GENTLY WHISPERED
~ 14
The main line from the Prajna Paramita Sutra describing this says, "Form is void, void is form; form is no other than void, voidness is no other than form." If someone were to say to you, "There is no sound, no form, no feeling; there is truly nothing real," then you might not believe that. You will reply that you have these definite, real experiences of these sensory sensations: you hear sound; you actually see form, etc. This term void does not imply nothingness, but, rather, it infers the interdependence and insubstantiality of all phenomena. In this sense, all phenomena are considered empty or void of any absolute reality. The dream is frequently used as an example of this. While in the dream state, one can dream up an entire experience with a total environment, and one can experience that as having form, feeling, sound, etc. The dream appears extremely real. Still, there is no reality whatsoever in the dream existence, for with the moment of awakening, it all completely vanishes. The dream experience is believed to be real during the time of the dream, yet it is obviously a projection of the mind. The aim of the practitioner is to recognize that the experience of present phenomena is also merely a projection that has no substantial being. Let me remind you that the basis of this discourse lies in the teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni and the third Gyalwa Karmapa [Rangjung Dorje, 1284-1339]. Both taught that all phenomena are insubstantial, like a dream, like a reflection in a mirror, like an illusion, like a rainbow. In seeing that all appearance (not only one's mind and emotions) is luminous, unimpeded suchness, one recognizes that all external appearance, which is also arising from the mind, is only mental projection. The basis of the mahayana practice differs from the hinayana in that one does not practice abandonment, rejection, etc. Instead, in mahayana, one deals with one's behavior in a manner of transformation. For example, if the desire to harm another sentient being arises on the crest of a wave of great anger, then one immediately applies the antidote of compassion; the energy of the anger is thereby transformed into compassion. One does not deal with an emotion simply by cutting it off; rather, one uses compassion to transform it on the basis of its inherent insubstantiality.