Bring your attention away from distractions and imaginations Back to the realities of life the nature of which is impermanence and death
Awareness of death helps free our mind from delusion and Karma so that we can not only bring an end to the entire round of suffering the cycle of death and rebirth but also eradicate even the the subtle eras of mind
thereby attaining Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings
All causative phenomena; our life, our body, our mind, our self, our possessions, our relatives and
friends all other people are changing not only day by day minute by minute
and second by second but every tiny moment they do not last for a fraction of a second
Because they are under the control of causes and conditions they are in a
state of constant decay and can cease at any time
This is the nature of our life
If we can remain aware of this we will prevent our mind from coming under the control of the delusion
The disturbing emotional minds that hurt us and other sentient beings which prevent us from transforming our mind and gaining realizations of the path to Enlightenment
They stop us from seeing the ultimate nature of all phenomena
First we stop delusions from manifesting
We free ourselves of disturbing thoughts immediately experience peace and satisfaction and then by actualizing the remedial path
we eradicate even the imprints that they have left on our mental continuum By destroying the seeds of delusion we attain nirvana
ultimate Liberation from the six Realms of suffering and its cause - freedom from the circling aggregates which are samsara itself
These are the benefits of mindfulness of impermanence
Contemplate on this
Now meditate on emptiness
The actual nature of all phenomena
Think how your 'I', actions, objects and in fact all phenomena
Everything that is called such and such and this and that are just names
Names have to come from the mind they don't exist from their own side
Names are labels applied by the mind
However it is not just that phenomena are labeled by the mind they are merely labels
In other words, all phenomena, 'I', action, object, everything are merely labeled by the mind in relation to their base think about this
When we come to meditate on emptiness the practice has to be deep
Our mindfulness meditation should be more than just watching what we are doing
What we really need to do is to watch our motivation
The practice has to be more profound than simply noting or recognizing I'm walking I'm sitting and so forth
But if we don't watch our mind carefully then we don't know what's motivating our actions
What we should be doing is detecting negative motivation
The cause of suffering and changing it into positive
You should be applying your meditation like a medicine to the eradication of harmful thoughts the delusions the disturbing emotions that harm yourself and others
You need to eradicate these and make your mind healthy and your attitude beneficial
Just as the Buddha explains in the following verse:
Do not engage in any harmful actions perform only those that are good
Abandon non virtue the cause of suffering and practice virtue the cause of happiness
Transform negative motivation into positive so that your actions will become virtuous
In this way you will not waste your life but make it meaningful
At least you won't be harming yourself or others
The way to practice more meaningful mindfulness meditation in order to understand emptiness is like this
When you're sitting or when you're walking ask yourself the question what am I doing?
Then your mind will answer - I'm sitting,
I'm walking, I'm eating depending on what it is that you're doing
Whatever you are doing you can meditate on emptiness
One way in which you can do this this is to reply to the answer I'm walking with another question:
Why do I say I'm walking?
Then you analyze, you look for the reason
What you find is the only reason reason I say this is that my aggregate of body
the base I label 'I' is walking
Your body is walking - just because of that your mind labels and believes I'm walking
After you've done that check how your 'I' appears to you at that moment
Is it the same as before or has there been a change?
Usually you'll find that it's not the same that there's been a definite change
Suddenly the old view of a real I in your body, the I you have always believed to be there in your body has vanished become non-existent
And that's the truth
It's not a false view
The old 'I' was the false one
When you do not meditate or analyze the I that appears to you and in which you
believe the eye that seems to comprise these aggregates in this body is the false one
In Western psychological terms we call it the emotional I
The emotional I - the one that you believe is in your body or comprises your aggregates
is totally nonexistent
This is what you have to discover that it's empty
You have to discover that it is totally non-existent
Totally empty
If you can realize that that there's not even the slightest atom of an I there and feel as if you yourself have become totally non-existent you have entered the middle way
At that time when you realize emptiness you gain full conviction or definite
understanding that you can attain liberation
You can cease all suffering and its cause
Remain in the state of your discovery of the absence of the emotional I
Keep your mind in the emptiness of that
When your mind gets distracted again ask yourself the question:
What am I doing?
Then when your mind replies ask again:
Why do I say I'm doing?
There's no reason other than the labels
If the answer is "I'm meditating" ask yourself why do I say I'm meditating
There's no reason other than the fact that the base, the aggregates of Mind are transforming into virtue
Which is what meditation really means
Then check again to see what effect this has had on your perception of 'I'
Has there been a change or not?
Doing this meditation again and again helps you see the false I more and more clearly
The more clearly you see the false I, the emotional I, the I that doesn't truly exist - the more clearly you see
The better you recognize emptiness the better idea of emptiness you get
The awareness that recognizes emptiness and the nature of phenomena is mind
The awareness that recognizes things is not the 'I'
it is neither the real I nor even the merely labeled I
What it is however is merely labeled by the mind
Therefore, the reality of the I that is merely labeled by the mind is
that it exists is but it is totally empty of existing from its own side
While it is empty of existing from its own side the I still exists
How?
In mere name only
When you realize this you have gained an unmistaken realization of emptiness
On the single object 'I' you are able to unify dependent arising and emptiness
When you realize these two without division you have gained an unmistaken realization of emptiness