Date: 02/08/2025 02/09/2025
Location: Star Ocean Meditation Center
Teacher: Sara
Sitting Meditation
Penetrating the Non-Substantial Nature of the External World
The external world appears solid and continuous, yet it arises through senses, cognition, and conditions. Suffering emerges when this world is taken as absolutely real and relied upon for security. Buddhism does not deny appearance, but reveals its lack of independent essence. Seeing this, the mind is no longer bound by external conditions.
1. Seeing How the World Appears
1.The world appears through the senses
Experience depends on sensory input.
2.Cognition shapes reality
Perception is processed, not purely objective.
3.External phenomena lack self-existence
Without conditions, they cannot arise.
2. Why Do We Cling to External Reality?
1.Seeking stability through possession
Mistaking control for security.
2.Overlooking cognitive construction
Taking experience as fact.
3.Fear of uncertainty
Longing for fixed reference points.
3. How to Penetrate Non-Substantiality
1.Observing sensory limitation
Recognizing partial experience.
2.Noticing cognitive processing
Seeing labeling and interpretation.
3.Distinguishing appearance from truth
Not equating phenomena with essence.
4.Returning to direct experience
Before conceptual overlay.
4. Transformations Through Insight
1.Clinging diminishes
External objects lose authority.
2.Anxiety decreases
Reality is no longer over-solidified.
3.The mind opens
Multiple perspectives become possible.
4.Inner freedom strengthens
Stability no longer depends on conditions.
5. Ease Within Non-Substantiality
1.The world continues
But is no longer absolutized.
2.Experience feels lighter
Less burdened by attachment.
3.Stability comes from awareness
Not from external control.
Conclusion
Penetrating the non-substantial nature of the world releases false reliance. When solidity dissolves, freedom naturally appears.
