19
votes
Accepted
Logic of Emptiness still unconvincing. Please help explain
Your confusion is clear as day to me. :) As is the true meaning of "emptiness". The challenge is how to explain it to you in a way you can understand. :)
You are stuck on this idea of "...
- 58.9k
13
votes
Accepted
What's the meaning of the Buddhist boy's message to Neo in the movie The Matrix?
It means that so-called reality is actually our interpretation. When our perspective changes our experienced reality changes. This is why the boy says, don't try to change reality (bend the spoon). ...
- 58.9k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the phantom in the conclusion of the Diamond Sutra?
No phantom, no...
The Diamond Sutra in Classical Chinese, wherein one of the verses instantly enlightened the 6th Patriarch Huineng, the corresponding verse to your quote is this:
一切有為法，如夢幻泡影，...
- 2,307
7
votes
Accepted
Why should Mahayana practitioners strive for anything at all?
Well in Mahayana, just like in Theravada, we strive for the end of striving. As @ChrisW said, Heart Sutra is written from the perspective of completion, the end of striving. This is called "taking the ...
- 58.9k
5
votes
Is the Mind (Citta) the Self? If not, what is it?
1. If this mind is already not-Self, why it needs to be emptied and what is to be emptied?
The mind is only 'not-self' from the viewpoint of enlightenment & truth. But for the unenlightened mind, ...
- 42.8k
5
votes
Accepted
What is Indra's Net, according to Mahayana Buddhism?
There are two sets of Mahayana sutras:
The seventeen Perfection of Wisdom sutras (Prajnaparamita Sutras), and
The other sutras, of the Wheel of Perfect Differentiation.
The first set does not ...
- 4,956
5
votes
Question about the contrast between Buddhist statements and Christian doctrine
The word 'Buddha' means 'Enlightened'. It is the Buddha that is the light of the world. Buddhism states there can be only one Original Buddha in a world-system (MN 115). Jesus was a new light for ...
- 42.8k
5
votes
Why should Mahayana practitioners strive for anything at all?
I'll preface my answer by suggesting that you find a qualified teacher. That is to say, someone with years of formal study in a monastic setting leading to a qualification such as Geshe or Ajahn or ...
- 51
5
votes
What is the purpose of the Mahayana 'emptiness' doctrine?
Short answer: because understanding that phenomena are not "solid", but are in fact an interpretation/imputation, removes craving and passions in regards to them, which prevents dukkha that arises ...
- 58.9k
5
votes
Accepted
What is the "meditation on emptiness" in MN 121?
The sutta itself explains it very clearly. Meditation on Emptiness (Sunnata-vihara, lit. dwelling in emptiness - importantly not sunnata-samadhi!) is progressive cessation of all imputation. In other ...
- 58.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Is nirvana a conceptual construction?
"I'm just trying to figure out how extinction can avoid the extremes of eternalism and annihilation."
And therein lies your problem. If you are trying to figure it out, you are dealing in ...
- 372
4
votes
How does one Realize emptiness?
Pali Buddhism offers the following instructions for realising emptiness (suññatā):
And what is the emptiness mind-release? There is the case where a monk, having gone into the wilderness, to the ...
- 42.8k
4
votes
Is the Mind (Citta) the Self? If not, what is it?
Is the Mind the Self? If not, what is it?
It's a delusion of mind.
why it needs to be emptied
Because it's the cause of suffering.
How does it(Mind) have the autonomy/independence to realize/...
- 1,601
4
votes
Why should Mahayana practitioners strive for anything at all?
I think the Heart Sutra may be analogous to the Brahmana Sutta (SN 51.15):
So it is with an arahant whose mental effluents are ended, who has reached fulfillment, done the task, laid down the burden, ...
- 47.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Earliest usage of "rope or snake" allegory in Buddhist literature?
For all I know, the simile may come from generic Indian religious tradition and not specifically from Buddhism. For example, here are some quotes from Upanidhads:
Nirvana Upanishad (~ 100 BCE - 100 CE)...
- 58.9k
4
votes
What *is* intrinsically real? Is the "unconditioned", "absolute", or "ultimate" intrinsically real?
You can't walk under a rainbow - in this sense it is an illusion. And yet rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that actually occurs - in this sense it is not an illusion.
In Mahayana Buddhism we ...
- 58.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Difference between Theravada's self and Mahayana's intrinsic essence
1. Do other Mahayana Buddhists apart from the commentator above, also call the intrinsic essence (svabhava) of a chair, as the "self of chairs"?
Yes, this is a common expression in Mahayana texts on ...
- 58.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Is the Mahayana shunyata same as the Theravada papanca?
Yes, more or less.
Although, strictly speaking you are making a category error.
Shunyata refers to the fact that everything is an abstraction, simplification, subjective observation, and that in ...
- 58.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Sunyata is the truth and compassion is not an illusion?
This answer is from the Theravada perspective.
You are thinking about this from the frame of reference of Vedanta, where there is only one thing real and eternal, and the others are illusion (maya) ...
- 37.5k
4
votes
Logic of Emptiness still unconvincing. Please help explain
I'll try to explain this from the Theravada perspective, which I think is more or less the same as Madhyamaka emptiness, once you analyze it deeply.
In addition to this answer, please also see "...
- 37.5k
4
votes
Is Emptiness empty of Dhammas?
Poster says emptiness is empty of self and all phenomena (meaning "all Dhammas"), which translates to "All Dhammas are empty of all Dhammas".
This is NOT how it is stated in ...
- 58.9k
4
votes
Is Emptiness empty of Dhammas?
Apparently, there are two types of emptiness. But you have the understand what emptiness means in each case.
The first type of emptiness is the emptiness related to the self. This literally comes out ...
- 37.5k
3
votes
If everyting comes from emptyness than what is energy
For a lucid, readable commentary on emptiness, take a look at Guy Newland's Introduction to Emptiness. Therein you will find a clarification of the difference between nothingness and dependent ...
3
votes
If everyting comes from emptyness than what is energy
Buddha tells that everything originates from nothingness, emptiness,
sunyata.
First, emptiness is not nothingness. Depending on the school of Tenets, emptiness refers to the absence of true ...
- 4,956
3
votes
If everyting comes from emptyness than what is energy
The Buddha did not say that 'everything' comes from 'nothing'. Specifically, the Buddha stated that Essential concepts - like 'Everything' and 'Nothing' are mere conceptual constructions, that the ...
- 1,992
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible