This is the second of a series of posts on the significance of Shunyata [Emptiness] in Zen (and other forms of Mahayana) Buddhism. I would be happy to receive any questions, comments, or suggestions on the thoughts and ideas expressed in this series. (See Part 1 here: Shunyata [Emptiness] in Zen Buddhism – Part 1 )

Shunyata: Part 2

The Shunyata of Things

At first glance, Shunyata can seem complicated or irrational, but a clear understanding is not too difficult to achieve by taking a little time to consider it. Understanding the Buddhist teaching of Shunyata is more about becoming familiar with it than it is about making intellectual effort. A good way to begin this familiarization is by examining Shunyata in relation to some particular thing, time, or event; a dinosaur for instance, a T-Rex.

A T-Rex is usually imagined as a body-mind of the particular shape and size in which it appeared—that is, as a fierce, toothy, meat-eating, lizard-like giant. Yet, the T-Rex is much more than what it appears to be. The T-Rex also includes a quantity of other dinosaurs, for instance; its body is largely constituted of those dinosaurs it has eaten. Similarly, the T-Rex also includes air, water, and sunlight. Air, water, and sunlight can only exist in a world with an atmosphere, hydrogen and oxygen, time and space, fire, etc. If any of these elements are absent, the T-Rex is absent. Thus, in some way the T-Rex includes these elements. It should by now be fairly clear that what we call a “T-Rex” is really only one aspect of many different things. That is, the existence of a T-Rex is contingent, or dependent upon a whole variety of things that are not a T-Rex; therefore, there has never been a real individual, sovereign, objective T-Rex. What we call a T-Rex is actually an abstraction, arbitrarily divided from the whole of reality and labeled, “T-Rex.” This is Shunyata.

More accurately, this is one perspective of Shunyata. According to Buddhism, this perspective reveals that every particular thing, time, or event, only appears to be a distinct, individual entity. This perspective of Shunyata reveals that particular things, individual beings, independent entities, objective particles, etc. do not, and cannot actually exist. Zen Buddhism, more concerned with the liberation and actualization of humans than dinosaurs, elucidates what this teaching implies about our own true nature. One obvious implication is that we are not simply what we appear to be. Less obvious perhaps, but just as clear in this light, is that what we appear to be does not and never has really existed at all. This does not mean, as many suggest, that we do not exist; it simply means that what we appear to be is not what we really are.

In other words, what we call, “Rachelle”, “Henry”, “Luella”, and “Hakuin” are not really “Rachelle”, “Henry”, “Luella”, and “Hakuin”; no such entities exist. “Rachelle”, “Henry”, “Luella”, and “Hakuin” are nothing more than labels applied to abstractions arbitrarily divided from the whole of space and time.

In sum, this perspective of Shunyata reveals that what appear as individual, independent entities are not independent entities at all. In fact, independent, individual things, times, and events have never and could never exist. Each and every particular thing is actually a multitude of things. In fact, as should be coming clear, each particular entity is actually a particular appearance of everything. This brings us to another perspective of Shunyata.

This concludes Part 2 – Look for Part 3, “The Things of Shunyata”, coming soon…

Peace,

Ted