Sunyata and dependent origination

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Malcolm
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Malcolm »

Lazy_eye wrote:It seems to me though that if we are not at a certain stage of realization, we have to approach "emptiness" conceptually, at least so we can know what it is not. Though understanding via concept and definition are not finally prajna, we still may need them as signposts.

There's a difference between understanding emptiness and realizing emptiness. The former by nature implies concept and even the idea of self. (There has to be someone who "stands under" it).

Concept, though, necessarily involves distance -- to conceive of something means you are regarding it (from outside). So it follows that a person who "conceives" emptiness cannot be realizing it fully.

Not meaning to be pushy, but might anyone here have a take on my question above?
Can we posit emptiness simply as a subtractive process -- i.e. as the result of abandoning all wrong views?
Emptiness is the abandoning of wrong views itself.

But there are only two wrong views i.e. "is" and "is not".

N
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LastLegend
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by LastLegend »

Lazy_eye wrote:It seems to me though that if we are not at a certain stage of realization, we have to approach "emptiness" conceptually, at least so we can know what it is not. Though understanding via concept and definition are not finally prajna, we still may need them as signposts.

There's a difference between understanding emptiness and realizing emptiness. The former by nature implies concept and even the idea of self. (There has to be someone who "stands under" it).

Concept, though, necessarily involves distance -- to conceive of something means you are regarding it (from outside). So it follows that a person who "conceives" emptiness cannot be realizing it fully.

Not meaning to be pushy, but might anyone here have a take on my question above?
Can we posit emptiness simply as a subtractive process -- i.e. as the result of abandoning all wrong views?
Yes...but emptiness of Buddha is different from emptiness of an Arahant and Bodhisattva. In other words, what Buddha has realized is different from what Arahant and Bodhisattva have realized. Only Buddhas see through all phenomena but most Bodhisattvas and Arahants cannot. So true emptiness is Buddha. Buddha is truly cleaned, free from all suffering. Arahants and Bodhisattvas still have subtle suffering residue that we human with naked eyes cannot detect or see. But in comparison, Bodhisattvas's subtle suffering residue is more subtle than that of Arahants.
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Lazy_eye
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Lazy_eye »

Namdrol wrote:
Emptiness is the abandoning of wrong views itself.

But there are only two wrong views i.e. "is" and "is not".

N
Thank you, Namdrol.

In that case, then, isn't it unnecessary (in theory) to present emptiness "positively" -- that is to posit it as something, for example, as "causes and conditions".

We do see emptiness presented in this way, but my understanding is that it's done so as an antidote to nihilism. That is, for those of us who are not very close to realizing emptiness, there's a risk of mistaking "abandoning of all wrong views" for nothingness -- and thus actually fall into the second of the two wrong views.

Form=emptiness: the antidote to eternalism
Emptiness=form: the antidote to nihilism

Also, not to quibble, but aren't there wrong views #3 and #4 (namely, "both is and is not" and "neither is nor is not")?
muni
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by muni »

"Nobody is freeing phenomena or make them empty". Clouds are free in vast sky. When thoughts about get no fixation; they are free nature and has no doer who make them arise or a doer who must stop them. They are selfless selfliberating nature like all so seen outer things, when no movie-making conceptual mind grasp/moves towards its appaerances-experiences but let them be free. A mirror is not holding passing reflections neither.

Here "a master" must guide. "Empty knowing" has no owner. So is there told.
Malcolm
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Malcolm »

Lazy_eye wrote: Also, not to quibble, but aren't there wrong views #3 and #4 (namely, "both is and is not" and "neither is nor is not")?
3 is just a restatement of 1, as 4 is merely a restatement of 2. They are necessary because there are some who suppose that an instance of become involves being both existent and non-existence at one and the same time.

N
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conebeckham
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by conebeckham »

Namdrol wrote:
conebeckham wrote:Excellent, thank you.

One more, somewhat tangential, question, Namdrol, if I may....."Thamel Gyi Shepa." ? SNIP
tha mal gyi shes pa, according to Gyalwa Yangonpa, is a yogi's term for ye shes.

Is ye shes "beyond mind?"
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Malcolm
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Malcolm »

conebeckham wrote:
Namdrol wrote:
conebeckham wrote:Excellent, thank you.

One more, somewhat tangential, question, Namdrol, if I may....."Thamel Gyi Shepa." ? SNIP
tha mal gyi shes pa, according to Gyalwa Yangonpa, is a yogi's term for ye shes.

Is ye shes "beyond mind?"

Of course.
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conebeckham
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by conebeckham »

aha, so-called "Ordinary Mind" is beyond mind!

I never liked that translation of Tamal Gyi Shepa anyway. That paper on Gampopa, in the Dzokchen/Tsong Khapa thread, had a better translation......though I can't remember it right now.

What's interesting, at least to me, is that "Rang Jung Yeshe" or Tamal Gyi Shepa or whatever you want to call it is actually coemergent with conceptuality....like water and milk mixed. Yet not the same...
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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ground
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by ground »

Even in the General Mahayana forum all there is is the talk in terms of tibetan buddhism and vajrayana. Vajrayanists seem to have acquired Mahayana in public media. But I think that they are just the loudest .... maybe also the proudest.

Kind regards
muni
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by muni »

TMingyur wrote:Even in the General Mahayana forum all there is is the talk in terms of tibetan buddhism and vajrayana. Vajrayanists seem to have acquired Mahayana in public media. But I think that they are just the loudest .... maybe also the proudest.

Kind regards
Right! Then regarding the topic; Vajrayana is Mahayana as well. All those clasifications to fit us all in order to keep our narrow head in selfcherishing. It is like my dogs; here I lift my paw . Of course methods can contradict and so confuse, while clarity is to be given.

Own state of mind (dependent) is so easely forgotten in debats and the object fixated.

Sunyata and dependent origination in Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana...does it fit me? Baaah, no! Paw up please. For pride is there equanimity.
Last edited by muni on Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Malcolm
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Malcolm »

TMingyur wrote:Even in the General Mahayana forum all there is is the talk in terms of tibetan buddhism and vajrayana. Vajrayanists seem to have acquired Mahayana in public media. But I think that they are just the loudest .... maybe also the proudest.

Kind regards

Nah, just the only ones that present Mahāyāna based on Indian commentarial sources.
Last edited by Malcolm on Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mudra
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by mudra »

LastLegend wrote: Yes...but emptiness of Buddha is different from emptiness of an Arahant and Bodhisattva. In other words, what Buddha has realized is different from what Arahant and Bodhisattva have realized. Only Buddhas see through all phenomena but most Bodhisattvas and Arahants cannot. So true emptiness is Buddha. Buddha is truly cleaned, free from all suffering. Arahants and Bodhisattvas still have subtle suffering residue that we human with naked eyes cannot detect or see. But in comparison, Bodhisattvas's subtle suffering residue is more subtle than that of Arahants.
The emptiness of a Buddha is just as 'empty' as that of an Arhant :)

Obviously what a Buddha realizes is different from others, otherwise Buddha and others would be the same.

What exactly do you mean by subtle suffering residue? Subtle remainder of klesha? or actual suffering?
Malcolm
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Malcolm »

conebeckham wrote:aha, so-called "Ordinary Mind" is beyond mind!

I never liked that translation of Tamal Gyi Shepa anyway. That paper on Gampopa, in the Dzokchen/Tsong Khapa thread, had a better translation......though I can't remember it right now.

What's interesting, at least to me, is that "Rang Jung Yeshe" or Tamal Gyi Shepa or whatever you want to call it is actually coemergent with conceptuality....like water and milk mixed. Yet not the same...
tha mal in this context means "completely unmodified", "left in its original state".

N
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cloudburst
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by cloudburst »

Namdrol wrote:
Emptiness is the abandoning of wrong views itself.

But there are only two wrong views i.e. "is" and "is not".

N
Wrong view.
Can't say "is" is wrong view while saying "Emptiness is..."
Self contradiction.
Jinzang
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Jinzang »

You are confusing the "is" of predication with the "is" of existence. In Tibetan these are two different words.
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cloudburst
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by cloudburst »

Jinzang wrote:You are confusing the "is" of predication with the "is" of existence. In Tibetan these are two different words.
Can you predicate something on a non-existent?

Either there is a wrong view or there isn't.
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

cloudburst wrote:
Can you predicate something on a non-existent?
If you say that you can't base a position on something that does not exist,
and that is your position,
then you just did.
:tongue:
EMPTIFUL.
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cloudburst
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by cloudburst »

PadmaVonSamba wrote:
cloudburst wrote:
Can you predicate something on a non-existent?
If you say that you can't base a position on something that does not exist,
and that is your position,
then you just did.
:tongue:
Jin was trying to say that there "is" a difference between existence and predication. in other words, a difference exists.
My point is that if you are predicating, you are doing so upon existence, so in either case, you have existence.
N (and I suppose J) think existence is a wrong view, so there is self-contradiction.

I haven't claimed that existence is a wrong view, in fact I am arguing that is not, so I can say "is" all I like without contradicting myself, can't I?
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Dechen Norbu
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by Dechen Norbu »

That's nonsense.
Nonexistence is lack of existence. You can't say that because of that nonexistence exists.
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cloudburst
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Re: Sunyata and dependent origination

Post by cloudburst »

Dechen Norbu wrote:That's nonsense.
Nonexistence is lack of existence. You can't say that because of that nonexistence exists.
Why not? An Absence is something you can know, and that is all existence can be, something known by mind. Many non-existences can be known, such as the lack of your car keys in your pocket when you have lost them.

Main point is that you can't say 'existence is a wrong view and then claim that differences exist, that there "are" two wrong views etc. That is self-contradictory.
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