Originally posted by Isis:
[b]Sunyata in the
Tathagatagarbha Sutras
The class of Buddhist scriptures known as the Tathagatagarbha
sutras presents a seemingly variant understanding of Emptiness,
according to which the Buddha and Nirvana, unlike compounded,
conditioned phenomena, are not empty of intrinsic existence, but
merely empty of the impermanent, the painful and the Self-less. In
the "Srimala Sutra" the Buddha is seen as empty of all defilement
and ignorance, not of intrinsic Reality. The "Mahayana
Mahaparinirvana Sutra" supports such a vision and views Ultimate
Emptiness as the Buddhic cognition ( "jnana" ) which perceives both
Emptiness and non-Emptiness, wherein "the Empty is the totality of
Samsara and the non-Empty is Great Nirvana". [u]The Buddha in the Mahayana
Mahaparinirvana Sutra further indicates that to view absolutely
everything as empty is an unbalanced approach and constitutes a
deviation from the middle path of Buddhism: "[u]The wise perceive
Emptiness and non-Emptiness, the Eternal and the Impermanent,
Suffering and Bliss, the Self and the non-Self. ...
To perceive the Emptiness
of everything and not to perceive non-Emptiness is not termed the
Middle Way; to perceive the non-Self of everything and not to
perceive the Self is not termed the Middle Way."
[/u][/u]Moreover, this particular sutra contains a passage in which
the Buddha castigates those who view the Tathagatagarbha (which is
the indwelling, immortal Buddha-element) in each being as empty,
declaring of them that they are effectively committing a form of
painful spiritual suicide through their wrongheaded stance: "By
having cultivated non-Self in connection with the Tathagatagarbha
and having continually cultivated Emptiness, suffering will not be
eradicated but one will become like a moth in the flame of a lamp."
(Tibetan version of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra). The
attainment of nirvanic Liberation ("moksha"), by contrast, is said
to open up a realm of "utter bliss, joy, permanence, stability,
[and] eternity" (ibid), in which the Buddha is "fully peaceful"
(Dharmakshema "Southern" version). Perhaps the clearest statement
of Tathagatagarbha Buddhism's understanding of Emptiness is found
in the Angulimaliya Sutra, where we read the following clarifying
explanation:
" ... by cultivating
extreme emptiness and continually considering things to be empty,
one will behold the utter destruction of all phenomena. Though
Liberation is not empty, one will see and think it to be empty.
Thus, for example, having thought hail-stones to be jewels, one
comes to think that real gems are empty [úûnya]. Likewise, you too
think of phenomena which are not empty [aúûnya] to be empty
[úûnya], for viewing phenomena as empty, you dissolve into
emptiness (úûnya) even those phenomena which are not empty. Some
phenomena are empty [of existence] and some phenomena are not empty
[of existence]. Just like the hail-stones, the billions of kleshas
[mental and moral afflictions] are empty [of existence], like the
hail-stones, those phenomena appertaining to ignorance are empty
[of existence] and swiftly fade away. Like the real beryl gems, the
Buddha is eternal. Liberation is like the real beryl
gems."
Thus in the distinctive Tathagatagarbha sutras a balance is drawn
between the empty, impermanent and coreless realm of samsara and
the lasting, liberating Reality of the Buddha and Nirvana.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emptiness_%28Buddhism%29
[/b]
therefore brahman is real and not empty, and if you think this
statement is wrong its only because you yourself placed the
restrictive qualities on brahman in your mind, right?
