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 essence 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 --> 00:09:03,130 it sometimes has medicinal attributes or sometimes has toxic attributes. 72 00:09:03,130 --> 00:09:17,173 That's when you use the word emptiness or Gong (空) to refer to that 73 00:09:17,173 --> 00:09:24,578 this is neither medicinal nor toxic, you are neither a good nor bad person. 74 00:09:24,578 --> 00:09:45,528 All existence, whether that's biological or non-biological, 75 00:09:45,528 --> 00:09:50,046 or even a thought, a mental phenomena, 76 00:09:50,046 --> 00:09:54,217 is empty (of a fixed nature). It's neither good nor bad. 77 00:09:54,217 --> 00:10:08,585 That's why "the truth is emptiness." In other words, it simply is what it is. 78 00:10:08,585 --> 00:10:40,625 How it's represented or manifests really depends on the situation, 79 00:10:40,625 --> 00:10:45,165 the context, and the connections in which it is allowed to manifest. 80 00:10:45,165 --> 00:10:48,577 So, in some situations, you are a good person 81 00:10:48,577 --> 00:10:51,300 and in other situations, you're a bad person. 82 00:10:51,300 --> 00:10:57,318 In some situations, this thing is medicine; in other, it is poison. 83 00:10:57,318 --> 00:11:17,391 So, when we say Gong (空), or emptiness, it refers to the true nature of existence- 84 00:11:17,391 --> 00:11:25,440 just as it is-while Saek (色), or form, is how that nature appears to us 85 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:29,638 in various ways, depending on the context or situation. 86 00:11:29,638 --> 00:11:40,183 Therefore, if you truly understand that the essence of all existence 87 00:11:40,183 --> 00:11:43,768 is really empty, there's no cause for you to suffer 88 00:11:43,768 --> 00:11:52,148 because you realize the person is neither bad nor good. 89 00:11:52,148 --> 00:12:05,514 That doesn't mean that nothing exist. 90 00:12:05,514 --> 00:12:10,604 That just means that the person in a specific context of space and time, 91 00:12:10,604 --> 00:12:21,027 under a specific set of conditions, may appear to be good or bad to me. 92 00:12:21,027 --> 00:12:29,523 It doesn't look like you are fully clear on that. 93 00:12:29,523 --> 00:12:32,573 (Questioner) I am thinking of how you mentioned 94 00:12:32,573 --> 00:12:35,683 good or bad sometimes is empty. 95 00:12:35,683 --> 00:12:40,048 At the same time, I can't help but think of historical dictators 96 00:12:40,048 --> 00:12:43,220 that have caused a lot of hurt. 97 00:12:43,220 --> 00:12:46,774 But also, I have in my head explained to myself 98 00:12:46,774 --> 00:12:59,748 that they have violated the precepts. That's all. 99 00:12:59,748 --> 00:13:18,583 (Sunim) Even the precepts themselves are empty. 100 00:13:18,583 --> 00:13:23,098 (Sunim Laughter) 101 00:13:23,098 --> 00:13:28,129 (Questioner) I guess I am still a little confused about 102 00:13:28,129 --> 00:13:29,570 the precepts being empty. 103 00:13:29,570 --> 00:13:33,213 Do you mean they are dependent 104 00:13:33,213 --> 00:13:47,593 on the historical age we're in, the society that we're in? 105 00:13:47,593 --> 00:14:07,682 (Sunim) There's no precepts that can be regarded as an "always objective truth," 106 00:14:07,682 --> 00:14:12,562 regardless of the context, time, and space that we find ourselves in 107 00:14:12,562 --> 00:14:17,232 because that is a very dangerous path. 108 00:14:17,232 --> 00:14:55,212 So, the Buddha taught us that the right way is always determined 109 00:14:55,212 --> 00:14:59,106 by the space and time of the situation that we are under. 110 00:14:59,106 --> 00:15:02,363 It's like setting a compass down in a new place and seeing 111 00:15:02,363 --> 00:15:06,346 where it points north and that's when you find the right way. 112 00:15:06,346 --> 00:15:10,461 So, everything is dependent; it's not that the right way is predetermined. 113 00:15:10,461 --> 00:15:12,086 That's the middle way. 114 00:15:12,086 --> 00:15:18,236 And the concept of the middle way, as it transition over to Mahayana Buddhism, 115 00:15:18,236 --> 00:15:21,963 became translated or understood as "emptiness." 116 00:15:21,963 --> 00:15:44,183 The concept and the word "emptiness" was a criticism against Theravada Buddhism's 117 00:15:44,183 --> 00:15:48,033 rigid traditionalism in which they claimed that 118 00:15:48,033 --> 00:15:55,083 a certain set of ethical construction was the only true way. 119 00:15:55,083 --> 00:15:59,867 So, the criticism in Mahayana Buddhism against that was that 120 00:15:59,867 --> 00:16:05,632 even the construct itself should be empty. 121 00:16:05,632 --> 00:16:38,302 The original criticism against Theravada's rigid absoluteness of the way was that 122 00:16:38,302 --> 00:16:44,532 there is no fixed way and that eventually got translated and consolidated 123 00:16:44,532 --> 00:16:49,830 into the word "emptiness." 124 00:16:49,830 --> 00:17:06,453 So, one claims that this the truth, then the criticism is that there's nothing 125 00:17:06,453 --> 00:17:10,140 that you can point to and say that's the absolute truth, 126 00:17:10,140 --> 00:17:19,934 and that got translated into the sense of emptiness. 127 00:17:19,934 --> 00:17:37,354 We misunderstand the term and the concept of "emptiness" because the word is 128 00:17:37,354 --> 00:17:55,231 primarily used in terms of space, but it's only a part of all. 129 00:17:55,231 --> 00:18:11,197 We usually obsess over somebody if we like that person. 130 00:18:11,197 --> 00:18:19,046 And we want to make that person behave the way we want them to behave. 131 00:18:19,046 --> 00:18:25,855 If they don't behave accordingly, we feel bitter. 132 00:18:25,855 --> 00:18:36,585 If that disappointment becomes too much, we leave that person alone. 133 00:18:36,585 --> 00:18:43,260 We become indifferent to them. 134 00:18:43,260 --> 00:18:55,203 When we realize the concept of emptiness and understand that 135 00:18:55,203 --> 00:19:00,586 there's nothing to obsess over, we can truly let go of our obsession. 136 00:19:00,586 --> 00:19:07,455 Then we can allow them to behave as they want. 137 00:19:07,455 --> 00:19:12,155 If they ask for our help, we help. 138 00:19:12,155 --> 00:19:16,905 If they don't ask for help, we don't help. 139 00:19:16,905 --> 00:19:29,395 In this case, we're neither indifferent nor obsessive.