Words Cannot Transmit Understanding
In this powerful Early Morning Ashram Meditation Teaching, Shunyamurti reads from “Cultivating the Empty Field” (the writings of Hongzhi), a section entitled “With Total Trust, Roam and Play in Samadhi”, which remarks on emptying out any hope of being an illusory entity with its “warm and cozy” comforts, that understanding cannot be transmitted through scripture, and one has to let go of even the purest beliefs, and that every fragment of the dream reflects infinite facets of the Supreme.
Excerpt: So, we will continue to read from the practice instructions of the great Chan Master, Hongzhi. We’re still on page 33, and the translator has given this instruction the title “With Total Trust Roam and Play in Samadhi”.
Now, let’s see what he really says.
“Empty and desireless, cold and thin, simple and genuine, this is how to strike down and fold up the remaining habits of many lives.”
So, let’s look at that once more. “Empty and desireless” without any desire for anything from the phenomenal plane. Empty out of all narratives, all belief systems, all hopes that have anything to do with the illusory entity that you are now transcending. No desire to be anchored in a name or form, or limited life within the matrix. Completely gone beyond.
“Cold and thin”—in other words, the Zen monk is not interested in being warm and cozy, but wants to be able to deal with whatever conditions arise, without complaint, without excess, without need, without a sense of lack—when the electricity is cut off and the global financial system collapses, and your money is worthless, are you still OK? Can you deal with life when the body becomes thin, and you’re cold, and there’s nothing to be expected of jouissance any longer, from the world? Are you still able to play in samadhi?
“Simple and genuine”—the ego is not genuine because it is complex. It is complex because it speaks with fork tongue, one fragment will say one thing, another will want or say another thing. And that complexity can never be unified into a genuine presentation of oneself, in the world. And so, it is only through that simplification of the consciousness, through return to the Zero Point, that the authentic Being is able to express itself, through the body and mind because it has no interest in making any particular impression on the other. It has no interest in controlling. It has no interest in being approved. It simply is. And so, if you wish to strike down and fold up the remaining habits of many lives, you have to go through this emptying out. There is no other way to become genuine, except to eliminate that which is not genuine. That which is ladla, that which is fragile, that which needs things to be comfortable and easy, and enables one to be irresponsible—all of that must be struck down and all the habits of the ego’s desire for gaining territory and security and love and approval and all of those attempts to establish itself with some reality that it lacks, must be folded up and thrown into the fire.
“When the stains from old habits are exhausted, the original light appears, blazing through your skull, not admitting any other matters.”
So, the old habits, when they are recognized as stains upon your soul, and the energy that has pushed you to act out those habit patterns, when that energy has been exhausted through your letting go, your striking them down, your having become simple and empty—when that has been achieved, then the original light appears—the original light of Shiva, the Buddha nature, the light of the supreme Real “blazes through your skull.” Has everyone experienced that light blazing through your skull? Have you realized that light is yourself? Your home, your abode, and is the very essence of reality itself? And when that light blazes and fills the consciousness, there is no longer any room for other matters. No other thoughts, no concerns, no worries, no plans for the future, no anything, except the eternal light itself, completely takes over and becomes the only reality.