Do not sit with a mind fixed on emptiness.

If you do, you will fall into a neutral kind of emptiness.

Emptiness includes the sun, moon, stars and planets,

The great earth, mountains and rivers, 

All trees and grasses,

Bad people and good people, 

Bad things and good things,

Heaven and hell; 

They are all in the midst of emptiness. 

                       -Hui-neng (638-713) courtesy of dailyzen.com 

A mind fixed on emptiness is a mind afraid of loneliness . Helping people get out of abusive and toxic relationships is a challenge when this fear is strong in a person's mind. To be alone is intolerable.  The cycle of abuse, followed by remorse and forgiveness; and a return to the abusive dynamics is extremely hard to interrupt. As a therapist I have to be careful about advocating for change if the individual is not ready to face those fears. I ,in effect, become another significant person in their life who is making impossible demands. Helping someone discover all that is in the midst of emptiness provides a unique opportunity to transform that fear into curiosity and determination.  To discern the bad people and bad things from the good people and good things allows all of us to experience life in an authentic and compassionate way. The abuser is seen as a person who can make the choice to change. The decision to leave a bad relationship when that choice is not made, is experienced as self care without passing judgement on the other. Keeping our mind open to all that is present in the emptiness allows us to step into new relationships with an open heart. It also allows us to step away from those who hurt us with that same open heart.

The sun's light is not destroyed, but merely deflected by the clouds and mists. The pure mind possessed by all sentient beings is also like this, in simply being covered by the layered clouds of discriminative thinking, false thoughts, and views. 

If one can just distinctly maintain awareness of the mind and not produce false thought then the Dharma sun of nirvana will be naturally manifest. Therefore, it is known that one's own mind is inherently pure. 

 - Hung-jen (605-651) courtesy of dailyzen.com 

I often tell my clients that the phrase " just do it" minimizes the challenges and struggles  of  life. I am not sure if anyone “can just distinctly maintain awareness of the mind".  I am sure that the attempts to maintain awareness of the mind is the heart and soul of cultivating mindfulness.  Discriminative thinking,  false thoughts, and views are with me everyday and every night. When I am able to catch myself thinking in any of these ways I return to a distinct awareness of the mind.  Then life comes along and yanks me out of my reverie to deal with some unpleasant task. It occurs to me that if I know my mind is inherently pure what do I do with all this other stuff that keeps getting in the way? I wonder if the answer is in the metaphor of the clouds ability to deflect the sun's light. The light is still there even though it is not visible at the moment.  My false thoughts only deflect the Dharma sun of nirvana. The light is always there and when it is revealed I experience a reconciliation with my  discriminative  thinking. Even better I come away with a new piece of wisdom that will stay with me always.