Have you ever tried
To grab the sky?
I tried to look at the sky
But I couldn't see it
Instead, I saw just sky
Then, every where I looked
Only sky
So, I grabbed for it
And when I opened my hand
There was nothing there
Only sky
Seeing nothing to see
Being nothing to be
You can't have genuine freedom
By grabbing for it
The more you grab for it
The farther away it gets
Buddhism is about so called "release" and the "benefit of release".
To say this another way, there is peace when you let go, when you no longer grab at "THING" (THING-NESS).
But to truly and completely "let go" we have to KNOW that there is really NO-THING in the least to grab onto.
In fact, we have to KNOW that there was never any THING really to grab onto in the first place.
In other words, we have to have a grounds for releasing, we have to have a real, tangible and robust basis for releasing.
Without such a grounds, to just "let go" won't work!
On what "grounds" then do we release?
On the grounds of emptiness-interdependence.
On the grounds of VOIDNESS.
Buddhism says that grabbing and hanging onto THINGS (which is our usual way of relating to and expressing our life) is an unrealistic and painful way to relate to this experience.
It's unrealistic and painful because it contradicts reality "as it is". In other words, our usual way is "unsustainable".
To change this, you really need to undermine the CAUSE.
This is why it is essential to understand and realize "emptiness-interdependence" or what is also called "voidness".
Realizing emptiness-interdependence or "voidness" is what undermines the cause of our existential suffering.
There are no THINGS to hold onto.
But, because we so deeply THINK there are, we have to cut as deeply as possible into that thought in order to undermine it as a cause.
However, we can't just "change our thoughts" by sheer force alone - especially our impulsive and deeply ingrained assumptions and beliefs. We have to get to the root cause - we have to remove the "cause of" or the "grounds for" grabbing and replace that with the "grounds" for release.
To will ourselves to enlightenment is not tenable - especially in the long run. Mind is not only composed of will, there is also a "knowing" aspect.
If the knowing aspect of your mind (whether correctly or incorrectly) conflicts with your will, then no matter how "willful" you are the "knowing" aspect will undermine that.
So what then, is the basis of our "impulse to attach" or to grab onto THINGS? What is the basis of our distress?
Not knowing is the cause.
IT IS AN IGNORANCE OF THE WAY THINGS ARE
THAT IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR INABILITY TO RELEASE
TO RELEASE, WE HAVE TO UNDERMINE THE BASIS FOR GRABBING
TO RELEASE WE HAVE TO REPLACE IGNORANCE WITH KNOWING
We can't just declare that "I will let go of my attachments" and be done with it. We can't just declare "I believe all things are emptiness" and simply see them in this way.
We have to develop the insight, the "KNOWING" that releases our minds from the very impulse to attach.
We have to undermine the cause of attachment in order to truly "let go". In other words, we have to replace the "not knowing" with KNOWING.
KNOWING IS THE REMEDY
This is why the Buddha came to the profound understanding that THIS VERY MOMENT is where we need to be, because experiencing THIS VERY MOMENT is what undermines the basis for attaching.
And understand as well, it's not that we need to "stop our thinking" in order to stop attaching, that alone won't do either. Thought's are no THING in and of themselves which are inherently good or inherently bad. In fact, THIS VERY MOMENT (whether the thought is there or not) is where knowing is found and KNOWING IS THE REMEDY.
THIS VERY MOMENT IS WHAT WE SEEK
AWAY FROM THIS, WE ATTACH ONLY TO THINGS
TO BE TRULY PRESENT IS TO BE WITHOUT THINGS
TO BE TRULY WITHOUT THINGS IS TO *KNOW* THERE ARE NO THINGS
ANYWHERE BUT HERE, AND THERE IS THINGNESS
ANYTIME BUT NOW, AND THERE IS THINGNESS
TO BE PRESENT IS TO *KNOW* THERE ARE NO THINGS
Enlightenment is not just a "quiet and stable" mind. Nirvana requires the complete honesty of KNOWING that there are no THINGS to attach to - KNOWING that there is NO basis for attachment of any kind.
Without this KNOWLEDGE, what ever you get from meditation, what ever you get from Buddhism will be just a temporary fix.
This is also why it is so important to study, to try to understand reality, to pay attention to your experience with curiosity, with an open and "seeking" mind that isn't afraid to be challenged in it's beliefs and assumptions.
This very mind that SEEKS to know truth is the very mind that KNOWS truth.
Buddhism, unlike many other religions, does not ask for your "blind faith". It rather demands that you do the intellectual work that a deeper and truer faith will naturally arise out of.
But why "THIS VERY MOMENT"? Why PRESENCE?
If you really understand "voidness" you also understand that it is the same as "interdependence".
If you understand "interdependence" then you understand that what ever experience you're having right now is completely beyond any definable explanation of it as a THING in any way what so ever.
To define something is to "contain" or isolate it. Reality can never be isolated! Reality can never be contained in an explanation. Reality is empty of THINGNESS.
The thing you try to isolate (what ever you point to) or explain, is in reality, all things all at once.
This is also that, that is also this, past is also future, present is also past, you are also me, effects cannot arise without a cause and causes cannot be without effects. THIS is interdependence. And interdependence is exactly voidness or emptiness.
We cannot attach to any THING because there are no THINGS in isolation that exist. There are no isolatable (DEFINABLE) THINGS.
But we can't STOP there either! Why?
Because to "stop" is to create another THING where none really is.
Presence, or NOWNESS is always undefinable because it is dynamic, always moving, always changing, and most importantly, all inclusive.
THIS, HERE, NOW is where interdependence reveals itself - as what is sometimes called "totality". This is where knowing is found.
So in Buddhism the essential teaching is to simply "be here", where no-THING is, where there is no individual THING to attach to. THIS is total presence. THIS is knowing.
When you are truly here, emptiness or "voidness" reveals itself as the grounds of or basis of "totality".
There is release because each moment is -in reality- already completely free from being anything to attach to. Your job is to KNOW THIS.
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