An Introduction to Buddhist Wisdom.

We live in a confusion. The world does not exist the way it appears. Sensory appearances give the impression that objects have their own fixed and separate nature. Conceptual language deepens this surface impression, reinforcing the sense of an independent and concrete nature into what it names, including a self.

From an early age, a view of the world as composed of separate objects is assumed. To conceive of phenomena existing in and of themselves and powered by their own nature is called inherent existence. This is the target to be refuted on the path of emptiness teachings. The absence of inherent existence is referred to as emptiness and when realized, one sees all phenomena as dependently arisen, as relational and relative, rather than as self-established and unitary.

All form, both gross and subtle (as in mental objects such as thought) are interrelational, with everything depending upon everything else. Nothing is created or endures in and of itself. Objects are merely abstractions because nothing can actually be singled out. However, the appearance of phenomena as substantive is a most convincing illusion. The belief in the inherent existence of a self and all other phenomena as grounded in their own independent essence and being, is so ingrained, so automatic and pervasive, that it is difficult to recognize.

For example, people will say my mind and body, as if there exists a separate self. This constructed self is seen as the owner of the mind and body complex, as an underlying, unchanging self-essence. However, there is no such independent self to be found within or apart from the mind and body. The self is a relative and relational concept, an abstraction in a sea of interrelations that is mistaken to exist separately and in its own right.

Inherent existence is a mental trick, an illusory appearance which is seen as the way things truly exist. The realization of the absence of inherent existence is the realization of interrelated and dependent existence. As nothing exists in and of itself, everything is without its own thingness, dependent upon everything else without attaining independent establishment.

Buddhist emptiness teachings are profoundly nondual. Objects of every kind, apples, cars, planets, as well as people and subtle mental objects such as thoughts, feelings and perceptions, etc., cannot ultimately be singled out. For one cannot consider any phenomena or activity without understanding its relationship to other things.

What is taken to exist so fundamentally such as fire, requires fuel, oxygen, etc, as fire does not burn itself. Fire exists dependently and cannot create itself or endure as itself. If you remove these conditions, there is no fire. Despite our recognition that everything changes and depends upon other factors to arise, phenomena, including people, are falsely believed to have their own inborn nature that remains the same and that continues as independent properties.

“When we imagine change, we imagine one thing retaining its identity, but changing its properties.” Jay Garfield

To see through this falseness is critical, because the belief in inherent existence is the root of the error that leads to suffering. However, one must first clearly identify the target of inherent existence in order to aim the arrow. To then pierce this mental fiction is to unburden a person from believing in and living as if she or he is a truly separate self living in a world of separate people and things. It is to be free of a life of fragmentation and conflict.

 

Conventional and Dependent Existence

In emptiness teachings, conventional existence refers to our everyday perception and understanding of things. To understand things conventionally also means that all phenomena, being dependently arisen and therefore empty of their own nature and being, can only be verbally and conceptually designated. As there are no entities that can ultimately be singled out, whatever is identified or characterized, exists in name only. Therefore, conventional existence is also called nominal existence, because no independent or inherent nature can be claimed anywhere.

An apple for instance, is produced in dependence upon clouds, water, sunlight, air, insects, wind, seeds, etc., none of which exist as their own things either. An apple is produced from what is considered to be non-apple elements, and so an apple does not have its own nature. If the conditions that an apple depends upon were removed, there would not be an apple left over. An apple lacks its own being. A cloud or sunlight are not considered to be an apple. So what is an apple really? An apple is a practical and valid description of what can conventionally and dependently but not ultimately be established, because an apple is empty.

"Empty things are born from empty things." - Nagarjuna

Now, an apple is not the same as a rock. However, it is not inherently different either, because an apple also depends upon rock elements. It is not that apples do not exist at all, but the notion that they exist in and of themselves that is being negated. Apples exist dependently, interrelatedly, rather than by way of their own essential nature, essence or being. The characteristics and properties of an apple appear to be fused together and owned by appleness. In other words, they seem to inherently exist. This is a misconception, a superficial appearance and labeling. In the same way as a mirage is not water.

The conventional appearance and practical functioning of objects are not negated in emptiness teachings, and are considered to be valid perceptions. If there was no valid perception at all, there could not be a coherent understanding of anything, such as the distinction between a snake and a rope, or the emptiness, the refutation of inherent existence. Conventional existence does not imply a lesser existence as compared to some true, identifiable reality. Nothing can ultimately be identified because everything is interrelated and interdependent. This is why everything can only be said to exist conventionally. And because things can only dependently and therefore conventionally exist, they are empty.

Emptiness

Emptiness too, does not exist by way of its own being. Emptiness is the realization of an absence. In this case, emptiness is the absence of the inherent existence of phenomena. To say that things are empty is to say that their dependence upon conditions, their dependence upon their relational parts and upon conceptuality, is to say that nothing can be independently established. In Buddhism then, emptiness is not the content of phenomema, nor a universal essence, nor does it mean nonexistence. When the belief in inherent existence is refuted, the emptiness, the groundlessness of all phenomena is realized.

When engaged in insight meditation, that is, on the absence of inherent existence, this absence, which is emptiness, comes to be directly perceived. When this occurs, emptiness is seen non-conceptually, non-phenomenally, unlike the way things appear conventionally. However, emptiness teachings resist reification, resist turning this absence back into an independent foundation, nature or entity, which would contradict the teaching of emptiness.
And so it is said that emptiness too, is empty, dependently existent, and therefore but another way of apprehending conventional phenomena, which is to directly recognize the absence of their inherent existence.

Emptiness must not be something to attach to, which would defeat its liberating purpose. Emptiness is the realization that inherent existence is a misconception, an illusion. Even the direct, non-inferential recognition of emptiness, is dependent upon the conceptual object to then discover its emptiness. This is not a teaching about a transcendental reality, but about transcending false appearances.

Because all things are dependently co-arisen and therefore empty of an independent nature, one cannot point to anything as ultimately real, everything, including emptiness, can only be conventionally designated, meaning dependently and in name only. In this sense, to be empty is to only exist conventionally. Even though emptiness is a different way of seeing conventional reality, they are the same and not a duality. Emptiness therefore, is not a proposition about the way things really are. The wisdom of emptiness teachings is to recognize that nothing inherently exists and therefore, that there is no foundation upon which an objective reality or truth can be asserted.

Emptiness teachings are also called the path of the Middle Way because both essentialism and nihilism are refuted through the recognition of dependent co-arising. Emptiness teachings are about freedom from the mistake of believing that either extreme is tenable. When inherent existence is refuted, it is not about trying to find an absolute place or truth to land in. For there is no such foundational existence. Emptiness teachings are about seeing though the misconception that anything, including a self, exists with its own separate nature.

No Separate Self

Central to emptiness teachings is the importance of seeing through the myth of an inherently separate self. This fictional self is seen as the unchanging owner of a mind and body complex. The separate self is viewed as having a fixed nature despite the fact that everything that is believed to constitute the self, is always changing. When such a self is thoroughly investigated, it is realized that no such independent existence, ownership and containment can be found.

Seeing through the illusion of the inherently existent self and all phenomena is like being the magician who understands the trick and can’t be fooled by appearances. One comes to realize that the superficial appearance of inherent existence is a deeply conditioned, but illusory troublemaker.

In recognizing that a separate self of persons and things cannot be found, it is realized that there is nothing to fearfully defend or attach to. There is the understanding that the designated self is an abstraction from an unbroken web of dependent relations that cannot be pinned down or located.

And as even emptiness is empty, there is no mountaintop view, no ultimate judgement or truth to be claimed, including a view from nowhere. There is no leaving nonduality, as everything is empty in its dependent interrelatedness. And with the realization that there is no place to stand, arrives the deep conviction that there is no place to fall.END=NAM MO SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).WORLD VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST ORDER=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=GOLDEN LOTUS MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.3/3/2014.THICH CHAN TANH.THE MIND OF ENLIGHTMENT.