Reviewing 6 Flavors of Emptiness (The Great Seal)

 A Meditation on the Great Seal

The following are six different "flavors" of emptiness that are taught by the different schools of classical Indian Buddhism.  They are culled from different texts in the lineage of Tsongkapa the Great (1357-1419).  Please note that not all of them would be called true "emptiness," but rather "selflessness" in different classical schools.

Emptiness, Flavor #1

The lack of a self which is unchanging, whole, and independent. [According to the Independent group of the Middle-Way School, this is the gross lack of a self to the person.]

Something that never changes over time. the things we think will last for a while, never last. When you talk about emptiness, something is not there. Things you thought would stay for a while, do not.

Emptiness, Flavor #2 

The lack of a self which is self-standing and substantial. ["Substantial" can mean a lot of different things; here it refers to the lack of a "driver" or "director" of the five heaps over the five heaps.  According to the Mind-Only School, this is the lack of a self to the person.  According to the Independent group, this is the subtle lack of a self to the person.]

 No one is in charge; you don’t have the control you think you have. You are not even the boss of your body. 

Emptiness, Flavor #3

The fact that a visible object and the valid perception which grasps the visible object are devoid of any separate substance. ["Devoid of any separate substance" means: "It is not true that they come from a separate karmic seed; rather, they both arise from the same karmic seed."  According to the Mind-Only School, this is the lack of a self to things.  According to the Independent group, this is the gross lack of a self to things.]

If you have the understanding that you don’t have the control that you thought you had, and you understand that things don’t last, then you have just reached Buddhism, (abhidharma, vinaya schools). Every expression of emptiness is empty of something....

 The objects that you perceive in your mind are flowing from you; like a tree trunk that has branches. The tree trunk is like the mind flowing through time, and the branches that split off the trunk, is the mind observing something, and the thing you are observing. 

Emptiness, Flavor #4

The fact that the fact that any particular thing is called what it is is something which is devoid of existing by definition. [Put simply: The fact that things are called what they are is not something which is automatic.  According to the Mind-Only School, this is also the lack of a self to things.] Things are not what you call them automatically, a rose by any other name should smell the same. Any experience you have, like music, is a personal experience. things are not given the name that they are given by themselves. Good music is not applied to things from the things side. Otherwise everyone would like the same music. Duh.

Emptiness, Flavor #5

The fact that objects are devoid of existing from their own side through any unique identity of their own, rather than existing simply by virtue of having appeared to an unaffected state of mind. [According to the Independent group, this is the subtle lack of a self to things, or real emptiness.] 50% 50% thinking all stuff is being created by two forces; things are in a certain way from their own side, and I take it as good, bad, and so on. Half of reality is coming from its side and the half of the reality, how the parts are organized is coming from me (lower MW)

Emptiness, Flavor #6

The fact that objects are void of existing from their own side through their own identity, rather than existing simply through names [words] and terms [thoughts].

[According to the Consequence group of the Middle-Way School, this–and only this–is emptiness, and there are no separate degrees of emptiness (although emptiness can be divided according to the object that has it: the person or "things," meaning the person's parts).  This interpretation is the ultimate one accepted by Lord Buddha; the realized being Nagarjuna; Je Tsongkapa; Khen Rinpoche; for all of tantra; and moreover by anyone who has seen emptiness directly.] 100% comes from you, even the raw data is coming from you. The secret teachings don’t make sense to a person who hasn’t reached worldview #6. This is the world view for all of the diamond way teachings.

-From VCZ