The Concept of Emptiness in Buddhism

Buddhitakso

The concept of Śūnyatā (emptiness) in Buddhism has always been the main subject of confusion among the followers. Now, let us analyse this. We need to understand that long before the rising of Buddha Dhamma 2,600 years ago, the realm of existence already running its course as according to the natural bounding law.  The wise Buddha has seen through the reality of it, recommended with permanent remedies to liberate one from the natural bounding law.

So, what is the so-called natural bounding law?  It is the law of balancing that dictates the circumstances of equilibrium in nature.  Nature in itself is full with wonders and has reached a saturated level of complexity that encompasses all sorts of activities or processes such as aggregation, segregation, evolution, mutation, assimilation, etc.  In other words, all of these activities or processes have had happened in a manner long before we have the slightest opportunity to realise it.  This scenario is the rising of ignorant aspect in the realm of existence.

As a consequence, we always tend to make observation or take view on events in the context of result perspective or the ignorant point of view.There are plenty of examples for observation or view on events derived from this conventional perspective i.e. formation, suffering, disease, sickness, terrorism, calamity, existence, etc.

Nevertheless, the wise Buddha has realised these circumstances and recommended with a paradigm shift to it i.e. for one to make observation or take view on events from the context of cause perspective or the awaken point of view instead. And it is from this new-found perspective could one liberate from the cyclic influence of conditional phenomena.  One of the good examples is the introduction of the cardinal doctrine of dependent origination.

As mentioned earlier, nature has already reached a saturated level of complexity and this circumstance has created difficulties for one to observe events free from defilements. If we could unwind all events that have taken place in the nature, we could realise the origin of it i.e. all activities, events or processes would evolve around the orientation of energy or matter in a plane called space at all times.

At the end of the day, we could see and know that every existence (sentient, non-sentient, or any material things) is nothing but merely basic elements (energy, matter and space) that would orientate as according to the conditional phenomena. This is the correct understanding on the concept of emptiness in Buddhism.  In other words, we could mention that form entity in itself is delusive in nature that is generated out of the ignorant point of view or from the context of result perspective.

We could not view form as an entity because it is an appearance, though not illusive, but devoid of inherent existence and varies under the influence of phenomenal conditions. Rightly, the Buddha recommended one to see all things as they truly are (not as they delusively are).  And it is through the philosophy of emptiness could one begin to experience the cleansing of ignorant aspect. Once the ignorant aspect has been extinguished or neutralised, the awaken aspect would arise concurrently.

An act of emptying = an act of extinguishing = an act of neutralising ≠ an act of annihilating.

The principle in effect: -

Seeing Dhamma is seeing Buddha;

Seeing Buddha is seeing Dhamma.

Seeing Buddha is seeing Nibbana;

Seeing Nibbana is seeing Buddha.

Seeing Emptiness is seeing Form;Seeing Form is seeing Emptiness.

Seeing Energy is seeing Matter;Seeing Matter is seeing Energy.Seeing Cause is seeing Effect;Seeing Effect is seeing Cause.Seeing Action is seeing Reaction;Seeing Reaction is seeing Action.

tarabas1976

May I ask, is it that one way of the Budhist prayer ritual to achieve the emptyness is that they would recite the prayer "Fumama mamafumama" (sorry if the translation is wrong cause it has been many-many years and when I read your post then suddenly it came to my mind) which brings the meaning of : Ada itu tiada, tiada itu ada. Just would like 2 know.TQ.

Buddhitakso

Reply 2# tarabas1976


    The saying goes " Form is Empty, Empty is Form".

tarabas1976

Reply  tarabas1976


    The saying goes " Form is Empty, Empty is Form".
Buddhitakso Post at 11-1-2012 11:00

    Would you mind to explain/elaborate  in simple term plz. I just would like to know as knowledge sharing. TQ in advance buddhitakso.

Buddhitakso

Reply 4# tarabas1976


    Ok, tarabas1976.  I would explain to you soon...please wait a minute. {:4_243:}

Buddhitakso

Reply  tarabas1976


    Ok, tarabas1976.  I would explain to you soon...please wait a minute. { ...
Buddhitakso Post at 11-1-2012 11:12

   

Why do we always hear Buddhists saying, ‘Form is Empty, Empty is Form’? What is actually form? We can actually see form as appearance but why do we say it is empty? Isn’t it strange, right? Well, for common people, form is viewed as an ‘entity’. Entity means thing which exists as a separate unit. So, is it true to say that form does exist as a separate unit that is permanent or unchanging as what our ordinary mind perceived? Let us make a simple illustration now.

Supposedly, you stand in front of a large mirror looking at yourself – what you could see is the appearance of your own physical body. Now, if you continue to see inside yourself, search deeper and deeper within yourself, what do you see? You would probably see various internal organs, blood veins, nerves, fluids, unit cells, etc. At the end of the day, can you describe what is the inner most section of your physical body? After the single unit cell, what do you see further inside? Can you find any core essence that is eternal or non-changing further within it? You can’t find anything inside further, right? When one can’t find anything inside further, how does one translates it into? It is EMPTY, right? So, can we say that form is ultimately empty in the real sense? This is the clarification on ‘Form is Empty, Empty is Form’.

But one should not confuse empty with nothing. Empty cannot be literally translated as nothing. While we say form is empty, there are still basic elements remaining. Just like, when we do declare a vessel is empty, it does not literally mean ‘nothing’ inside the vessel – there could still be air, radiation, dust, viruses, etc. that cannot be discerned by our naked eyes.

At the end of the day, we could declare that form is empty in the real sense because there is no core essence within it except for the basic elements i.e. energy, matter and space that orientate and evolve constantly based on subjected conditions. What our naked eyes view as form is actually the matter and it is also known as concerted, aggregated or concentrated or wrapped energy. Since we can’t see energy with our naked eyes, we would say that the inner most of form is empty in the real sense.

In other words, everything that exists is empty because there is no essence to anything and nothing has ever existed in its own quality – nothing is permanent and unchanging. All objects exist conditionally without an eternal essence. They only exist in relation to each other as appearances that in turn vary as per the perceptions of the beholders. Energy is the underlying element for all existence and it is dependent on conditional phenomenon.

entrepreneur

hi all,
I am chinese-educated person who learns the buddhism the chinese way.Let me have a chance to explain to see whether it is easy to understand or not.

as per ‘Form is Empty, Empty is Form’ , all elements that form together  are based on fate or may be we can call it karma . but it won't last long in this life as it will decay and will be destroyed by external factors.

for instance,

A book contains different elements such ink, paper ,writings , human who created it.
but one day, the book stated is destroyed by fire, so it becomes empty from the previous form again.

the conclusion is :

nothing physical is forever but karma will keep it reborn and die in the cycle of universal law.

hope that what i am sharing today helps and appreciate I can get comments as how human learns something by sharing and discussing.

have a nice day

wei_loon5063

Why do we always hear Buddhists saying, ‘Form is Empty, Empty is Form’? What is actually f ...
Buddhitakso Post at 11-1-2012 13:43

in other words, empty would be more accurate with the word VOID.....

e.g.

how do you define me? my physical is constantly changing, I age, I grew, my thoughts as well, today I think this way, then I experience a decent or bad feeling, then tomorrow I might think differently... this constant changing is known as void...

and IF we say we define a person say Mr John as
50kg, long hair, kind, thin etc... and we lock this features in a FORM...

but what if this JOHN changed? he is no longer 50kg, he is bald hair, no longer kind, rude and very fat....

is he still john?

practically, we would say he is not the JOHN that I used to know...

there you get it...

we define a form based on ever changing elements....

and as it goes... form is void ; void is form

void is something that is ever changing and not lasting

wei_loon5063

hi all,
I am chinese-educated person who learns the buddhism the chinese way.Let me have a chance  ...
entrepreneur Post at 1-4-2012 12:34

I am a chinese educated person as well, but you see my friend, chinese main stream BUddhism is more to Mahayana... or sad to say, a bit altered, more focused on ritual

you keen on chanting heart sutta but know nothing about it


Like many chinese, I used to follow blindly what my parents told me to.. pray this, pray that etc etc...

try study on theravada buddhism..... learn the essence

wei_loon5063

Would you mind to explain/elaborate  in simple term plz. I just would like to know as know ...
tarabas1976 Post at 11-1-2012 11:04

it is all that we could see daily.. nothing special, nothing religious, nothing taboo, nothing heavenly...

to see dhamma in everything we see


to see that me, myself is not constant.... even my thoughts are not constant....

genot

1. try study on theravada buddhism..... learn the essence

Copy the Code

not to angkat our bakul sendiri , but this is a good suggestion as per beginner to Buddhism (non-Buddhists)