Emptiness is form

(I haven't finished reporting the Stupa Trip 2010 yet, but I wanted to share something with you before I continue copying my trip notes in here. May I?)

As Buddha said, "emptiness is form, form is emptiness, form and emptines are inseparable". What did he mean with that? Most of people would think of emptiness as lack of something, the void, the vacuum. However, as Buddha taught his pupils, where there is emptiness there is also limitless possibilities. I am strongly experiencing how right he was.

Since I came back from England, I have been describing my situation in terms of negative aspects: "I don't have a job. I don't have a home. I don't have a partner. I don't have money. I don't know what will I be doing in a couple of months...". Of course it teaches me about refuge: all these things we use to rely on (job, home, love) are not there anymore, thus I need to hold on to something, but what? My mind, no doubt, and meditation is the fastest way I know of getting to know it, to know myself. But somehow I was not still feeling completely convinced about how good my situation was.

Then I went to Tenovice, in the Czech Republic, to do my first Phowa. And it was more than inspiring. Back to Barcelona I realised how wrong I had been, how blinded by stiff ideas and thick veils I was. I have in front of me limitless possibilities, and I must be open to them all, because whatever comes will be for good.

Refuge: just what I was looking for

Lama Ole, Brighton (Sept. 2010)

I guess I'm not the only one: we all reject what hurts and look for things that make us feel good; most of us, however, look in the wrong place. I have always been a nomad: can't stay in a place, job, relationship... for more than a couple of years, thus I've learned about impermanence since I was very young. And still, I wanted to believe that there must be something out there that can last, that won't vanish. But, what? And where to start looking for it?

The answer came when I met Buddhism in 2009 in England. I was there studying a Masters, and I got to know some nice people who were actively practising Buddhism, in the Diamond Way school of it. The feeling during and after meditating with them was so great that I decided to go further. I read, I started practising myself, I joined them for the group meditations... And there I was few months later, the 17th of June 2010, taking Refuge in a pub in London, with Lama Ole and a bunch of enthousiastic people vibrating together with the sound of the mantras.

I knew I had found what I had been looking for.