Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Emptiness
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Woodacre
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.buddhistinsightnetwork.org/retreats/teachers/guy-armstrong * http://www.wisdompubs.org/author/guy-armstrong
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Attended college, including graduate school.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Meditation teacher and writer. Has taught meditation since 1984; member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Guy Armstrong, who studied scientific disciplines in college, has taught meditation for more than four decades at retreats in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He spent a year in Thailand training as a Buddhist monk with Ajahn Buddhadasa, who died in 1993 and was among the most influential teachers of Buddhism in Thailand. In his book titled Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators, Armstrong delves into the topic of “emptiness” as the central philosophy of Buddhism and as a goal of meditation.
“People frequently imagine ’emptiness’ as blankness, where nothing happens in the mind, where there’s just a big vacancy,” Armstrong noted in an interview for the PIMG—Perth Insight Meditation Group website. Armstrong went on to point out that this idea of emptiness is not what the Buddha taught and that practicing meditation sheds light on a different concept of emptiness. “Yogis–those on retreat–often report three experiences that indicate a growing understanding of emptiness: spaciousness, absence of a tangible self, and insubstantiality. You might say that as the truth of emptiness dawns, the fullness of life comes into awareness.”
In his book, Armstrong strives to give readers a better understanding of a complex topic and discusses assumptions people hold about life and personal identity. Gathering from a wide range of traditions and teachers, Armstrong discusses how various teachings and a better understanding of them can help liberate the mind. Writing in the book’s introduction, Armstrong reveals that he loved science and majored in physics as an undergraduate, going on to study computers in graduate school. “In all these disciplines, I discovered that close observation, pointed questions, and sustained reflection were the keys to unlock the gates,” writes Armstrong. He goes on to write that he accidentally encountered Buddhism and “was delighted to find a whole new set for mysteries to explore.” From the time he was twenty-eight years old onward, Armstrong has dedicated himself to the study of Buddhism and mediation.
In Emptiness, Armstrong presents a nondogmatic view of meditation and the concept of emptiness. He discusses various controversies that have arisen between different schools of Buddhism but primarily focuses on the impact that their various teachers have on the mind. In the process, Armstrong relates various approaches to meditation and Buddhist philosophy.
Armstrong stresses that one of the key aspects of meditation is the idea of emptiness as a lack of substantiality, not only for the self but also for others and the world. In terms of the self, Armstrong writes that the concept of insubstantiality applies not only in the physical sense but also in an emotional sense. “When meditators start to see their emotions in terms of the three characteristics—that they they are always changing, that they’re unsatisfactory because none of them ultimately last, and that there’s not an owner of any feeling—then they can view emotions as passing clouds,” Armstrong said in his interview for the PIMG–Perth Insight Meditation Group website. Armstrong went on in the interview to note that emotions form and break apart much like clouds, adding that such a realization can help people not to become too committed to their passing emotions. “We let them arise, form and pass away with the spaciousness of understanding,” said Armstrong in the interview, adding: “This is one of the biggest areas of freedom for meditators.”
Overall, Emptiness is broken up into four parts in which Armstrong discusses the self, phenomena, awareness, and emptiness as the root of compassion. The book includes a glossary of Pali and Sanskrit words and an index. Emptiness “is thoroughly ‘reader friendly’ in organization and presentation,” wrote an Internet Bookwatch contributor. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book “an insightful exploration” and remarked that “inexperienced and experienced practitioners alike will find it very rewarding and thought-provoking.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Armstrong, Guy, Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators, Wisdom (Somerville, MA), 2017.
PERIODICALS
Internet Bookwatch, June, 2017, review of Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators.
Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2017, review of Emptiness, p. 78.
ONLINE
Buddhist Insight Network, http://www.buddhistinsightnetwork.org/ (November 19, 2017), brief author profile.
PIMG – Perth Insight Meditation Group website, http://www.pimg.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMS_intvw_0508_v3.pdf (November 19, 2017), “Practicing Emptiness, Experiencing Fullness An Interview with Guy Armstrong.”
Guy Armstrong has been leading insight meditation retreats since 1984 in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. His training included living as a monk for a year in the Thai forest lineage. Guy is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society. He lives in Woodacre, CA.
Guy Armstrong has practiced in insight meditation for over 40 years, including training as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Ajahn Buddhadasa. He began teaching in 1984 and has led retreats worldwide. He is an IMS guiding teacher and teaches regularly at the long retreats at IMS and Spirit Rock.
Practicing Emptiness, Experiencing Fullness An Interview with Guy Armstrong
The world is empty because it is empty of self or of what belongs to self. -- The Buddha
Guy Armstrong was introduced to the Buddha’s teachings in 1974. Since then, he has trained as a Buddhist monk with meditation masters in Thailand and Burma. He began teaching the dharma over twenty years ago, and is currently a member of the IMS Guiding Teacher Council. With an abiding interest in the depth and implications of suññatā, or emptiness, he offers us insights into this essential Buddhist teaching.
Guy, the teachings on ‘emptiness’ can be difficult for many of us in the West to grasp. What did the Buddha mean by this term?
People frequently imagine ‘emptiness’ as blankness, where nothing happens in the mind, where there’s just a big vacancy. That's not what the Buddha was pointing to with this term.
As we practice, we start to come in contact with emptiness in different ways. Yogis – those on retreat - often report three experiences that indicate a growing understanding of emptiness: spaciousness, absence of a tangible self, and insubstantiality. You might say that as the truth of emptiness dawns, the fullness of life comes into awareness.
Can you describe each of these?
When we begin to meditate, we may feel that thoughts are occurring all the time. After a while, as our bodies and minds settle, we become aware of small spaces between our thoughts and emotions. As we continue to practice, these gaps can expand until we have a sense of the vastness of our own minds, of our own consciousness. This vastness then
1
becomes a large container for everything that passes through the mind. It also lends increasing calm to the practice and to our lives.
The second important element is that of ‘not self.’ This aspect is at first unusual and can take a few years for a meditator to fully understand.
If we reflect on our lives, we notice the tendency to place an overlay of ‘I’ or ‘mine’ on all our experiences of the world. Whenever we hear something, or see something, or think something, it is in terms of ownership. Yet as we closely examine reality, as the mind gets quiet, we start to realize for ourselves that there is no evidence for this ‘I’ or ‘mine.’ As the Buddha said, “In the seen, there is just what is seen; in the heard, there is just what is heard.”
Sometimes there can be so much silence, so much spaciousness in a moment that we can actually feel a little adrift. The ‘I’ has become so weak that we’re not quite sure we’re still here. Sometimes anxiety or unsettledness can arise at this point; but it’s a good sign that the usual assumptions of self have shifted.
The third aspect of emptiness is the quality of reality as being insubstantial and not solid. Usually, the initial place we can see this is in relation to our own body. When we first meditate, we feel the body is really dense, like a rock or a piece of wood. But as we investigate further and look directly at the experience of bodily sensation, we find there's nothing hard or fixed in the body at all. Rather, wherever we turn our attention, sensations have the nature of vibration, pulsation, impermanence, shifting, changing, rising, falling. The Buddha pointed to this in a teaching in the Samyutta Nikāya (the Connected Discourses) called ‘The Mass of Foam.’
He said, "If you see a mass of foam floating on the surface of a river and you look at it closely you'll see it's void, hollow and insubstantial. In the same way, if you examine the whole world of matter, you'll see that it's also void, hollow and insubstantial, just like this mass of foam."
2
As the understanding of insubstantiality grows, the world can seem softer, less fixed, and not something that we so easily grasp onto.
Does the concept of insubstantiality apply to our emotions as well as our physical senses?
Absolutely. When meditators start to seetheir emotions in terms of the three characteristics – that they are always changing, that they're unsatisfactory because none of them ultimately last, and that there's not an owner of any feeling - then they can view emotions as passing clouds. As clouds move across the sky, they coalesce, they persist for a while, and then they break up. We realize that emotions are formed in exactly the same way. This is the realization of the emptiness of emotions, which can unhook us from taking them quite so seriously. We let them arise, form and pass away within the spaciousness of understanding. This is one of the biggest areas of freedom for meditators.
When the Buddha speaks of ‘empty of self’, doesn’t that imply nihilism?
Well, the Buddha was actually accused in his lifetime of being nihilistic. One time he replied to that question by saying, "I don't teach the annihilation of an existing being." While this is absolutely right, it is also a bit cryptic and invites reflection. It's important to understand that, with insight, what goes out of our experience is a false and limiting sense of who we are that confines and constricts our full functioning. Many yogis say that when the false sense of self goes, even temporarily, a weight is lifted off their shoulders. So the experience isn't one of nihilism, but one of relief, greater happiness and ease.
Every meeting with every person is experienced more fully. Every time we hear a bird's song it's experienced more directly. Every taste of food comes across more clearly. As the Zen master Dogen put it, "Tostudy the way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.”
Can you offer some techniques that help cultivate a deeper understanding of emptiness?
3
Let's talk about the absence of self, because in some ways it's the most subtle of the three aspects I mentioned earlier. The direct way to seeing the emptiness of self is the practice of mindfulness as described in the Satipatthāna Sutta – the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. It leads naturally into an understanding of not-self, but there is a particular addition that can help to cultivate this understanding.
In doing our usual mindfulness practice, we might note "hearing," "seeing," "in" for an in- breath, "sensing," "thinking," and so on for the various arisings at the sense doors. Every time we make a note like that, we might try adding the comment, "Not I, not mine." Practicing like this, over and over, inclines the mind to see things the way they actually are, and to cease the extra habit of claiming experience as self or belonging to self.
At the time of the Buddha, were these teachings on emptiness unusual?
They were very original. The existing religious world view most in favor 2,500 years ago in India was an early form of Hinduism which posited that the work of the spiritual path was to unite the atman, or individual self, with the brahman, or universal self. The actual existence of the individual self was never questioned. The Buddha's presentations of the teachings of ‘not self’ were very radical in his day, and unsettling to many at the time, just as they are radical and can be unsettling today.
Since the teachings on emptiness are about the very nature of the human heart and mind, they're just as true today as they were in the time of the Buddha; they are the doorways to liberation. The entire path of awakening can be seen as the unfolding of emptiness.
What are the qualities of a mind that abides in emptiness?
Abiding in emptiness is a very purifying practice. It's really at the heart of our meditation because it combines right understanding with right mindfulness and right concentration. The more we practice abiding in emptiness the more we experience awakened qualitiesof
4
heart and mind - peace, contentment, joy, lovingkindness and wisdom. You could say these are the fruits of emptiness.
How has this aspect of the teachings inspired your own practice?
Emptiness has been a frequent theme for my own reflection and study. On a study retreat in my home a few years ago, I read about emptiness every day. The concept began to really sink into my bones. One night I dreamed that I was standing in front of a full-length mirror, looking at my reflection. I asked my reflection, "Why is emptiness important?" The reflection answered, "Because it means that you don't exist." At that point I woke up, because it was quite startling. I appreciated the answer, though, because it came out of the mirror and not out of my own mouth.
It also pointed to the way of liberation. When the sense of a separate self goes, the very difficulties of life also dissolve. The mirror’s reply doesn't mean that I literally die. Rather it reminds me of a comment from an old Sri Lankan monk who was asked the secret of his great happiness and joy. The monk replied, "No self, no problem."
PREFACE
Emptiness: A Practical Introduction for Meditators
264.11 (Mar. 13, 2017): p78.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Emptiness: A Practical Introduction for Meditators
Guy Armstrong. Wisdom, $24.95 (308p) ISBN 978-1-61429-363-7
Armstrong, a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society, offers a robust meditation on emptiness for more experienced practitioners. Emptiness is a core teaching of the Buddhist tradition, but it remains one of its most elusive and difficult concepts to grasp. By using critical inquiry, reflection, and intuition/ meditation, Armstrong reveals the mystery of emptiness as the lack of substantiality of self, others, and the world. Through basic Buddhist teachings on the 12 links of dependent origination or the five aggregates, Armstrong critically breaks down the traditional Buddhist steps of the formation of reality, consciousness, and meaning. He unravels assumptions about the permanence and solidity of identity and existence. Armstrong is careful: he makes sure to remind readers that conventional identity and the everyday mundane world are equally meaningful and even authentic. Emptiness is not merely an abstract concept or mystical experience but is rooted in the deeper purpose of meditation: "to understand deeply how our minds lead us to unhappiness so that we can stop the activities that lead to those states." Through wisdom of emptiness gained from intuition, one drops the story of self and creates the grounds for being ethically responsive and compassionate. Armstrong's book is an insightful exploration of one of the most confusing Buddhist teachings; inexperienced and experienced practitioners alike will find it very rewarding and thought-provoking. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Emptiness: A Practical Introduction for Meditators." Publishers Weekly, 13 Mar. 2017, p. 78+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485971700&it=r&asid=b25e60c2230c2873677dc24f703ca735. Accessed 6 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485971700
Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators
(June 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators
Guy Armstrong
Wisdom Publications
199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144
www.wisdompubs.org
9781614293637, [dollar]29.95, HC, 328pp, www.amazon.com
Guy Armstrong has been leading insight meditation retreats since 1984 in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. His training included living as a monk for a year in the Thai forest lineage. Guy is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society. Within "Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators", he draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to makes difficult Buddhist topics easy to understand, weaving together Theravada and Mahayana teachings on emptiness to show how we can liberate our minds and manifest compassion in our lives. Enhanced with the inclusion of an informative Introduction, a two page list of Acknowledgements, a two page listing of Sources and Abbreviations, twelve pages of Notes, a six page Glossary of Pali and Sanskrit Words, and a twenty page Index, "Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators" is thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, making it an ideal and valued addition to community and academic library Buddhism collections in general, and Buddhist Mediation supplemental studies lists in particular. It should be noted for Buddhism students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in Buddhist mediation, that "Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators" is also available in a Kindle format ([dollar]17.99).
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Emptiness: A Practical Guide for Meditators." Internet Bookwatch, June 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA499493966&it=r&asid=b6a74b5aefc6f194b262670e7e8f567f. Accessed 6 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499493966