and deepened meditative experiences that had been expressed by words such as ‘arising
causation’ (pratƯtya-samutpƗda), impermanence (anitya) and non-self (anƗtman).
Mahayana Buddhism explains the Emptiness of all beings from various angles.
First, it is pointed out that all things are empty because they arise from causation.
Everything comes into being only through its causal connection (pratyaya) with other
beings. There is nobody that was born without parents and can live alone without
any care from others. Emptiness, therefore, has the connotation that there is nothing
that could exist by itself.
Then, it is said that all beings are empty because they have no self-nature. The
quality of anything is determined by and varies with its relation to other beings. For
example, the hot water in the bathtub brings relaxation to humans, but death to fish.
Emptiness, therefore, suggests that there is nothing in the nature of a thing that does
not change in accordance with the situation.
It is also noted that all things are empty because they are impermanent. Everything
changes. Our whole universe itself has been changing since its beginning. Emptiness
also means that there is nothing that does not change.
It is also stressed that all things are empty because they have no self. There is no
essence that exists eternally by itself without any change. The term Atman from
Sanskrit means not so much ego but entity, and so ‘non-self’ refers to non-entity.
Emptiness also includes this concept of non-self.
Further, Emptiness also suggests that all beings are related to each other, forming
one unity. Therefore, Emptiness overlaps with the notion of indivisibility and
absolute unity (tathatƗ). This is close to a concept of cosmic consciousness, in the
sense that all beings including one’s self constitute a universe.
One more important thing to note is that Emptiness is not so much a concept but
a verbalization of ineffable experiences during meditation. In Buddhism it is believed
it is possible for humans to enter the state of absolute freedom, nirvana with no fixed
abode, when they realize the oneness of all beings and become aware of the identity
of all beings with the True Self. Thus, we are perhaps right in thinking that the goal
of Mahayana Buddhism is to reach the state beyond boundaries of individuality, the
absolute free personality. Based upon this understanding and upon Buddhist practice
of meditation, the Yogacara School made a further step toward a more systematic
and refined theory of the mind.
The three kinds of perceptual patternsIn the view of the Yogacara School, because humans grow up by learning to see the
world through the lens of language, every being, be it a thing or a person, looks to
be individual and separate in a way that is expressed by a word, especially a noun. If
we look at a tree, making use of the noun ‘tree’ in our mind, for example, we tend
to become almost unconscious of its connection with innumerable things without
which it cannot exist: the ancestor tree which brought forth seeds for the tree, the
water it must absorb for its growth, the earth on which it grows, the air it needs for
photosynthesis, the sunlight, the galactic system which includes the solar system, etc.
MORIYA OKANO 221