Q: Why is it held that all things are empty, that this world, that every world, is an empty world?
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu: The world is empty of any Self or anything belonging to a self; that is, nothing that could be taken as being a self or belonging to a self is to be found in anything, neither in mind, nor in matter, nor in the various products that arise out of mind and matter.
The Buddha said that the assertion that all things are empty refers to nothing other than the awareness that they are empty of selfhood.
[From Buddha Dhamma for Students. Translated by Ariyananda Bhikkhu.]
Published in the April 1989 edition of Buddhism Now.
Read more teachings from Buddhadasa Bhikkhu here.
Image:
Standing Buddhist Monk (possibly Ananda), East Asia, China, second half 6th – early 7th century. © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Categories: An Introduction to Buddhism, Beginners, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Foundations of Buddhism, Theravada
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