What did the Buddha mean when He referred to emptiness (Sanskrit - śūnyatā)?
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Buddhism and Emptiness
- Thread starter Dawnofhope
- Start date
The Reverend Bob
Fart Machine and Beastmaster
Seeing and experiencing the raw data. Experiencing reality without interpretation or narrative
Sand Dancer
Crazy Cat Lady
I don't think I can do better at an explanation than Super Bob here.
Muffled
Jesus in me
For that to happen the mind must be in receptive mode. An unreceptive mind experiences nothing.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
That there is no abiding permanent form including , yet not limited, to what is known as 'self', mental , or physical volitions/manifestations.
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InvestigateTruth
Well-Known Member
Maybe it is equivalent to what Bahaullah says in this quote:
"world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”
And I though this was going to be about Buddhism ... shucks.
In my view, 'the void' is a place of no-mind, no thinking, where awareness is unaware of anything except awareness itself. Takes a great deal of meditative control to get there, and is only available to the deepest of meditators.
In my view, 'the void' is a place of no-mind, no thinking, where awareness is unaware of anything except awareness itself. Takes a great deal of meditative control to get there, and is only available to the deepest of meditators.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
That would make you brain dead. "O)
The whole issue of emptiness within Buddhist literature is complex and may be poorly understood by Westerners. That is why I asked the question.
The Pali canon uses the term emptiness in three ways: "(1) as a meditative dwelling, (2) as an attribute of objects, and (3) as a type of awareness-release."[9]
According to Bhikkhu Analayo, in the Pali canon "the adjective suñña occurs with a much higher frequency than the corresponding noun suññatā" and emphasizes seeing phenomena as 'being empty' instead of an abstract idea of "emptiness."
Śūnyatā - Wikipedia
The Pali canon uses the term emptiness in three ways: "(1) as a meditative dwelling, (2) as an attribute of objects, and (3) as a type of awareness-release."[9]
According to Bhikkhu Analayo, in the Pali canon "the adjective suñña occurs with a much higher frequency than the corresponding noun suññatā" and emphasizes seeing phenomena as 'being empty' instead of an abstract idea of "emptiness."
Śūnyatā - Wikipedia
I had wondered about the seventh valley of true poverty and absolute nothingness.
Bahá'í Reference Library - The Seven Valleys And the Four Valleys, Pages 36-43
paarsurrey
Veteran Member
Please quote a Sutta/Sutra of Buddha where one read it, please.
Regards
Without getting too in-depth about it, the concept of "being empty" refers to objects lacking an inherent "self-nature" in the way that a rock being hurled through air has a lot of descriptors and phenomena, but none are "caused" by itself. It could be otherwise construed as a composite of many parts.
And Śūnyatā tries to apply this same concept to human existence.
ajay0
Well-Known Member
Impressive indeed.
“The reason for every misunderstanding is that we see the people as we are but not as they are.” ~Swami Vivekananda
Perhaps the first step to harmony may lie in learning to experience reality without any interpretations or narratives.
dfnj
Well-Known Member
I think it has to do with unity of opposites. You cannot understand or appreciate "up" without "down". You cannot appreciate all-of-existence in a single experience without first have a deep profound experience of nothingness or emptiness.
Unity of opposites - Wikipedia