In the West, Buddhism can easily become a form of crypto-nihilism since it is believed that the Buddha taught, essentially, there is no self or ātman and taught also, emptiness (S., śūnyatā; P., suññatā). I have made a case over the years on this blog, based on both the discourses of the Buddha and common sense, that the most fundamental part of us is not only the ātman but also the Buddha-nature. According to the Mahaparinirvana Sutra:
“The atman is the Tathagatagarbha. All beings possess a Buddha Nature: this is what the atman is. This atman, from the start, is always covered by innumerable passions (klesha): this is why beings are unable to see it” (Bhikkhu Thich Thien Chau, The Literature of the Personalists of Early Buddhism, p. 141, note 550). (The bold is mine.)
Moving to the subject of emptiness it offers what seems to be a latitude of meaning depending upon the context. But nowhere does the newly awakened Siddhartha mention it. It is not directly related to his enlightenment whereby he attained nirvana through four meditations or dhyāna.
Nirvana or the unconditioned is not the same as emptiness. According to Nagarjuna in his Lokātītastava, “The ambrosial teaching of emptiness aims at abolishing all conceptions,” which for Zen means “no-thought.” Thought/concepts or mentation stands in the way of the direct intuition of nirvana or the same, ultimate reality, which is inconceivable and unthinkable. It is not a graspable thing.
Logically, a conceptualizable ultimate reality is not any closer to the Buddha’s ultimate reality than any other kind of mundane conceptualization.
In the Heart Sutra, the five skandhas or aggregates are considered to be empty because they are empty of svabhāva which refers to a state of being or inherent nature. In other words, the five skandhas are illusory and unreal being nothing in themselves. They are not who we are—certainly not our self. This, incidentally, is pounded into our heads in the Pali canon. These five aggregates, in fact, belong to Mara the killer (SN III.189). They are evil and corrupt and hide our Buddha-nature. The Buddha tells us that none of the aggregates can be our self (MN I.136).
For the Buddha, conceptual truths can never be ultimate truth because they are always constructed (nirvana is unconstructed). Zen masters teach that our true nature cannot in, anyway, be conceived. It never arises or appears, in other words, since all things that arise and appear, including our very thoughts are empty and devoid of our true nature. They also have no svabhāva which is also the Tathagata-dhatu, according to the Mahaparinirvana Sutra [Tibetan version]. To reach the tathagata-dhatu/svabhāva requires no-thought; the complete transcendence of thought and conceptualization.
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