Are all things empty? - Nagarjuna & The Buddhist Middle Way

We're finally doing Buddhism! In this episode, we explore the teachings of the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna and his school, known as Madhyamika, or "The Middle Way".

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Siderits, Mark & Shoryu Katsura (Translated by) (2013). "Nagarjuna's Middle Way: The Mulamadhyamakakarika". Classics of Indian Buddhism. Wisdom Publications.

Westerhoff, Jan (2009). "Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction". Oxford University Press.

Ziporyn, Brook (2016). "Emptiness and Omnipresence: An essential introduction to Tiantai Buddhism". Indiana University Press.

#Nagarjuna #Buddhism #Emptiness

[lwdrxxi]

The problem is that every english source translates the word as "emptiness". This is misleading to such misunderstandings as "nihilism". If you regularly practice and study the primary original source of Ryūju, not second or third hand descriptions, you can realize it is not a state of being "empty" at all, but something more accurately described as an "infinite potentiality". Hope that helps clear up any unclarity.

[mdlahey]

As a (nearly) lifelong Buddhist and member of the Zen Buddhist clergy, I thank you for this introductory visit with Buddha's teaching. A footnote: The title of Nāgārjuna's masterwork that appears in the video is misspelled. Here is a corrected version: Mūlamadhyamakakārikā . And one sometimes helpful addition to the discussion of śūnyatā comes from the Tibetans, who say simply that nothing whatsoever can exist exclusively "from its own side". It might also be useful to warn viewers against what Nāgārjuna regarded as a grave danger, namely, to start to think of śūnyatā or emptiness as a "thing", or some sort of "stuff" that exists behind the apparent play of phenomena that makes up the world.

[themindstream]

I'm not a Buddhist, but I find value in some of the philosophies and theories of mind. This made me think of a tales from "101 Zen Stories" (#82). Paraphrased: A young student visited a Zen master, and to show his attainment, explained how the true nature of all phenomena was emptiness and nothing truly exists. The master, who sat quietly smoking his pipe, suddenly hit the student with it, making the student angry. "If nothing exists, " inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"

[alexbadila]

As a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, I'm so glad you finally covered Buddhism in your awesome series and that you did it justice! Looking forward to more videos on Buddhism.
Gassho,
Alex

[noodlewhitley]

Nagarjuna is wonderful and profound. By contemplating the teachings on Emptiness, we can become less attached to the ever-changing and unsatisfying world. Then we can respond to reality with more flexibility, more kindness, and more efficacy.

[nouknow]

I really appreciate the deep dives into a specific area of a religion/philosophy rather than just a broad overview!

[sherabsamten]

Aśvaghosa, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Dignāga, Buddhapālita, Buddhaghosa, Bodhidharma, Bhāvaviveka, Candrakīrti, Dharmakīrti, Kumārajīva, Śāntideva, Jñānagarbha, Śāntarakṣita, Kamalaśīla, Saraha/ Sarahapāda (Rāhula/ Rāhulbhadra), Nāropā (Abhayakirti), Tilopa/ Tilopadā, Atiśa Dīpankara Śrījñāna - so many to name. It is a big shame that most Indians never heard of these great Buddhist philosophers. 

Philosopher Alan Watts once described Nagarjuna as - "one of the most astonishing minds the human race has ever produced". More Indians should study him.


Indians should also feel proud that during the first millennium, so many brilliant Indian Buddhist philosophers from the Nalanda tradition adorned this land.

Compared to what they produced in Nalanda, Western philosophy appears to be at the Kindergarten level.

[migiel]

Really happy with this video! Nagarjuna is my favorite philosopher and he definitely deserves more attention. Can't wait for the other video's on Buddhism =D

[_lonelywolf]

Thank you for this great topic and video!

First, you understand Sunyata intellectually. Then you realize its implications psychologically. Once, the latter realization is achieved, you wake up (occasionally), but it doesn't mean that all the lifelong mental patterns are gone completely. Imagine that you grew up in a house where everyone believes that there is a ghost in the basement. Long story short, you one day realize that it was actually the wind blowing in the pipelines, that there was never any ghost. Believe it or not, you will still shake involuntarily every time you'll hear the sound coming from the basement, even though you can now remind yourself that it's the wind... It usually takes a long time to sustain "enlightenment", to stay more and more awake and fall less and less asleep, into your lifelong cultivated patterns, tendencies, interpretations, reactions, etc.
The realization of Sunyata must be constantly cultivated, unless you're a mythological Hui Neng who was supposed to have become enlightened suddenly and permanently...
Personally, it took me many decades to realize it and cultivate it. The hardest, almost impossible thing, is to learn how to communicate it using words. So here's my two cents on why Sunyata or Emptiness is itself empty.

All things and phenomena must be named, designated, or at least acknowledged for their existence to become acknowledged. In other words, all things must be objects of acknowledgment, or mind objects. Even the mind itself must be acknowledged, presumably by itself, for its existence to be. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions, events, concepts, ideas, consciousness, awareness, quantum elements, etc. They must all be acknowledged, or to put it differently their existence systematically depends on them being acknowledged, on them being "mind objects". Therefore, such things, being necessarily and exclusively acknowledgeable things, and since the very act of acknowledging them must itself be acknowledged (ad infinitum), it must follow that all things or phenomena must be lacking inherent essence, first because their existence can only be acknowledged as "acknowledgment objects", and second because their existence must depend on them being acknowledged. So there we have both lack of intrinsic essence or nature or self, and co-dependence, not to mention the fact that such things or phenomena are also transient and changing constantly. What does it mean in simpler terms? Well, it means that unless you reflect on a thought, emotion or anything, you can't possibly acknowledge its existence. You must become aware of it. You would also need to become aware of being aware for the existence of the latter (i.e. your awareness) to be acknowledged. Therefore, since the existence of each and every thing must necessarily be acknowledged in order to be, and since the existence of the act of acknowledging itself must also be acknowledged, everything is empty and emptiness itself (i.e. the act of acknowledging) is also empty.

The cultivation of the realization of Sunyata on a deep psychological level can take years and decades. You'll have to undo decades of ignorance, i.e. wrong seeing. It's a long process of unlearning... The results are more spontaneity, less attachment and much more freedom and liberation of one's true potential. To become free from youself and still live and act as your optimal self is a highly rewarding journey—when you're back in the market, that's the world, your ordinary life, now lived in an extraordinary way. The mushin mind.

I hope this helps! 🙏

[sherabsamten]

"One who sees Pratītyasamutpāda (Dependent Origination) sees the Dhamma;
One who sees the Dhamma sees Pratītyasamutpāda" (Dependent Origination). - The Buddha, in Majjhima Nikāya 28.

"One who sees the Dhamma, sees me." - The Buddha, in Saṃyukta Nikāya 22.87.

Nagarjuna took these verses to heart. To him, the most important teaching of the Buddha is Pratītyasamutpāda (Dependent Origination) - which is basically 'Śūnyatā' or 'Emptiness' when viewed from a particular angle. 

Like a true spiritual disciple, Nagarjuna spent a lifetime defending the core of all Buddhist teachings, namely Pratītyasamutpāda (Dependent Origination)/ Śūnyatā (Emptiness) - that all phenomena dependently rise and are unceasing, unborn, unannihilated, uneternal, impermanent and ever-changing, non-self, and free from all conceptual imputations.

[Tyrell_Corp]

For someone who picked up the study of emptiness, this was an excellent presentation!

Years ago I studied for 4 years with a Geshe from the Tibetan Gulagpa tradition from Sera Mey monastery in India. (Home of the Dalai Lama). Emptiness was a big part of our studies.

I’d like to add a few thoughts here on the topic. The concept of a conventional reality and a higher reality is absolutely spot here on along with deconstructing everything around us, including our egos. “Nothing exists from its own side.“ Is what my teacher would say. Similar to your flower or chariot example.

However, there is a caveat: The purpose of understanding emptiness is to make it easier to generate compassion. Without that component, there is a danger that direct perception of emptiness can result in a form of madness.

The reason for compassion, of course is manyfold, but most importantly, within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, its function is to eliminate karma. We often hear the term good or bad karma. However neutral karma is actually the goal.

For it is karma that causes all of our conditions. Yes, it’s a big subject but in short, let’s just imagine oil dispersed into a pool of water. Eventually, that oil comes together. That is karma in the physical world. It is like a force of attraction between things. You don’t want any kind of karma. That is the goal.

Circling back, understanding emptiness will allow for compassion, which will allow for neutrality of karma. Thus… The eradication of all karma. How?

Imagine you are in a terrible workplace. And your boss is constantly yelling at you. Your instinct is to generate a negative emotion, and thus negative karma, and thus perpetuating the cycle, because you are in ignorance about it. (“You are compelled to experience your thoughts.” is what my teacher would always say.)

If you use the concept of emptiness and realize that your boss and his ego, and your ego is the illusion of emptiness: It is much easier to have compassion for the whole situation. It not only insures a healthier viewpoint on everything it makes it much easier to have that place of compassion. For what are you really angry at? A wagging tongue? Basically.

So in this kind of situation instead of reacting negatively and perpetuating it, (either in this life, or another one) you can stop generating the karmic seed it in its tracks with compassion.

Consider the western tradition where God tells us to love everyone. Often we find many people failing in this endeavor because it seems impossible to “love your enemies.“ In the Buddhist context, even a horrible person such as Hitler or Saddam Hussein, etc. while yes, they are committing atrocious acts, they too like all of us, are in a state of ignorance - because it is all empty. It doesn’t mean you have to “love” them, but by understanding emptiness… generating compassion for such individuals is just a little easier.

So understanding emptiness ultimately, gives us a tool for generating compassion.

(Emptiness > Non Ignorance > Compassion > Eradication of Karma)

Otherwise, just seeing emptiness without generating compassion is like being an incomplete Jedi, so to say. You can fall into a state of nihilism, which I think was the major misunderstanding of other schools of Buddhism as mentioned in your video.

[uditverma]

It would be lovely to hear about Theravada Buddhism in more detail as well. It is a Pali Canon and the earliest Buddhist tradition, I think. Studying some of it at university was quite enlightening! Though, most people mostly know the Buddhism known as the Mahayana. But it is true that most things, like dependent origination, is also present in Mahayana. There is also a very interesting sutra about the Stages of Perception, in the Theravada Pali Canon, at any rate, which is also a beautiful understanding that has been passed down by the arihants.

[SeekersofUnity]

I’ll take some more of this emptiness anytime. Incredible work Filip. Thank you 🙏🏼

[davereid-daly]

The fundamental difficulty which many people seem to encounter with Buddhism is that the experience that Siddhartha Gautama stumbled upon was experiential, that is to say, what he came to discover erupted, by itself (independent of consciousness) from inside of himself and came about not as the result of any form of deep introspective thought process. He was "awakened" to something outside of the cognitive-philosophical experience. This is what made Buddhism unique and why Buddha--he who has become awake, developed such a unique teaching style. In that period of history up until today, masters teach three classes of students. The first group is taught directly, the second is taught in a group and the third group reads the instructional verbiage written down by the second group. Because the process of awakening to this experience is so arduous, 99% of people fall away and so only a handful go on to experience awakening themselves. One of the fundamental by-products of awakening is compassion, which bubbles up from within a person on its own, without the person needing to cultivate it as a practice (as many Buddhists do). Seeing this remarkable change led the individuals from the 2nd group to adopt this and many other traits of an awakened person. As a consequence a system of philosophy developed under the umbrella: Buddhism. Unfortunately most people who engage with Buddhism do so speculatively, choosing instead to preoccupy themselves with analysis of texts written by awakened masters or other, hoping to find a safer option. To reach the point where one awakens requires one on one training, primarily because each novice/student has their own specific peculiarities which the master has to adjust to. Its a long slow and very difficult process. Westerners like to talk !!! They like to discuss concepts and ideas and quote reams of material written by others. A awakened masters are more interested in demonstrating how the process discloses itself by throwing the student into the abyss, so that they get a first-hand experience of what it all means. Simply put, Buddhism is taught through direct transmission experientially from master to student.

[supratiknayak]

Sunnata means where there is neither subject nor object, neither observer nor observed, neither knower nor known, neither space nor time, neither cause nor effects. This leads us to enlightenment or Nirvana.



Thank

If you can make videos on Sri Ramana Maharshi, it will be very good.

Thanks again for this nice video❤❤

[faccafromklepp]

Great video! While Nagarjuna and Shunyata is mostly associated with Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada teachers also reffrence him in my experience. At least the Thai Forest Tradition is very open to drawing inspiration from what is taught of as a "different tradition". Buddhism can be very open in this way. Anything that leads to the development of insight, whether it is a mode of teaching, a particular practice, meditational or devotional, is utilized by the teacher.

[larrydubec]

This is a GREAT video. Deep research flows from it. Thank you very much for this masterpiece, once again.

[kseniagalina]

Yes please more buddhism!! Love your channel:)))

[bretta]

Very high quality and engaging video, as usual. Since you’re turning toward the East, here’s one that definitely deserves its own episode (and seems to be rarely discussed): the Bön religion of Tibet, and its large influence on Vajrayana/Tibetan Buddhism.

[thatmonk]

To me, emptiness is the very heart of Buddhism. Great job! ❤🙏