When we contemplate emptiness, we are very happy to hear that emptiness will alleviate our suffering. But when we start to think that our samsaric happiness is similarly empty and similarly illusory, we get a little nervous. We are not so comfortable with that, we feel that being empty is going to take away our happiness. That kind of thought arises in the mind because we have not yet recognised samsaric happiness as having the nature of dukkha. We are still thinking of dukkha as physical suffering or gross mental suffering. Part of the problem is translating “dukkha” as “suffering”. It is hard for us to think that happiness is suffering. If we think that the happiness in cyclic existence is unsatisfactory, that different kinds of happiness exist, and that we have the potential to experience that happiness, then it makes some sense.

Observe in your mind when you are contemplating emptiness. Are you a little uncomfortable, thinking that all your achievements in life are empty, and all those good relationships and all that happiness you felt are also empty? Do you think that there is some absolute ultimate joy in all those experiences that your mind is still hanging onto in one way or another? Notice if that is going on in your mind, and if it is, then come back and contemplate the nature of samsara, see that those experiences are unsatisfactory, and know that there is a higher kind of bliss and joy to be experienced through Dharma practice.

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