Many synonyms can be used to describe emptiness. One of these is the precise nature:
Unknowable by analogy; peace;
Not of the fabric of fabrications;
Nonconceptual; free of distinctions--
These are the characteristics of the precise nature.
These are the five parts of the definition of the precise nature of reality from Nagarjuna. I'll be working with parts of this definition for the next couple of days. The first part, unknowable by analogy, is interesting. Emptiness, the precise nature, transcends concept and therefore is ultimately unknowable by concept. Khenpo makes the point that, because of this, the teacher's only real option to lead student's to emptiness is to elucidate what it is not. How does this part of the definition of emptiness affect meditation practice? As we rest in non-finding are we still resting in some concept of what we think emptiness should be like? In moments of non-finding, it seems we must muster the courage to let the years of fear slide off our back and be like "a child in a shrine room".
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