[Buddha-l] Emptiness

[Jackhat1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/1/2008 11:54:59 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
rhayes at unm.edu writes:

>  From a practice standpoint, I don't see a difference between Thera's   
> teaching on no-self and Mahayana's on emptiness. However, I don't  know 
much  about 
> Mahayana. What do you see as the  difference?

In Nagarjuna (and I leave it to others to decide whether he  was Mahayana
or not--I think not especially) "empty" means two  things.
Metaphysically, it means nothing more than dependent on conditions.  From
a linguistic point of view it means conceptualized through  attachments.
The insight seems to be that our ideas arise in accordance  with our
perceptions of our wants and needs. No desire, no ideas. (That's  why
Buddhist practice results in death to philosophy.) 
==
Thanks for the reply. The above seems in accordance with the Pali Canon. As  
I'm getting further into the David Eckel CD series, I'm finding more and more  
that I am having problems with it. In his one lecture on Thera., he talks 
about  three political figures. He waits until all the lectures on Mahayana to 
talk  about doctrinal issues. He says in one lecture that his main interest in  
Buddhism has been emptiness. He says Mahayana emptiness is completely 
different  than Thera non-self. I'm glad I have this list to check my understanding  
against.


All  of this certainly seems fully compatible with the doctrine of
non-self at  the doctrinal level. At the level of practice, quien sabe?
What does the  practice of non-self look like? What does the practice of
emptiness look  like? In both cases, I reckon the practice consists in
abandoning  attachment. From non-attachment flows the cultivation of
everything  skillful and the elimination of everything unskillful. Thus
have I guessed.  
===
Yeah. Just letting things go. I think of it as a stream of phenomena  passing 
through the mind. If no attachment to this phenomena, emptiness and no  self- 
the Zen thing about the perfect man leaving no footprints in the forest  snow.
 
Jack



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