[Buddha-l] Acting on emptiness

[jkirk]

-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
[mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Jayarava
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 2:41 AM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Acting on emptiness


Someone acting as though dharmas really do lack svabhava isn't
necessarily going to act in a stereotypical way. If we could say
'they do this and not that' then that denies anitya. However we
might spot general qualities in their behaviour - and that brings
me back to the precepts.

Pragmatically I don't think we can make absolute distinctions
between someone acting from emptiness and someone not. Perhaps we
might say that someone acts from a greater or lesser awareness of
emptiness. Some people seem to embody that awareness more than
others. The desire for absolute knowledge about another persons
awareness of emptiness seems problematic - a messianic complex or
something like that.

Best wishes
Jayarava

==========
Not sure I'm up for contributing to this discussion, but when you
wrote " If we could say 'they do this and not that' then that
denies anitya..." did you mean to say anatta (anatman) instead of
anicca (anitya)?

Confusedly yours,
Joanna K.