Form is Not Emptiness

              The Fireplace Records, Chapter 30

Scholar Eagle Ask Questions
About the Heart Sutra

Form is Not Emptiness

Scholar Eagle asked Professor Coyote "The Heart Sutra says that,
" 'Form Does not Differ From the Void, And the Void Does Not Differ From Form. Form is Void and Void is Form.' Is this true?"

Professor Coyote said, "Did I not discuss this question yesterday? The Heart Sutra says that Profound Insight is a Supreme Spell, a magical incantation. Why concern yourself with spells?

Scholar Eagle said, "But reaching the supreme understanding will remove all obstructions, fears, and confused imagination. Can't you help  me understand that Supreme Enlightenment?"

Professor Coyote said, "If you could even attain non-attainment, and if all your perceptions and consciousness were empty, and nothing could be made of nothing, then I don't believe you would need Supreme Enlightenment. Why do you reach for the comet, and ignore the smell of the wet earth? Just be here and now, and have a cup of tea."

Scholar Eagle replied, "You are avoiding my question. You are evasive."

Professor Coyote said, "So be it! Even Sutras are often less useful to real wisdom and clear understanding. Listen, I'm sorry, but I am nauseated today and don't feel like answering metaphysical questions. Go ask Raven Roshi."

Scholar Eagle then went and asked Raven Roshi the same questions about emptiness.  

Raven Roshi said,
"The moon shines brightly in the empty sky.
The bucket bottom broke and all the water emptied out.
I wrote the characters for 'True" and "False' on an empty page.
I have nothing more to say, nothing!"

Raven Roshi then paused, then laughed. He told Scholar Eagle to go ask Reverend Toad the same questions.

Scholar Eagle went and asked Reverend Toad the same questions about emptiness.

Reverend Toad said, "Croak! Croak! Empty Nonsense! Your soul will live for all eternity. You might be reborn as a old woman with Alzheimer's disease and think about and remember nothing; or, find yourself as a young beautiful woman arguing with two obnoxious ugly men in Sartre's Hell; or, sing with the Angels in the blissful Afterworld's Choir; or, be reborn as a croaking toad, like me. Much more interesting than being dissolved into nothingness."  

Reverend Toad than smacked Scholar Eagle three times on his back with a dirty wash rag.  He laughed and said, Go ask Badger Nerdy the same questions.

Scholar Eagle gave up, stopped asking questions, went home, and brewed some tea.  It was refreshing! The cup warmed his hands. The steamy tea tickled his nostrils. That afternoon, he drank all the tea, until the small kettle was completely empty (except for wet tea leaves).  

Comments, Sources, Observations

If Forms are Empty, Idealism is sadly triumphant.
There is nothing to concern yourself about Nothing.
When nothing is left, there is no more You.
Fret less about ideas, and feel more.
Leave such puzzles for bored adults to figure out.
Magic spells seldom work for useful purposes.
Void does differ from Forms, otherwise confusion reigns.
Form does differ from Void, otherwise mindlessness triumphs.
So you get over to the other shore--- what then do you do?
Never abandon your boat, you or others may need it again.
Nothing is ever Completely Empty!
Truth or falsity don't apply to meaningless pronouncements.

Emptiness is the subject of over 50 Zen Koans.

Meetings with Master Chang San-Feng 

Zen Master Raven

Sunyata, Emptiness

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records  By Michael P. Garofalo

Or

The Heart Sutra

"When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
Was Discoursing in the Deep Prajna Paramita,
He Perceived That All Five Skandhas Are Empty.
Thus He Overcame All Ills and Suffering.
Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.
Sariputra, the Characteristics of the
Voidness of All Dharmas
Are Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled,
Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing.
Therefore, in the Void There Are No Forms,
No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness.
No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;
No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object;
No Realm of the Eye,
Until We Come to No realm of Consciousness.
No ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance,
Until We Come to No Old Age and Death and
No Ending of Old Age and Death.
Also, There is No Truth of Suffering,
Of the Cause of Suffering,
Of the Cessation of Suffering, Nor of the Path.
There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever.
Because There is Nothing to Be Attained,
The Bodhisattva Relying On Prajna Paramita Has
No Obstruction in His Mind.
Because There is No Obstruction, He Has no Fear,
And He passes Far Beyond Confused Imagination.
And Reaches Ultimate Nirvana.
The Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future,
By Relying on Prajna Paramita
Have Attained Supreme Enlightenment.
Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Magic Spell,
The Spell of Illumination, the Supreme Spell,
Which Can Truly Protect One From All Suffering Without Fail.
Therefore He Uttered the Spell of Prajnaparmita,
Saying 'Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.' "

- The Heart Sutra of Buddhism


The Heart Sutra (PDF Version) 

Green Way Wisdom - Zen Buddhist Poems and Scriptures

Emptiness (Sunyata, Mu, Inter-Dependent Arising)

Emptiness is "A" Form

 

The Fireplace Records, Chapter 29

Emptiness is "A" Form

The short Heart Sutra is recited frequently in Zen Buddhist Temples and Churches.  It is a fundamental scripture of great importance to Buddhist philosophy and beliefs.

Emptiness, the Void, Nothing, Nothingness, Not Here, Not Present,
the Fecund Voidness of the Dao, etc. .... have kept Taoists and Zen Buddhists and Existentialists busy thinking for a long time. 

Sartre examined "Being and Nothingness" as did Heidegger.  Taoists reflected on how Emptiness Gives Birth to Everything.  The Empty Circle is an artistic rendering of the importance of the Void found on Zen altars and walls everywhere. 

Conditions of emptiness or the non-presence of Something or Other are obvious from the visual and tactile clues in our daily lives.  We know (see and feel) when the kitchen larder is empty, when a loved one disappears upon their death, when a classroom is empty of students, in the pitch black moonless night, when the music stops, when the cup is empty, when some words are insincere and empty of honesty, when a Nazi criminal is empty of empathy, when we empty our bowels, when our lives seem empty of achievements, or when viewing the vast empty sky from a mountain peak, etc.  As a child, we learn how to talk about empty candy jars, the absence of siblings or mothers and crying about being left alone, being scared of the dark, the loss of toys, the realization that Santa Claus is a fiction.  The Void is familiar to us, and, we must deal with it's conditions; but multiplicity, fullness, and the ten-thousand-things occupy most of our attention and concerns.   

ALL Forms (shapes, things, ideas, concepts, perceptions, etc.) are NOT emptiness or void. Situations and circumstances and times may change and some forms do disappear, but they are or were Present, Real, tangible, concrete, existents...  The transitoriness of things and events does not imply that they are empty or void in essence.  Just because circumstances/beings are not eternal, does not imply that they are empty, void of meaning, or unreal.

So, in my opinion, emptiness/void/nothing is indeed part of reality; but just one aspect of our experiences.  Emptiness is one form, "a" Form; not the source, nature, or reality of All Forms - as the Heart Sutra touts.

Some seem to speak of "emptiness" as a mode of perception--- seeing things as they are without conceptions or presuppositions.  Similar to phenomenological "bracketing" or epoche.  A kind of purified perception.  I doubt this can be accomplished--- we are "impure" and caught within a mental and perceptual web of previous experience and future intentionality. Even Zen Masters say that only a few, out of thousands, can achieve this level or dimension of awareness and awakening, i.e., being in a state of non-dual consciousness.

Yes, all objects/events/things exist now because of the existence of Everything Else, our environment, Webs, Inter-Dependence, the Inter-Being of interrelated causes and effects.  However, this does not imply that the Reality of Now is empty or grounded in Voidness; on the contrary, it is grounded in Plentitude, in Richness.

Even "empty space" outside the Air of Our Earth is Not Empty.  Particles/waves of energy flow through space from the Sun, and cosmic microwave background radiation is everywhere. Don't consider what we cannot see with our eyes as the only criterion of emptiness.  Even an empty barrel is full of air. 

Of course, the Heart Sutra says "There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever." But, if there is "No Wisdom" then the Sutra itself stumbles and trips on its own unwise feet and leaves us with fallen ideas, obvious doubts, and gives little support for standing beliefs. 

It could just be a matter of my action-method-somatic preferences.  I don't find useful or beneficial the dulling quiet stillness and pretending-empty- mind of long hours of Zazen. I prefer the joys of gardening, reading, walking, dancing, and enjoying the Fullness, Plentitude, Richness, Complexity, and Substantial Nature of our and my Reality and Experiences. [However, I need to be cautious about having a "sour grapes" attitude. Just because I cannot physically or psychologically tolerate sitting in zazen many days in a Zen Buddhist Sesshin Retreat, I should be careful of not scorning those who do so, or pooh-poohing the benefits derived thereof.]

"Oh, I love to climb a mountain
And to reach the highest peak;
But it doesn't thrill me half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek."

Comments, Sources, Observations:

Emptiness is the subject of over 50 Zen Koans.

Inter-Dependence, Webs, Inter-Being

Meetings with Master Chang San-Feng

Emptiness (Sunyata, Void, Nothingness, Inter-Dependent Arising)

Refer to my Cloud Hands Blog Posts on the topic of Koans/Stories. 

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans

Zen Buddhist Koans: Indexes, Bibliography, Commentary, Information

 

The Daodejing by Laozi

Pulling Onions  Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans

The Fireplace Records  By Michael P. Garofalo

Or

 The Heart Sutra

"When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
Was Discoursing in the Deep Prajna Paramita,
He Perceived That All Five Skandhas Are Empty.
Thus He Overcame All Ills and Suffering.
Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.
Sariputra, the Characteristics of the
Voidness of All Dharmas
Are Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled,
Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing.
Therefore, in the Void There Are No Forms,
No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness.
No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;
No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object;
No Realm of the Eye,
Until We Come to No realm of Consciousness.
No ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance,
Until We Come to No Old Age and Death and
No Ending of Old Age and Death.
Also, There is No Truth of Suffering,
Of the Cause of Suffering,
Of the Cessation of Suffering, Nor of the Path.
There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever.
Because There is Nothing to Be Attained,
The Bodhisattva Relying On Prajna Paramita Has
No Obstruction in His Mind.
Because There is No Obstruction, He Has no Fear,
And He passes Far Beyond Confused Imagination.
And Reaches Ultimate Nirvana.
The Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future,
By Relying on Prajna Paramita
Have Attained Supreme Enlightenment.
Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Magic Spell,
The Spell of Illumination, the Supreme Spell,
Which Can Truly Protect One From All Suffering Without Fail.
Therefore He Uttered the Spell of Prajnaparmita,
Saying 'Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.' "

- The Heart Sutra of Buddhism


The Heart Sutra (PDF Version) 

Green Way Wisdom - Zen Buddhist Poems and Scriptures

Emptiness (Sunyata, Void, Nothingness,Inter-Dependent Arising)