2 Preparing Mentally for the Disappearance of Pleasant Feeling
Another method is to reflect in advance and remind yourself that this pleasant feeling will not last, and that if it changes, you will face it calmly. Repeating this to yourself again and again is what we often call “preparing yourself mentally in advance.” We actually do this quite often in daily life. For example, before buying stocks, someone may warn us that we could lose money, and we respond, “It’s fine—I’m mentally prepared.” This so-called “mental preparation” means we have already told ourselves in advance how to respond if things go wrong. In Cantonese, this is expressed as “I’ve already prepared for it.”
When pleasant feeling arises, we should not immediately cling to them while ignoring the afflictions that may follow. This is extremely important. We must consider how we will response if it disappeares.. We should not fall into distress—or even resorts to destructive actions —because of its disappearance. Look at the present world: countless people suffer, fall into depression, or even take their own lives simply because they have lost sources of pleasure.
There are many kinds of pleasant feeling—not just romantic love. Whenever we encounter such pleasure, we should apply the methods just mentioned inwardly to counteract attachment. The most powerful method is to directly see its nature. But honestly, I believe that for all of us—including myself—this is easier said than done. What does it really mean to “see its nature”? It’s not like using a telescope or microscope to observe it. It requires something very specific—without realization (bodhi), it cannot be done.
However, many people have practiced “single emptiness” (śūnyatā in a preliminary sense). If you have such an experiential insight, then when pleasure arises, you can recall that experience of single emptiness. In fact, when doing so, the pleasure does not necessarily disappear immediately. There are many levels of single emptiness—if you directly experience things as dreamlike and illusory, there can still be pleasure. But at that moment, you remind yourself that the pleasure is also like a dream or illusion. It’s like the famous line from The Matrix: “The steak is fake, but it’s juicy.” Remaining this state is also acceptable. Over time, by accumulating this state, you may eventually let go of the “steak,” or even if it disappears, you will not feel distressed.
The “steak” can represent anything—it could be romantic love, familial affection, or any source of happiness. In other words, while enjoying pleasure, you tell yourself that it is illusory. This is a conceptual form of single emptiness—not yet the stage of directly applying experiential insight. To directly counter it with lived experience requires that the realization of single emptiness has already been established; then you can apply it directly, and such an antidote may cause the pleasant feeling to dissolve.
Conceptual single emptiness works differently. Here, I use concepts to tell myself that the object is illusory, while the pleasure still remains. For example, I like eating cold noodles. While happily eating and thinking, “This tastes great,” I also remains myself, “This is illusory.” It may sound a bit playful, but it is not—it has real effect. Your understanding of impermanence (anitya) is being strengthened. While enjoying the pleasure, you are already preparing yourself mentally for its impermanence.
Doing this once or twice is not enough. But after many repeated practice, when the object truly disappears, your suffering will be greatly reduced—you will feel that, after all, it was illusory. Of course, this is not as powerful or direct as realization of great emptiness (mahā-śūnyatā) or experiential realization of single emptiness, but it is genuinely very useful. You need to put it into practice and verify it through your own experience.
——Excerpted and adapted from The Arising and Remedy of Afflictions
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
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