Between the transition process of seed and sprout, that transition cannot be said as this or that.
In the middle of that transition, you are in transition. You cannot say this is seed, and you cannot say this is sprout.
However, in the middle of that transition, you also cannot say that transition as nothingness, because it is obvious there is a transition.
In the middle of that transition, you can put any labels you want, you can say whatever thing you want, but it is simply meaningless.
Why is it meaningless?
Because in the middle of transition, there is nothing stable. You cannot put a sticker on the flow of process. Because your sticker doesn't have the precise position to hold.
So, people can say anything they want in the transition between seed and sprout. But whatever, they say besides it is meaningless, it is also a mistake, because you cannot glue your sticker on the fixed position, and declare this is this, this is that.
Pointless. It is completely meaningless.
Your sticker cannot be glued to the current to the process.
So, if you can understand this, you should be able to understand that in the process between seed and sprout, you cannot say that process as this or that, and you also cannot say that as nothingness.
When you enlarge your view that everything is actually always in the middle of transition, in the middle of process, you really cannot say this as this or that.
When you fully understand this, you can even know that actually whatever label you put, it is a self mistaken. Because you cannot put anything in the middle of the flow. Can you?
When everything is just a process of dependent arising, it is the consequence of that process itself that you cannot assert thing as this and that.
It is also the consequence of that process itself that you will not find a specific item.
Knowing this, you then know the fundamental mistaken, the unavoidable mistaken, when we put the sticker.
Your sticker will always and always miss where that sticker has to stick on.
When someone know that dependent arising, cannot be say as such and such, they can see precisely that even that say thing as such and such, it is basically pointless.
By knowing that reality cannot be projecting as such and such, even after you projecting, you are always in the domain of missing the point, you can then come to the full assertion that in this middle of process, nothing can be pointed, and that empty is also refering to the process, so empty cannot mean nothingness as well.
You then see the fragility of projection, the uselessness of projection, not because you cannot project, but it is because you are push by the system in such a way that nothing can be projected. If you project, you always miss.
When you see that, you come to the solid conclusion that everything, which is in the middle of process, is indeed always empty of itself.
If you understand this process, you can notice that in the middle of meditation, regardless whatever thoughts running in your head, you can always be still.
How can we still in the middle of thoughts process? Because that middle of your thought process is always and always empty of itself. That process is empty. Because that is process, it is also not nothingness. You come to the union here between Empty-Process. (which at this point the lack of self and the appearance are working nicely hand in hand)
You can also see then that actually when you are in the post-medatation as well, everything you are doing, everything you are talking, sleeping or whatever, all of them are just the middle of never end process. It is therefore, always and always empty of itself.
When you can see meditation and post-meditation is empty of itself, you can see that the separation is coming because you don't know there are actually just same process.
You can also see that nirvana and samsara are just same, because both are always in the middle of process, and therefore, it will always empty of itself. Again, the separation is coming because we don't know the nature.
When you can see that in fact you cannot get out from the domain of process, you are in fact cannot get out from the domain of emptiness of self.
In this way, whatever you are saying is nothing more than just a sticker.
A sticker that can never be glued.
A floating sticker.
Consciousness is just a floating sticker.
Because in the middle of process, you cannot find consciousness. Middle of process is always and always empty of itself.
So, consiousness is nothing than just a ignorant fantasy and a foolish projection.
When you see this with 12 links, you should then understand why buddha say that only people who has ignorant (link no. 1), can have consciousness (link No. 3).
Because for people who do not have ignorant, who can see emptiness of self, they can see that in the middle of process it is always empty of self. In this way, they will not see consciousness at all.
No ignorant, no consciousness.
Because at the end, consciousness is nothing more than just a projection of ignorant mind, a foolish projection - a self-mistaken floating sticker.
I am not here nor there.
I am not right nor wrong.
I do not exist neither non-exist.
I am not I nor non-I.
I am not in samsara nor nirvana.
To All Buddhas, I bow down for the teaching of emptiness. Thank You!