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**alanamosteller** · 01-28-2012, 09:28 PM

The original question from Bothi is: " In Buddhism, what is the opposite of ''emptiness''. I'm going to stick with that because it seems to me that it does not actually need a lot of unraveling at all.

If you approach the word 'emptiness' as a concept then there will be an obvious opposite which my 4 years old child could tell us right away. "Buddhism" itself is one such concept. For example, In Buddhism the opposite of hot is cold. This is not a hard question at all if my child can answer it. My child however, might not be able to get the subtleties of: "In Non-dual traditions, what are words for?"

All words are concepts based on other concepts. There is no end to this when using the mind that conceptualizes. However one will not understand the first thing the Buddha taught by using the conditioned conceptual mind. The Four Noble Truths tell clearly about how this grasping after, and pushing away conceptual identifications, as if they had inherent existence, will cause suffering. One can however, use that mind and it's concepts to deconstruct it's habitual and conditioned way of working - to re-train it. Actually there are no other choices for that re-training - even the wisdom gained in meditation and contemplation will arise into the conscious mind as one's own teaching tool.

The Buddhist scripture, the Heart Sutra, teaches that form is emptiness and vice-versa. An adult will be able to understand this but only after understanding that words are concepts which may be used to point to meanings that are not-conceptual. The Vimalakirty Sutra is dedicated to exposing the necessity of using words to point to meaning that is not inherent in those words. I'm sure there are others but coming from a Zen perspective, I haven't studied them.

The question: "In Buddhism, what is the opposite of ''emptiness'' is a little like asking "If the truck runs over the monk, what will he be made of?" In Buddhism conventional questions and answers have their place. If they did not, no one could study and practice.

Edited:, Oh sorry, I forgot to answer the question.

In Buddhism the opposite of emptiness is fullness.

_()_

01-28-2012, 09:28 PM	#34
alanamosteller Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 404 Senior Member	The original question from Bothi is: " In Buddhism, what is the opposite of ''emptiness''. I'm going to stick with that because it seems to me that it does not actually need a lot of unraveling at all. If you approach the word 'emptiness' as a concept then there will be an obvious opposite which my 4 years old child could tell us right away. "Buddhism" itself is one such concept. For example, In Buddhism the opposite of hot is cold. This is not a hard question at all if my child can answer it. My child however, might not be able to get the subtleties of: "In Non-dual traditions, what are words for?" All words are concepts based on other concepts. There is no end to this when using the mind that conceptualizes. However one will not understand the first thing the Buddha taught by using the conditioned conceptual mind. The Four Noble Truths tell clearly about how this grasping after, and pushing away conceptual identifications, as if they had inherent existence, will cause suffering. One can however, use that mind and it's concepts to deconstruct it's habitual and conditioned way of working - to re-train it. Actually there are no other choices for that re-training - even the wisdom gained in meditation and contemplation will arise into the conscious mind as one's own teaching tool. The Buddhist scripture, the Heart Sutra, teaches that form is emptiness and vice-versa. An adult will be able to understand this but only after understanding that words are concepts which may be used to point to meanings that are not-conceptual. The Vimalakirty Sutra is dedicated to exposing the necessity of using words to point to meaning that is not inherent in those words. I'm sure there are others but coming from a Zen perspective, I haven't studied them. The question: "In Buddhism, what is the opposite of ''emptiness'' is a little like asking "If the truck runs over the monk, what will he be made of?" In Buddhism conventional questions and answers have their place. If they did not, no one could study and practice. Edited:, Oh sorry, I forgot to answer the question. In Buddhism the opposite of emptiness is fullness. _()_
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