an immortal soul, rather than in the context of the teaching of the emptiness of the
self, is it still Zen?
Problematics of the empty selfCentral to Buddhism as I understand it is the concept of emptiness and the assertion
that the self is empty. In this usage, both ‘emptiness’ and ‘self’ are technical terms
with very specific meanings. Unlike its use in psychology, ‘self’ here refers to the idea
of an essence—something eternal, absolute, unchanging, permanent—which gives
existing things their identity as some particular kind of thing. Familiar to us in the
West from the works of Plato, as well as the even more influential though less well
known Neoplatonists, this concept is also foundational to much of Indian thought.
It is in its rejection of essences that Buddhism makes a radical break from the rest of
the religious culture of India, and continues to offer a radical challenge to our own
conceptions of the world. Despite much confusion about the matter, emptiness of
the self does not refer to non-existence of the personality, but rather to the absence
of any essence from each and every thing that exists. In other words, it means exactly
the same thing as the teachings of impermanence and interdependence. As Nagarjuna,
founder of the Madhyamika school, says
Whatever is dependently co-arisen
That is explained to be emptiness.
That, being a dependent designation,
Is itself the middle way.
Something that is not dependently arisen,
Such a thing does not exist.
Therefore a nonempty thing
Does not exist.
(24.18, 19; Garfield 1995:69)Despite Nagarjuna’s clarity, some authors in the area of Buddhism and psychology
speak of ‘the experience of emptiness,’ by which they mean the feelings of loss or
sorrow that arise when something that one loves or identifies with proves to be
impermanent. For example, Gunn opens his study of Dogen, Merton, and Jung by
saying:
Whether it is an experience of loss of things outside oneself, as depicted in the
story of Job, or an inner experience of having no purpose, or even self, or of
life lacking any meaning of satisfaction, the experience of emptiness most
commonly thought of is an experience of being without, of not having: not
having answers, not having property, not having love or power or hope.
(Gunn 2000:1)178 LOCATING BUDDHISM, LOCATING PSYCHOLOGY