“The victorious ones have said
That emptiness is the relinquishing of all views.
For whomever emptiness is a view,
That one has achieved nothing.”
― Nāgārjuna
When we begin our work, our struggle is with concepts of self – the personality, its shadow and the dynamics of karma. We are given the concept of ’emptiness’ as a suitable metaphor. This is not literal emptiness, more a concept that imparts the idea that phenomena, including ‘ourselves’, lack any intrinsic being.
It is a pitfall to become attached to this conceptual emptiness, as this simply replaces prior concepts with another concept. It is conceptual reality that obscures our mind and prevents it from recognizing its true nature. Whilst ’empty space’ is a good metaphor, in that it contains only a very subtle conceptual object, it is still a metaphor.
We learn to become a ‘no-one’ as we move through the Hinayana vehicle. The Arahant perfects it, yet when perfected, in truth, there was nobody that became liberated. The Arahant is simply no longer deluded into thinking that there was anyone there in the first place.
Whilst the Hinayana is ideal for personal liberation, if one fosters love and compassion for other sentient beings, the rewards of sole liberation are unsatisfactory. It seems that the bodhisattva, to a degree, instinctively recognizes emptiness, but also remains attached to the four illimitables. This permits repeated rebirths in places ‘lower’ than their karma might naturally dictate.
The Alchemical Process
In traditional alchemy the manufacture of the philosophers stone takes place in different stages. Whilst the ingredients of the stone vary from account to account, the different operations or stages have some consistency. The two factors that stand out in the concluding stages are firstly the heat, and secondly, observation.
The ‘heat’ must be continuous and even the briefest period of absence or even drop in temperature can ruin the whole operation. I have read accounts of those who physically try to make the stone, and to follow the recipes literally one must be prepared to tend and maintain the fire continuously, for months. Even nowadays with electric, thermoregulated hot plates this can be challenging. For the average alchemist of the middle ages this is a period of utter dedication, which I suspect is what the metaphor is getting at.
The ‘heat’ is our spiritual effort. Initially we require some, but not much. Yet, as we progress in our studies we reach the point where we must commit fully and without faltering. Initially this heat represents actual effort, yet, towards the end this effort changes to what is called ‘skilful means’. This is because ‘effort’, or any attempt to act, becomes contrary to our progression. Towards the end we must become skilled at effortlessness and ultimately maintain this.
In the alchemical texts there is a time, during the operation when the ‘substance’ changes colour. This is a brief and easily missed moment. If this goes unrecognized and the next stage isn’t performed the whole process fails. This means, for success, the alchemist must be present and observing the work, continuously, and again, sometimes for months.
Interestingly, in some accounts where an individual went through this process physically, i.e. they did the chemistry, it is during this time they experienced an awakening in personal awareness. I suspect gazing at a glass retort for hours, days and months is not too dissimilar to any other meditative practice and they gained enlightenment through discovering jhana, rather than the chemistry itself.
My take is that this is emphasizing the role of awareness in this part of the process. One must utilize skilful means – i.e. effortlessness which must be slowly ‘increased’ whilst one remains focused in pure awareness. This sounds very much like dzogchen.
The Ultimate Puzzle
I wouldn’t really say I am fond of puzzles.
However, here we are. The ultimate puzzle, that promises, not just the answer, but every answer, should we discover its mystery.
Our parameters for this puzzle are simple.
Stop trying to solve it, and you will have its solution.
The ‘Puzzle’ is illusory and not real, so cannot be solved in any real way. It only looks like a puzzle because we insist it has somebody who perceives it so. We become trapped in our cognitive prisons because we insist there has to be a prisoner. This prisoner we value more than any prison, and whilst we strive to escape the prison we forget that in truth, we want to escape the prisoner.
Whilst we are invested in the prisoner we are always going to want to escape.
Yet, there is no prisoner. And without a prisoner, can there really be a prison?
Skilful Means
One cannot practice effortlessness. All one can do it to learn to let it all go.
One does this by finding perfection, and through perfection, one needs not do anything. Let me explain this.
Our cognitive realities are not real. They are not ‘nothing’ but arise like a shadow of a deeper reality, which we called dependent arising. What I mean here, because it is important, is that our perceptions arise and cease based on a deeper reality that we cannot perceive.
Take the motions of the planets for example. For millennia we have observed the night skies and created theories to explain how the planets move. The planets, being phenomena, behave in a manner that is initially unknown. There is nothing immediately obvious that tells us how and why they move in the way they do. We create theories, currently within the disciplines of astrophysics that enable us to predict how these phenomena arise. These seems to be a deeper law, one we describe as “mathematics” than can predict how phenomena arise.
The phenomena of these planets, which are nothing more than reflected light, is not the planets. The planets are something ‘deeper’ that obeys the laws of physics.
This means that as much as we value our cognitive realities, they cannot be real. They are mere snapshots of something that arises because of something else. (This ‘something else’ also has issues if we try to observe it!)
Our ‘cognitive realities’ are the sum of judgements and choices made over uncountable lifetimes. They are like mirrors which have been smashed in our own particular way. The reflections and distortions are our distortions. If we feel our world is imperfect it is because we regard it, and ourselves as similarly so.
We must understand enough to develop the faith necessary to see perfection where initially we cannot. It is acceptable to not even know what perfection is, we simple must form the strong believe that things are already perfect. This is the only way we can grasp our restless mind, like a turtle (on its back) might be restrained by a bowl. By convincing ourselves that everything is already perfect it means there is absolutely nothing to be done.
Once you understand this, you ‘have’ the pointing out instructions. It is not initially effortless, as one needs to develop the ‘skilful means’ to access primordial wisdom, i.e. cease all cognition like a swallow returning to its nest – i.e. instantly. One must work on this effortless practice until one no longer recognizes any difference between meditation and non-meditation.
Faith is necessary as it can take some time for the signs to appear. Furthermore, it’s advisable to both anticipate and disregard these signs before they appear so one doesn’t become fixated upon them. The process here is akin to the bardo, one submerges ones awareness within ones still-defiled mind, and to mistake the fantastic hallucinations for anything other than progress can be a dangerous mistake.
One needs to progress and not cease the ‘heat’, spiritual effort or here, skilful means for it is very easy to mistake a lesser awakening for full enlightenment. There are skandha demons all the way to the end, well, until the eighth bhumi, after which progress to full buddhahood can be fairly rapid.
The ‘signs’ arise as the tendency of perception to create object and subject lessen. One increasingly ‘dwells’ in non-dual, non-cognitive awareness where subjective self ceases to arise. Here one has access to deeper awarenesses that may manifest as psychic abilities such as an awareness of previous lives and if you pardon the oxymoron a kind of ‘limited omniscience’.
The Divine Alchemist
Now we can see how the alchemist, or any other kind of mystic becomes aligned with a kind of divinity. Without needing to classify or name it, the alchemist strives to see perfection and unity in all. This is red stone. Now, rather than merely having a healing effect through the skilful use of karma, there is a tendency to create holiness (wholeness).
Without any scripture necessary the alchemist always seeks an answer than unifies and offers a universal justification without any judgement. They no longer judge anybody or anything, only seek to find the utter perfection of this moment.
Are you starting to understand the power of the red stone yet?
The Alchemist who can realize the utter perfection of this moment, can involve a state of wholeness in others. Although temporary, i.e. the hypnotic effect of the alchemists belief, this induces a sense of wholeness in adult observers reminiscent of their childhood innocence. This is the hypnotizing effect of all gurus, although it can arise in both the awakened and deluded gurus as it is a function of belief. I would imagine that in the awakened gurus there is no mania, which is likely to accompany most of the deluded forms.
One must be diligent and not get distracted. One can easily appear ‘holy’ and I would imagine it is dangerously easy to find oneself creating a cult. If we remember any experiences are akin to the bardo, which is dreamlike, but also based on prior karmic impressions. You can see how easy it might be for a disciple at this stage thinking they were receiving divine messages through a misinterpretation of these signs.
This is why we must remember to keep our work solitary, to a degree. Whilst we are still working on the process, we must remember to not get distracted. Some community life is acceptable and whilst progress is more challenging outside of solitary practice, it is not impossible.
Our ‘work’ now is well and truly downhill. We must remember not to try to run, just descend easily and naturally. We might not believe it just yet, but there will come a time when our whole ‘understanding’ of alchemy and enlightenment will be nothing more than just another fairy tale.
Keep on searching.
Further reading
• Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
• The Dzogchen Tradition
• Spiritual Alchemy
• The Bardo Thodol
• “Introduction to Dzogchen Practice” by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (YouTube)
• “The Buddhist Science of Mind” by B. Alan Wallace (YouTube)
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“Explore the profound connection between Buddhist philosophy and spiritual alchemy through the lens of emptiness and transformation. Discover how the concept of ‘no-one’ leads to spiritual awakening and the realization of perfection.”
Keywords:
spiritual alchemy, buddhist philosophy, emptiness, dzogchen, nagarjuna, philosophers stone, meditation, spiritual transformation, skilful means, non-duality, bardo, red stone, alchemical transformation, buddhist practice, mindfulness
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