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What
is Emptiness?
What is emptiness? Being free of
attachments is the true state of emptiness. It does not mean being empty of
matter. Zen Buddhism has reached the end of its Dharma,
however, and has nothing to teach. In this chaotic Dharma-Ending Period,
some who study it still stubbornly hold on to its theory of emptiness, acting
irrational and absurd, as though they have enlightened to the fundamentals of
its philosophy. Its founder, Boddhidharma, himself acknowledged that his Dharma
could only be effective for six generations, and that afterwards there would be
nothing to pass down. Why not awaken to it? If one says that everything is
empty, with no Fa, no Buddha, no image, no self, and no existence, what thing is
Boddhidharma? If there is no Dharma, what thing is Zen Buddhism’s theory of
emptiness? If there is no Buddha, no image, who is Sakyamuni?
If there is no name, no image, no self, no existence, and everything is empty,
why do you bother to eat and drink? Why do you wear clothes? What if your eyes
were dug out? What are your seven emotions and six desires of an everyday person
attached to? Actually, what a Tathagata means by “emptiness” is being free
from every ordinary human attachment. Non-omission is the true essence of
emptiness. To begin with, the universe exists because of matter and is composed
of and remains as matter. How could it be empty? A teaching that is not imparted
by a Tathagata is bound to not last long and the teachings will die out—the
teaching of an Arhat is not Buddha Fa. Enlighten to it! Enlighten to it!
Li Hongzhi
September 28, 1995
  
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