This meditation explores the Eight Worldly Dharmas in the Loka Vipatti Sutra.  Loka Vipatti  means “what has gone wrong with the world,” or the “failings of the world.”  Theses are four pairs:

• Gain and Loss
• Fame (importance, status) and  Disgrace (lack of status or insignificance)
• Praise and Blame
• Pleasure and Pain

It also uses a passage from the Heart Sutra.  Most of us have “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” etched in our consciousness.  But there is a passage that offers another way to summarize the Sutra, almost delineating the path for us:

Because there is no attainment,
The Bodhisattvas, grounded in Perfect Understanding,
Find no obstacles for their minds.
Having no obstacles, they overcome fear,
Liberating themselves forever from illusion,
Realizing perfect Nirvana.
All Buddhas in the past, present, and future,
Thanks to this perfect understanding,
Arrive at full, right, and universal enlightenment.

Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi (full right, universal enlightenment) can come when we:
– let go of attainment (無得 De – no gain)
– so we can release our obstacles (掛礙 Gua Ai – anxiety hindrances)
– so we can overcome fear (恐怖 – Kong Bu fear terror)
– so upside-down thinking (夢想- Meng Xiang dream-like thinking) is left behind.
ending as Nirvana (Nie Pan – 涅槃) 

So “form is emptiness” is the starting point that propels us to “overcoming fear” which in turn allows illusions to be cut off…

We start the meditation by looking at the changes I have experienced during the pandemic – losses, sacrifices, suffering as well as possibly joys.  These might include shifts in things like – 

• My sense of time
• My sense of purpose
• My sense of importance
• My sense of trust, security, of knowing

Looking at those things, if the world were to stay in lockdown, can I stay with these changes?

Looking at my life, I ask “what would make these changes, these sacrifices, be useful?”  What would I have liked to be the outcome of this process for me as a person?  What growth, what transformation, do I aspire for?

You can take a moment to jot down any key words or insights.

We now look at the states of mind during these times  with regard to the Eight Worldly Dharmas–

• as it is related to seeking to gain and not loose
• as it is related to wanting to be significant, and not insignificant
• as it is related to being praised and not blamed
• as it is related to seeking pleasure and avoiding pain

And looking through the lens of the second Noble Truth – the causes of suffering:

• Attachments – greed, wanting things
• Aversion – my dislikes, wanting to avoid
• Ignorance – my sense of separation, my sense of protection

Jot down any key words or insights that you might want to explore further later on.

Having looked at my obstacles, I  direct myself to Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi – full, right, and universal enlightenment.

  –  Can I let go of wanting, trying to gain?
  –  Are there any anxieties left?
  –  When I am not trying to achieve or gain, can my fears be dissolved?

 I blacken out, I dissolve, habitual thinking and allow Nirvana to take hold.  Sitting in Not-Knowing.