understanding that nothing in form can provide ultimate meaning.  It also forces and demands awakening and seeks transcendence of suffering.

Transcendence comes from both accepting impermanence in terms of form and realizing the changeless essence of things.  This changeless essence is also the essence of who we are.  It is our own essential nature, svarupa, the formless-form of our inner being.  It is consciousness itself apart from its content.  Of course we never actually experience consciousness without some content although we come close in deep sleep. 

In terms of Yoga there are three major states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep.  There is also a fourth state which is present in all three.  It is referred to as turiya, the fourth, which is awareness of awareness itself.  It is a transcendent state of consciousness revealed through contemplative practice.  This “transcendent” center of awareness is also completely familiar to us.  It is the ground of our experience, the underlying presence that has always been and will always be here.

“Emptiness” sounds dismal to some.  We might imagine it as a state of nothingness, of emotional void.  This is not the spiritual meaning of emptiness or shunyata.  Instead it is the open presence which gives birth to and embraces everything.  It is the mirror in which the universe appears, the pond which reflects the moon.  Form arises spontaneously within emptiness as an expression of love and joy.  As William Blake wrote, “Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”  We are temporarily housed in the productions of time but our true home is in eternity. 

When we enter into a profound state of meditation we rest in the embrace of eternity, of emptiness.  At the same time we are not rejecting the world of appearances.  We are not seeking to escape but to gain perspective.  We can neither cling to form nor emptiness, but we can seek to harmonize both.  When we are under the sway of a powerful emotion such as jealousy or anger we can use emptiness to create space around it.  When we experience positive states such as joy or love we allow them to expand into the infinite space of being.

In Buddhist terms emptiness also means that nothing exists in and of itself.  All form, perception and mental states are mutually interdependent.  Take away one aspect and it all comes down like a house of cards.  Within emptiness there is complete freedom and it is a creative freedom.  From within emptiness a fresh view arises and with it a new world.