Stage Three: Determining Dependent Arising as Freedom from Conceptual Elaborations (Form Is Not Other Than Emptiness)
What is meant by freedom from conceptual elaborations? It is the direct apprehension and experience of emptiness beyond conceptual thought. “Freedom from conceptual elaborations” means non-conceptuality. The “elaborations” refer to our habitual reliance on thinking and feeling; even meditative experiences themselves are a form of conceptual elaboration. Freedom from conceptual elaborations is a genuine clarity regarding emptiness. It is neither conceptual thought, nor feeling, nor what Tibetan Buddhism commonly calls meditative experiences or nyams.
As explained previously, these phenomena are empty, and emptiness is not something separate from them—it is precisely their nature. How, then, is the emptiness of these phenomena manifested within our cognition? It manifests through freedom from conceptual elaborations—that is, through a mode beyond thought and beyond feeling.
This stage corresponds to the phrase in the Heart Sūtra: “Form is not other than emptiness.” It means that phenomena and emptiness are inseparable. At this point, the emptiness of phenomena is no longer understood through thought or meditative experience, but through a direct and immediate knowing that is difficult to describe in words. In fact, this already constitutes an initial awakening.
Freedom from conceptual elaborations is direct cognition itself. Conceptual elaboration means one is still relying on thinking and feeling, yet thoughts and feelings are bound to disappear. When genuine understanding and awakening occur, what is realized does not disappear along with them.
Master Yongming Yanshou, a great master of the Five Dynasties period and a patriarch of both the Pure Land and Chan traditions, proposed criteria for awakening. The first criterion is that an awakened person can perceive their true nature whether their eyes are open or closed, just like Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva. Realizing one’s true nature does not mean understanding it only while sitting in meditation and then losing it once meditation ends.
When someone has truly realized their nature, they can return to it simply by directing their attention toward it. Later, even this effort becomes unnecessary; they can abide in that state anytime and anywhere. Once realization becomes thoroughly clear and unobstructed, it is impossible to lose it altogether. Such unobstructed clarity is necessarily beyond conceptual elaborations. It is neither a thought nor a feeling. Thoughts vanish when one ceases thinking, and feelings constantly change from one moment to the next.
Therefore, the third stage, “Form is not other than emptiness,” means realizing the emptiness of phenomena through freedom from conceptual elaborations. This is called “determining dependent arising as freedom from conceptual elaborations.” At this stage, thoughts still arise. Freedom from conceptual elaborations does not mean the complete absence of thought. One abides in emptiness for a time, then thoughts arise again. After a period of reflection, one returns to resting in that state. Thus, contemplation and resting alternate repeatedly.
The Tibetan treatise Beacon of Certainty, written by the great master Mipham Rinpoche when he was just seven years old, discusses seven key questions. One of them specifically addresses whether contemplation and resting should alternate during practice. The answer is yes. This is precisely how practice proceeds. Upon reaching the third stage of Madhyamaka, contemplation and meditative resting naturally alternate.
What texts should one study at this point? In addition to Madhyamaka treatises, one may also begin reading texts on Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. What is the difference between Madhyamaka and Dzogchen? Madhyamaka primarily employs reasoning and analysis to determine that all phenomena are empty. Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā, especially Dzogchen, emphasize directly experiencing emptiness through immediate recognition beyond conceptual elaborations.
By the third stage of Madhyamaka, freedom from conceptual elaborations has already begun to emerge. “Determining dependent arising as freedom from conceptual elaborations” means realizing the emptiness of phenomena in a non-conceptual manner. Once practice reaches this level, it begins to resemble Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. At that point, studying texts from these traditions can be of tremendous benefit and can greatly support further progress in this stage of practice.
— Excerpted and compiled from The Relationship Between Buddhist Theory and Practice.
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
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