Understanding 'Emptiness'

No Buddhist teaching has been more misunderstood than that of 'emptiness'. All forms of Buddhism explore this concept to some extent, but 'emptiness' is particularly emphasized in the Buddhist schools of East Asia. Zen Buddhism, for example, strongly stresses 'emptiness' in many of its core texts; the most well-known one being the Heart Sutra. From the beginning, the Heart Sutra emphasizes that:

Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form

Form is not other than emptiness

Emptiness is not other than form

The same is true with

feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.

From the above excerpt, it is understandable how readers can easily misconstrue 'emptiness'. These readers assume that 'emptiness' means 'nothingness'. Because of this assumption, they wrongly conclude that Buddhism teaches that nothing exists. Therefore, to them, Buddhism seems like a nihilistic religion. This assumption is so widespread that the philosopher Nietzsche even argued that when people believe in Buddhism, they lose the will to live.

However, in truth, 'emptiness' has nothing to do with 'nothingness'. The Buddha never taught that everything does not exist. Instead, He taught two fundamental concepts that combine to become 'emptiness'. The first concept is 'impermanence'. The Buddha demonstrated that everything in existence is constantly changing from moment to moment, whether it is physical substance, feelings, emotions or thoughts. For example, every day, our bodies change. By the time a child has reached adulthood, millions of her body cells have died and have been replaced by new ones. Her body's shape and size will also have changed. In short, 'impermanence' tells us that everything changes.

The second fundamental concept is 'interdependence'. The Buddha taught that every object's existent is not mutually excluded from other objects. To exist, everything depends upon everything else. For example, the existence of a piece of paper depends upon many other factors. For the paper to exist, there must sunlight to produce trees. At the same time, clouds must produce rain to water the trees. Acknowledging 'interdependence', a Buddhist teacher once said, "If you look deeply, you can see the existence of the cloud in the paper. The paper is the cloud, and the cloud is the paper." Even humans are not spared from 'interdependence'. Our existence depends upon so many factors, including nature and our relationships with other people. In short, 'interdependence' teaches us that nothing can stand alone by itself; everything depends upon everything else.

'Emptiness' is a combination of both 'impermanence' and 'interdependence'. Since everything is always changing and depends upon everything else, there is thus no such thing as an individual self that is permanently fixed. The Buddhist teaching of 'emptiness' does not mean that the self does not exist. Instead, it shows us that we are not hyphenated, isolated individuals, but that we constantly change and depend upon many other things. In practical terms, 'emptiness' is a positive teaching that tells us to not be selfish and to not attach ourselves to the past, whether physically, or emotionally. We suffer because we refuse to acknowledge that things change and that we depend upon others, when in reality, things are quite the contrary. In short, 'emptiness' teaches that we should be selfless and that we should let go of the past, and embrace the future.