0:00:02.484,0:00:06.484 < Introduction to Buddhism I > 0:00:06.591,0:00:10.171 What is the Meaning of “Emptiness”? 0:00:10.509,0:00:12.869 Hi everyone. 0:00:12.869,0:00:17.479 Sorry, raising a question in such a [br]large group makes me a little nervous. 0:00:17.479,0:00:19.089 So, please bear with me. 0:00:20.136,0:00:24.136 The question that I have relates [br]to the concepts of emptiness. 0:00:24.379,0:00:27.459 Emptiness has come up [br]in a few of your Dharma talks, 0:00:27.459,0:00:30.397 your videos and textbooks a few times. 0:00:30.397,0:00:33.307 It also comes up in many of the traditional texts 0:00:33.307,0:00:36.147 and Sutras like Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra. 0:00:36.147,0:00:40.707 Whenever I read through what emptiness [br]means in the Buddhist concept 0:00:40.707,0:00:44.707 it leaves me a bit more confused 0:00:44.707,0:00:48.707 and sometimes a little bit dampened [br]and slightly demotivated. 0:00:49.772,0:00:53.772 The reason is because the way [br]I understand it is very shallow. 0:00:55.652,0:00:58.662 I understand it as because of the impermanence 0:00:58.662,0:01:03.919 because of the causality being [br]dependent on each other, 0:01:03.919,0:01:06.646 things become empty or things are empty. 0:01:07.179,0:01:11.325 But my challenge and difficulty [br]with understanding the concept is 0:01:12.178,0:01:17.682 how do I approach it so that I'm not [br]undermining what is important in life 0:01:17.682,0:01:23.942 for instance family relationships [br]that matter, ambitions that matter. 0:01:29.516,0:01:32.556 That's my question. 0:01:37.465,0:01:55.065 So the emptiness, we usually express [br]that using the Chinese character 0:01:55.065,0:01:58.555 for me is not filled, right empty. 0:01:59.838,0:02:22.488 But as you know how a word is interpreted[br]really depends on the context 0:02:22.488,0:02:25.228 of what came before [br]and what follows after. 0:02:25.228,0:02:28.618 So the same word actually [br]means multiple things. 0:02:29.531,0:02:55.193 But for example, if you claim that [br]this word can only mean one thing, 0:02:55.193,0:03:01.483 then that's different. But what emptiness [br]really refers to is that one word 0:03:01.483,0:03:05.488 can mean multiple things[br]depending on the context. 0:03:05.488,0:03:06.933 That's what emptiness means. 0:03:07.801,0:03:23.462 So emptiness in this context [br]does not mean a complete absence 0:03:23.462,0:03:26.017 of something or a complete void. 0:03:26.017,0:03:29.512 It really means that [br]everything is contextual, 0:03:29.512,0:03:35.457 depends on the context of how those words [br]or what definition that word belongs to. 0:03:37.680,0:03:51.516 So let's take an example.[br]So somebody may look at you 0:03:51.516,0:03:57.097 and claim that you are a good person. 0:03:57.097,0:04:00.367 Another person may look at you [br]and say you are a bad person. 0:04:01.116,0:04:11.984 So when somebody claims [br]that you're a good person 0:04:11.984,0:04:16.588 that means that Joe, [br]you have an essence of goodness in you. 0:04:17.282,0:04:24.332 And if somebody says you're a bad person 0:04:24.332,0:04:29.072 then you have something within you that, [br]that person is perceived as bad. 0:04:30.897,0:04:48.699 So whether you have a [br]bad factor or a good factor 0:04:48.699,0:04:55.137 that's something that's intrinsic to you.[br]Then that's the opposite of emptiness. 0:04:56.996,0:05:16.656 But what emptiness refers to is that [br]it's all about that person's perception 0:05:16.656,0:05:22.126 as being good, or that person's [br]perception as being bad. 0:05:22.126,0:05:27.096 But there's nothing intrinsic [br]within you that's good or bad. 0:05:28.211,0:05:57.535 So in other words, you don't have an [br]essential kind of form or an element 0:05:57.535,0:06:01.050 or an attribute within you [br]that somebody can point to 0:06:01.050,0:06:03.465 and say that's good or that's bad. 0:06:03.465,0:06:09.825 It is just their perception of you [br]in that space and time context 0:06:09.825,0:06:13.225 in which they claim [br]that you are good or bad. 0:06:13.978,0:06:27.786 So in that case when somebody says you are[br]a bad person or you're a good person. 0:06:27.786,0:06:31.597 Then I can say that [br]she is neither good nor bad. 0:06:31.597,0:06:33.357 She is just, she is empty. 0:06:35.600,0:06:49.234 So that in that case empty [br]doesn't means that you don't exist, 0:06:49.234,0:06:52.954 that there's nothing,[br]or there's just a void. 0:06:52.954,0:06:58.924 It just means that there's [br]no attribute within you, 0:06:58.924,0:07:03.414 or an essence within you intrinsically [br]that we can call as good or bad. 0:07:05.197,0:07:09.627 Say we have this thing. 0:07:09.837,0:07:27.323 Somebody actually ate a little bit [br]of this thing and got healed. 0:07:27.323,0:07:31.110 And so that person said [br]'Okay this is a great medicine’. 0:07:31.380,0:07:40.805 But somebody else actually ate the [br]same thing and then actually got sick. 0:07:40.805,0:07:47.190 And that person pointed the same [br]thing and said that's poison. 0:07:48.203,0:07:55.843 So is this thing medicine or poison? 0:07:57.522,0:08:00.862 There are three things. 0:08:00.862,0:08:04.512 One is 'This is medicine', 0:08:04.512,0:08:07.252 and one 'This is poison'. 0:08:07.252,0:08:15.713 The third is that it has medicinal [br]properties or it has poisonous properties. 0:08:16.794,0:08:25.558 But this thing itself is empty. 0:08:26.457,0:08:35.197 That means that it neither has [br]toxic properties nor medicinal properties. 0:08:36.716,0:08:43.166 That means that this is just the thing. 0:08:43.807,0:08:55.912 But in whatever context and situation, [br]this thing has been applied to 0:08:55.912,0:09:00.580 sometimes has medicinal attributes [br]or sometimes it has toxic attributes. 0:09:03.230,0:09:17.313 So that's when you use the word [br]empty or Gong (공) to refer to that 0:09:17.313,0:09:23.601 this is neither medicinal nor toxic, [br]you are neither good nor bad person. 0:09:24.708,0:09:45.628 So all existence whether that's biological[br]a thing or non biological organic 0:09:45.628,0:09:49.553 or even a thought, [br]a mental phenomena 0:09:49.553,0:09:53.498 and it's just empty [br]it's neither good nor bad. 0:09:54.657,0:10:00.937 And it is just what it is. 0:10:01.504,0:10:05.141 So that's why we call it [br]or label it as empty 0:10:05.141,0:10:08.124 because that's the truth it is what it is. 0:10:08.465,0:10:40.895 However that thing how it's represented or[br]manifest really depends on the situation 0:10:40.895,0:10:45.165 the context and the connections [br]in which it is allowed to manifest. 0:10:45.165,0:10:50.390 So in some situations, you are a person [br]in some situations, you're a bad person. 0:10:50.390,0:10:55.929 In some situations this thing is a [br]medicine in other it is a poison. 0:11:02.968,0:11:14.681 So when we say Gong (공) the empty, 0:11:14.681,0:11:19.268 that is kind of what a thing is [br]what a phenomenon is. 0:11:19.268,0:11:24.533 But however it's represented [br]within the context or situation 0:11:24.533,0:11:28.040 it finds itself in and that [br]is what we call Form. 0:11:29.398,0:11:40.483 Therefore if you really truly understand [br]that all essence of all existence 0:11:40.483,0:11:43.738 is really empty then there's [br]no cause for you to suffer. 0:11:44.088,0:11:51.358 Because you realize the person [br]is neither bad nor good. 0:11:52.258,0:12:05.374 That doesn't mean [br]that person does not exist. 0:12:05.514,0:12:10.804 That just means that the person in this [br]situation in this space and time context 0:12:10.804,0:12:16.004 under this specific set of conditions [br]may appear to be good or bad to me. 0:12:21.077,0:12:27.537 Doesn't look like [br]you are fully clear on that. 0:12:29.523,0:12:35.623 I am thinking of how you mention [br]good or bad sometimes is empty. 0:12:35.623,0:12:40.048 At the same time I can't help [br]to think of historical dictators 0:12:40.048,0:12:42.993 that have caused a lot of hurt. 0:12:43.320,0:12:47.264 But also at the same time [br]I have in my head explained to myself 0:12:47.264,0:12:50.700 that they have violated [br]the precepts. That's all. 0:12:59.478,0:13:11.628 So even the precepts themselves are empty. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I guess I am still a little confused about the precepts being empty. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Do you mean they are dependent on the historical age we're in the society that we're in? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's no ethical precepts that we can absolutely say that this is the truth. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That this is the way regardless of the situation and time and space that we find ourselves in, because that actually is a very dangerous path. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what Buddha taught is that the proper way the right way is always determined [br]by the space and time of the situation that we are under. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's basically setting a compass down in a new place and seeing where it points north [br]and that's when you find the right way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So everything is dependent even though the proper path on that, that's the middle way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the concept of that middle way as it transition over to Mahayana Buddhism, [br]it became translated or understood as emptiness. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the emptiness, the concept and the words, actually was a criticism against Theravada [br]kind of rigid traditionalism in which they claimed that a certain set of ethical constructions was the way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so the criticism in Mahayana against that was that the construct should be empty. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So basically the original criticism which Theravada's rigid absoluteness [br]of the way wast hat there is no fixed way and that eventually [br]got translated and kind of consolidated into the word emptiness. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Basically when someone claims that this the truth, [br]then the criticism is that there's' nothing that you can point to [br]and say that's the absolute truth [br]and that got translated into that sense of emptiness. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the fact that we misunderstand emptiness or the concept [br]because of the word that we use in space, but it's only a part of all. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We usually obsess over somebody else, if we like that person. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we want to make that person behave the way we want them to behave. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So if they don't behave accordingly then we feel bitter. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And if that disappointment becomes too much then we just let go,[br]and we become indifferent to them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If we realize this concept of emptiness then we can actually let go of our obsession. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then we can allow him or her to behave as they want. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If they ask for our help, Then we help. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If they don't ask for help, then we don't help. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we're neither indifferent in this case nor obsessive.