1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,500 2 00:00:04,500 --> 00:00:10,171 3 00:00:10,171 --> 00:00:13,189 (Questioner) Hi, Sunim, Hi, everyone. 4 00:00:13,189 --> 00:00:17,369 Raising a question in such a large group makes me a little nervous. 5 00:00:17,369 --> 00:00:20,326 So, please bear with me. 6 00:00:20,326 --> 00:00:24,839 The question that I have relates to the concept of emptiness. 7 00:00:24,839 --> 00:00:27,329 Emptiness has come up in a few of your Dharma talks, 8 00:00:27,329 --> 00:00:30,217 your videos, and textbooks a few times. 9 00:00:30,217 --> 00:00:33,969 It also comes up in many of the traditional texts and sutras 10 00:00:33,969 --> 00:00:36,829 like Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra. 11 00:00:36,829 --> 00:00:40,707 Whenever I read through what emptiness means in the Buddhist concept, 12 00:00:40,707 --> 00:00:44,707 it leaves me a bit more confused 13 00:00:44,707 --> 00:00:49,572 and sometimes a little bit dampened and slightly demotivated. 14 00:00:49,572 --> 00:00:55,652 The reason is because the way I understand it is very shallow. 15 00:00:55,652 --> 00:01:01,782 The way I understand it is that because of the impermanence and the causality 16 00:01:01,782 --> 00:01:07,229 being dependent on each other, things become empty, or things are empty. 17 00:01:07,229 --> 00:01:12,178 But my challenge and difficulty with understanding the concept is 18 00:01:12,178 --> 00:01:17,592 how do I approach it so that I'm not undermining what is important in life, 19 00:01:17,592 --> 00:01:29,806 for instance, family relationships that matter, or ambitions that matter. 20 00:01:29,806 --> 00:01:37,465 That's my question. 21 00:01:37,465 --> 00:01:55,065 (Sunim) We usually express emptiness using the Chinese character 22 00:01:55,065 --> 00:02:00,128 meaning not filled, empty. 23 00:02:00,128 --> 00:02:22,258 But how a word is interpreted really depends on the context 24 00:02:22,258 --> 00:02:24,828 of what came before, and what follows after. 25 00:02:24,828 --> 00:02:29,411 So, the same word can mean multiple things. 26 00:02:29,411 --> 00:02:55,193 For example, if you claim that this word can only mean one thing, 27 00:02:55,193 --> 00:03:00,733 it can be called "form." But if it means multiple things 28 00:03:00,733 --> 00:03:05,198 depending on the context, we can call it "empty." 29 00:03:05,198 --> 00:03:07,481 That's what emptiness means. 30 00:03:07,481 --> 00:03:23,372 Emptiness in this context does not mean a complete absence 31 00:03:23,372 --> 00:03:25,857 of something or a complete void. 32 00:03:25,857 --> 00:03:30,812 It really means that everything is contextual and depends on the context 33 00:03:30,812 --> 00:03:37,430 in which the words are used or the definition the word falls under. 34 00:03:37,430 --> 00:03:52,876 Let's take an example: Somebody may look at you 35 00:03:52,876 --> 00:03:56,657 and claim that you are a good person. 36 00:03:56,657 --> 00:04:00,836 Another person may look at you and say you are a bad person. 37 00:04:00,836 --> 00:04:11,924 When somebody claims that you're a good person 38 00:04:11,924 --> 00:04:17,012 that means that you have an essence of goodness in you. 39 00:04:17,012 --> 00:04:28,082 If somebody says you're a bad person, you have something within you that 40 00:04:28,082 --> 00:04:31,297 that person perceives as bad. 41 00:04:31,297 --> 00:04:49,809 So, whether it is a positive element or a negative one, the very assertion that 42 00:04:49,809 --> 00:04:56,019 such an element exists is what is referred to as "form," in contrast to "emptiness." 43 00:04:56,019 --> 00:05:16,316 What emptiness refers to is that it's all about that person's perception 44 00:05:16,316 --> 00:05:21,836 as being good, or that person's perception as being bad, 45 00:05:21,836 --> 00:05:28,211 but that there's nothing intrinsic within you that's good or bad. 46 00:05:28,211 --> 00:05:58,135 In other words, you don't have an essential form, element, or attribute 47 00:05:58,135 --> 00:06:03,385 within you that somebody can point to and say that's good or bad. 48 00:06:03,385 --> 00:06:09,745 It is just their perception of you, within that specific context of space and time, 49 00:06:09,745 --> 00:06:13,698 in which they claim you are good or bad. 50 00:06:13,698 --> 00:06:27,786 So, when somebody says you are a bad person or you're a good person, 51 00:06:27,786 --> 00:06:31,428 I can say, "You are neither good nor bad. 52 00:06:31,428 --> 00:06:35,070 You just are. You are emptiness, devoid of a fixed self." 53 00:06:35,070 --> 00:06:49,234 In that case, empty doesn't mean that you don't exist, 54 00:06:49,234 --> 00:06:52,924 that there's nothing, or that there's just a void. 55 00:06:52,924 --> 00:07:00,864 It just means that there's no attribute or an essense within you intrinsically 56 00:07:00,864 --> 00:07:05,547 that we can call as good or bad. 57 00:07:05,547 --> 00:07:09,837 Let's say we have this thing. 58 00:07:09,837 --> 00:07:27,233 Somebody took a little bite of this thing and got healed. 59 00:07:27,233 --> 00:07:31,580 So, that person said, "This is a great medicine." 60 00:07:31,580 --> 00:07:41,175 But somebody else took a bite of the same thing and got sick. 61 00:07:41,175 --> 00:07:48,413 That person pointed the same thing and said that's poison. 62 00:07:48,413 --> 00:07:57,142 So, is this thing medicine or poison? 63 00:07:57,142 --> 00:08:00,652 There are three things in this world. 64 00:08:00,652 --> 00:08:03,902 One is medicine. 65 00:08:03,902 --> 00:08:06,882 Second is poison. 66 00:08:06,882 --> 00:08:16,794 And the third is that it has both medicinal and poisonous properties 67 00:08:16,794 --> 00:08:26,227 But this thing itself is empty. 68 00:08:26,227 --> 00:08:36,686 That means that it neither has toxic properties nor medicinal properties. 69 00:08:36,686 --> 00:08:43,807 That means that this is just a thing. 70 00:08:43,807 --> 00:08:56,212 In whatever context and situation this thing has been applied to, 71 00:08:56,212 --> 00:09:03,230 it sometimes has medicinal attributes or sometimes has toxic attributes. 72 00:09:03,230 --> 00:09:17,313 That's when you use the word emptiness or Gong (空) to refer to that 73 00:09:17,313 --> 00:09:24,708 this is neither medicinal nor toxic, you are neither good nor bad person. 74 00:09:24,708 --> 00:09:45,628 So all existence whether that's biological a thing or non biological organic 75 00:09:45,628 --> 00:09:49,553 or even a thought, a mental phenomena 76 00:09:49,553 --> 00:09:54,657 and it's just empty it's neither good nor bad. 77 00:09:54,657 --> 00:10:01,504 And it is just what it is. 78 00:10:01,504 --> 00:10:05,141 So that's why we call it or label it as empty 79 00:10:05,141 --> 00:10:08,465 because that's the truth it is what it is. 80 00:10:08,465 --> 00:10:40,895 However that thing how it's represented or manifest really depends on the situation 81 00:10:40,895 --> 00:10:45,165 the context and the connections in which it is allowed to manifest. 82 00:10:45,165 --> 00:10:50,390 So in some situations, you are a person in some situations, you're a bad person. 83 00:10:50,390 --> 00:11:02,968 In some situations this thing is a medicine in other it is a poison. 84 00:11:02,968 --> 00:11:14,681 So when we say Gong (공) the empty, 85 00:11:14,681 --> 00:11:19,268 that is kind of what a thing is what a phenomenon is. 86 00:11:19,268 --> 00:11:24,533 But however it's represented within the context or situation 87 00:11:24,533 --> 00:11:29,398 it finds itself in and that is what we call Form. 88 00:11:29,398 --> 00:11:40,483 Therefore if you really truly understand that all essence of all existence 89 00:11:40,483 --> 00:11:44,088 is really empty then there's no cause for you to suffer. 90 00:11:44,088 --> 00:11:52,258 Because you realize the person is neither bad nor good. 91 00:11:52,258 --> 00:12:05,514 That doesn't mean that person does not exist. 92 00:12:05,514 --> 00:12:10,804 That just means that the person in this situation in this space and time context 93 00:12:10,804 --> 00:12:21,077 under this specific set of conditions may appear to be good or bad to me. 94 00:12:21,077 --> 00:12:29,523 Doesn't look like you are fully clear on that. 95 00:12:29,523 --> 00:12:35,623 (Questioner) I am thinking of how you mention good or bad sometimes is empty. 96 00:12:35,623 --> 00:12:40,048 At the same time I can't help to think of historical dictators 97 00:12:40,048 --> 00:12:43,320 that have caused a lot of hurt. 98 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:47,264 But also at the same time I have in my head explained to myself 99 00:12:47,264 --> 00:12:50,700 that they have violated the precepts. That's all. 100 00:12:59,478 --> 00:13:11,628 So even the precepts themselves are empty. 101 00:13:23,148 --> 00:13:29,760 I guess I am still a little confused about the precepts being empty. 102 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:31,293 Do you mean they are dependent 103 00:13:31,293 --> 00:13:47,733 on the historical age we're in the society that we're in? 104 00:13:47,733 --> 00:14:06,132 (Sunim) There's no ethical precepts that we can absolutely say that this is the truth. 105 00:14:06,132 --> 00:14:10,662 That this is the way regardless of the situation and time and space 106 00:14:10,662 --> 00:14:17,432 that we find ourselves in, because that actually is a very dangerous path. 107 00:14:17,432 --> 00:14:53,212 So what Buddha taught us that the proper way the right way 108 00:14:53,212 --> 00:14:59,156 is always determined by the space and time of the situation that we are under. 109 00:14:59,156 --> 00:15:02,513 It's basically setting a compass down in a new place and seeing 110 00:15:02,513 --> 00:15:06,226 where it points north and that's when you find the right way. 111 00:15:06,226 --> 00:15:07,731 So everything is dependent 112 00:15:07,731 --> 00:15:12,186 even though the proper path on that, that's the middle way. 113 00:15:12,186 --> 00:15:17,956 And the concept of that middle way as it transition over to Mahayana Buddhism, 114 00:15:17,956 --> 00:15:22,363 it became translated or understood as emptiness. 115 00:15:22,363 --> 00:15:42,983 So the emptiness, the concept and the words, actually was a criticism 116 00:15:42,983 --> 00:15:46,883 against Theravada kind of rigid traditionalism 117 00:15:46,883 --> 00:15:54,633 in which they claimed that a certain set of ethical constructions was the way. 118 00:15:54,633 --> 00:16:05,492 And the criticism in Mahayana against that was that the construct should be empty. 119 00:16:05,492 --> 00:16:36,072 So basically the original criticism which Theravada's rigid absoluteness 120 00:16:36,072 --> 00:16:42,982 of the way was that there is no fixed way and that eventually got translated 121 00:16:42,982 --> 00:16:49,830 and kind of consolidated into the word emptiness. 122 00:16:49,830 --> 00:17:03,475 Basically when someone claims that this the truth, 123 00:17:03,475 --> 00:17:08,140 then the criticism is that there's nothing that you can point to and say 124 00:17:08,140 --> 00:17:19,934 that's the absolute truth, and that got translated into that sense of emptiness. 125 00:17:19,934 --> 00:17:35,114 So the fact that we misunderstand emptiness or the concept 126 00:17:35,114 --> 00:17:55,091 because of the word that we use in space, but it's only a part of all. 127 00:17:55,091 --> 00:18:10,547 We usually obsess over somebody else, if we like that person. 128 00:18:10,547 --> 00:18:19,176 And we want to make that person behave the way we want them to behave. 129 00:18:19,176 --> 00:18:25,595 So if they don't behave accordingly then we feel bitter. 130 00:18:25,595 --> 00:18:36,585 And if that disappointment becomes too much then we just let go, 131 00:18:36,585 --> 00:18:42,840 and we become indifferent to them. 132 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:54,780 If we realize this concept of emptiness 133 00:18:54,780 --> 00:19:00,586 then we can actually let go of our obsession. 134 00:19:00,586 --> 00:19:08,155 Then we can allow him or her to behave as they want. 135 00:19:08,155 --> 00:19:12,155 If they ask for our help, then we help. 136 00:19:12,155 --> 00:19:17,405 If they don't ask for help, then we don't help. 137 00:19:17,405 --> 00:19:29,395 So we're neither indifferent in this case nor obsessive.