Under a previous post Fred made the interesting comment:
Well, the context I was talking in (a blog about different religions) was not a Buddhist forum; I don't think they are so interested in the finer points of Mahayana philosophy... And it can bore the shit out of me a lot of the time too as an awful lot of it is approached in a very redundant way.
But this concept of 'the emptiness of emptiness' is an interesting one I think *when we can put a sincere, practical slant on it*, and avoid making a philosophical dead weight of it to sling around our necks.
'Shunyata/Emptiness' is an invention of the human mind that seeks to describe the nature of our existence before we think about/conceptualise it. However, in zazen practice we can see clearly that our existence is not contingent on our thinking about or conceptualising it as 'shunyata/emptiness' or as anything else: That is to realise the 'emptiness of emptiness'. From this practical perspective, which acknowledges and realises the nature of our naming things, we can therefore say that it is empty (a constructive view), or that it is not empty (a deconstructive view), or both (...and we can say more, as Master Dogen did in his 'four views' as presented at the beginning of Genjo-Koan for example).
A lot of koan are about this: Such as where the hapless novice will come to the Master and say 'Everything is empty!' and the Master will agree and respond by grabbing the novice's nose and giving it strong yank, or kicking him in the shin, to remind him just how 'empty' empty is... that sort of thing. Zen often gets caught up in the deconstructive 'everything is empty' position it seems, which is a nice recipe for nihilism and anti-intellectual machismo.
As with all aspects of Buddhist philosophy, if we are really interested in doing what the Buddha is said to have done, then we should confirm it or refute it (or both!) through our own direct practice-experience of it.
Regards,
Harry.
Explain the emptiness of
emptiness to them Harry.
Well, the context I was talking in (a blog about different religions) was not a Buddhist forum; I don't think they are so interested in the finer points of Mahayana philosophy... And it can bore the shit out of me a lot of the time too as an awful lot of it is approached in a very redundant way.
But this concept of 'the emptiness of emptiness' is an interesting one I think *when we can put a sincere, practical slant on it*, and avoid making a philosophical dead weight of it to sling around our necks.
'Shunyata/Emptiness' is an invention of the human mind that seeks to describe the nature of our existence before we think about/conceptualise it. However, in zazen practice we can see clearly that our existence is not contingent on our thinking about or conceptualising it as 'shunyata/emptiness' or as anything else: That is to realise the 'emptiness of emptiness'. From this practical perspective, which acknowledges and realises the nature of our naming things, we can therefore say that it is empty (a constructive view), or that it is not empty (a deconstructive view), or both (...and we can say more, as Master Dogen did in his 'four views' as presented at the beginning of Genjo-Koan for example).
A lot of koan are about this: Such as where the hapless novice will come to the Master and say 'Everything is empty!' and the Master will agree and respond by grabbing the novice's nose and giving it strong yank, or kicking him in the shin, to remind him just how 'empty' empty is... that sort of thing. Zen often gets caught up in the deconstructive 'everything is empty' position it seems, which is a nice recipe for nihilism and anti-intellectual machismo.
As with all aspects of Buddhist philosophy, if we are really interested in doing what the Buddha is said to have done, then we should confirm it or refute it (or both!) through our own direct practice-experience of it.
Regards,
Harry.
2 comments:
HE LIVES!
I liked the irony of this bit:
"'Shunyata/Emptiness' is an invention of the human mind that seeks to describe the nature of our existence before we think about/conceptualise it."
I like some other bits too. But there are some bits I'm not so sure about. I'm going to think very, very hard about all this, Harry and see what I come up with...
OK. Done that.
Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!
Malcolm
Hi, Malcolm.
Hope you're well.
Regards,
H.
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