We need to practice to be open and natural, without grasping after perceptions. When encountering perceptions, we tend to pursue the suffering of change, while reject the suffering of suffering. This is our instinctive reaction.
This is hard. It’s not easy to deal with our instincts from beginningless time. We can only gradually deal with them. Eating can be the suffering of change or the suffering of suffering. It depends. For example, some people enjoy eating spicy food, while others consider it as the suffering of suffering. Even for the same person, he may enjoy eating mildly spicy food, while suffer from eating very spicy food. It depends. A few days ago in Chengdu, I saw someone eating very spicy peppers that we dare not eat, and he enjoyed it very much. So whether it’s the suffering of change or the suffering of suffering is uncertain. Everyone’s physical condition is different, and their instinctive reactions can vary greatly. As Dudjom Rinpoche said: “Though different forms are perceived, they are in essence empty.” They are just appearances, like illusions and dreams. In reality, they are empty of inherent existence. However, the appearances in life are three-dimensional, but even three-dimensional illusions are still illusions. Being three-dimensional doesn’t mean it’s not an illusion. However, only through meditation, visualization, and training can we deal with it. Yet in the emptiness, you can perceive various forms. Though we can hear different sounds, they are also empty, without intrinsic nature. The so-called hearing a sound, as we know, is the sound produced by our ear consciousness, not external sound. We have learned the Mind-Only School. We also have various thoughts, which are mainly categorized into three aggregates: perception, mental formation, and consciousness. The thoughts are also empty of intrinsic nature. Whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever you think, leave it as it is, without grasping. Leave the hearing in the hearing, leave the seeing in the seeing, without letting your attachment enter into the perception. Our practice is to eliminate attachments here, and the key is to understand emptiness and have the wisdom of emptiness. When you realize that something is empty, your attachment to it naturally disappears. Meditating on emptiness is to eliminate our attachment to “existence”. However, when you are eliminating your attachment to “existence”, don’t be too attached to emptiness, as it will lead to the extreme of emptiness. Ordinary beings are attached to “existence”, while Hearers and Solitary realizers are attached to “emptiness”. Therefore, when we are eliminating our attachment to “existence”, we cannot be attached to “emptiness” as well.