Emptiness in Buddhism
Emptiness is an important idea in Buddhism, especially in Mahayana Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh’s commentaries in The Heart of Understanding and in The Dalai Lama’s descriptions follow the same basic idea and concepts of the emptiness doctrine. Another important idea in Buddhism is dependent origination. Emptiness has a very detailed meaning within Buddhist culture.
Emptiness in western cultures is different than what some other cultures may believe in. Our culture sees emptiness as having nothing. As dictionary.com says emptiness is: “1. containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents: an empty bottle. 2. vacant; unoccupied: an empty house. 3. without cargo or load: an empty wagon. 4. destitute of people or human activity: We walked along the empty streets of the city at night. 5. destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually followed by of ): Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.” Emptiness in western cultures is seen as a negative thing or unwanted things. Emptiness is seen in our culture as void of things. In other cultures, it stands for a whole different meaning.
Emptiness is not the idea of having nothing as one may think in our culture. Emptiness is being full of everything. The idea of emptiness is the lack of a single, separate, determinant identity or self. There is no single self. The idea of being a separate entity creates the illusion of a self. This concretizes the self, which is against the Buddhist’s teachings. There is a disparity of how we perceive things. The disparity is based on a separate namable or labeled thing. In our culture, we see one as our own thing. That we are independent of all other things, while we all interest. We are results of the surrounding culture and our past lives. Emptiness in this setting means no permanent and unchangeable presence. The body is formed by numerous contributing aspects which in turn were shaped by many factors and so the processes can be traced back indefinitely. These
Emptiness in western cultures is different than what some other cultures may believe in. Our culture sees emptiness as having nothing. As dictionary.com says emptiness is: “1. containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents: an empty bottle. 2. vacant; unoccupied: an empty house. 3. without cargo or load: an empty wagon. 4. destitute of people or human activity: We walked along the empty streets of the city at night. 5. destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually followed by of ): Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.” Emptiness in western cultures is seen as a negative thing or unwanted things. Emptiness is seen in our culture as void of things. In other cultures, it stands for a whole different meaning.
Emptiness is not the idea of having nothing as one may think in our culture. Emptiness is being full of everything. The idea of emptiness is the lack of a single, separate, determinant identity or self. There is no single self. The idea of being a separate entity creates the illusion of a self. This concretizes the self, which is against the Buddhist’s teachings. There is a disparity of how we perceive things. The disparity is based on a separate namable or labeled thing. In our culture, we see one as our own thing. That we are independent of all other things, while we all interest. We are results of the surrounding culture and our past lives. Emptiness in this setting means no permanent and unchangeable presence. The body is formed by numerous contributing aspects which in turn were shaped by many factors and so the processes can be traced back indefinitely. These