..續本文上一頁om the heart the moment discernment reaches the foundation on which it is based.

　　When these things are ended through the power of discernment, that too is a form of emptiness. No signs of any conventional reality (sammati) will appear in this emptiness at all. This is an emptiness different from the forms of emptiness we have passed through. Whether this emptiness can be called the emptiness of the Buddha, or whose emptiness it is, I”m afraid I can”t say, other than that it”s an emptiness that each meditator can know directly only for him or herself alone.

　　This emptiness has no time or season. It”s akaliko -- timeless -- throughout time. The emptiness of concentration can change, in terms of progress and regress. The emptiness on the formless or image-less (arupa) level, which serves as our path, can change or be transcended. But this emptiness exclusively within oneself doesn”t change -- because there is no self within this emptiness, and no sense that this emptiness is oneself. There is simply the knowledge and vision of things as they are (yatha-bhuta-ñana-dassana) -- seeing this emptiness in line with its natural principles as they actually are, and seeing all phenomena as they actually are, as they pass by and exist in general. Even virtue, concentration, and discernment -- the qualities we use to straighten out the heart -- are realized for what they are and let go in line with their actuality. Nothing at all remains lurking in the nature of this final stage of emptiness.

　　I ask that we all reflect on these three kinds of emptiness and try to develop ourselves to attain them -- and especially the last form of emptiness, which is an emptiness in the principles of nature, beyond the range where any other person or any conventional reality can become involved with us ever again. Our doubts, ranging from the beginning levels of the Dhamma to this ultimate emptiness, will find resolution, with our own knowledge and vision acting as judge.

　　So now at the end of this talk -- which started out with my telling you of my own ignorance step by step and then strayed off to this final emptiness, which is a quality somewhat beyond my powers to explain any further -- I”ll ask to stop, as the proper time seems to have come.

　　May happiness and contentment be with each and every one of you.

《Things as They Are - From Ignorance to Emptiness》全文閱讀結束。