[Buddha-l] Emptiness and not being able to imagine dying [confused]

[lemmett at talk21.com]

Can anyone recommend a book on emptiness or the two truths in east  asian 
Buddhism?Also I am a little confused about Chih-I's classifications of  the 
two truths from Swanson's book. In what sense can the emptiness of  illusory 
existence be a conventional truth?
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To answer I would think I need to know what you think Buddhist's use of  
emptiness means.


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My other concern and reason for writing to the list is about  annihilation. 
If there's no awareness at all at the moment of death but  there is the 
moment before, how can I conceptualize the latter becoming the  former: I have 
to have the idea of permanently losing awareness and I can't  see how that's 
to happen without someone being aware of that - in which case  it is 
persists in some form.
Thinking of it as a stream of elements  that are replaced by new ones: if 
the last dharma is replaced then that's no  annihilation, if not where does 
it go? It don't think can be quite like a  fire burning out because a fire 
doesn't have self cognition.
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According to the teachings, there is no someone, no self, no I that  
persists.
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Is this just entirely non Buddhist?
Or can what I've said be related  to e.g. 'annihilation' in Buddhism or the 
Tathagata's silence on what happens  to him at death? Do all Buddhists 
think that the aggregates *completely* burn  away at death and that there can be 
no experience if that's the case? If so in  what way might the Tathagata 
not not exist at death?
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The tathagata's silence was due to his view that discussions about it  were 
not helpful.
 
jack

--- Hello
Thank you for the reply. I think that emptiness can be defined in many ways. I do think that it can usefully be said to tie in with impermanence or maybe dependent origination. I'm happy with the idea of three svabhavas: that because the existence of all things depends on all other things, nothing can be picked out by words - not just relative to some ultimate reality but because of the way things already are. I think that does make sense...
Thanks. I don't at all want to seem far too muddled to be using the list, but was considering the idea that the burning away of the aggregates to the conscious mind might entail that some subtle trace has to be cognized for extinction to occur. This seems *absurd* and I know that questions like this are generally declared to be unhelpful. But if I had a time machine etc. etc. I'd ask the tathagata whether he was aware of his own passing away. I think Nishitani said that questions about immortality and extinction are more important to life and food. I think it can be helpful to answer questions with 'anatta' but I'm not sure that I need to posit anything that is not subject to change to at least verbalize (not necessarily argue) for the common-place intuition that I mentioned in my email. I'm happy to treat it as prasangika and avoid claiming that any visual consciousness has the sort of self existence that I mean. I hope the list sees what I mean but
 like I say I'm not so concerned with formulating my own thesis here; I am happy to take 'slipping into the night' or 'black velvet' as metaphors about life...
Thanks for any reply.