Realization of Sunyata: The Emptiness of Being
Sunyata
This excerpt from A.H. Almaas’s book Heart Dweller explores his journey into Buddhist meditation and the realization of emptiness. Whereas devotion melts the egoic self in love’s fire, awareness exposes its illusory nature.
Almaas practices Vipassana, noticing whatever arises. This confronts the pervasive suffering the ego tries to avoid. Peeling away the observer reveals awareness needs no center. The ego dissolves into expansive, effortless, panoramic awareness.
In deep stillness, Almaas sees through egoic concepts coloring perception. Subtle beliefs veil reality’s nakedness. Intuitive prajna discriminates these filters, revealing things as they are beyond mental labels.
A vivid depiction of sunyata, the void, exemplifies this. Objects shine purely with their own suchness, empty of conceptual significance. Thoughts claiming identity interrupt direct perception. Identification tries to grasp openness.
Form’s emptiness in sunyata means it is empty of egoic concepts yet full of intrinsic nature. This intrinsic awakeness pervades everything once egoic veils lift. Identity’s tricks cannot capture the union of emptiness and form.
The ego itself is also empty, devoid of inherent existence. Ego’s false strength arises from mistakenly believing in a self. Ceaseless identification maintains this illusion of identity.
Almaas inspires us to question the ego’s assumptions. Meditation unravels ego-concepts to reveal reality’s naked splendor. His account illuminates the challenges facing awareness and the liberating potential of waking up.