Emptiness, Being and Awareness ...

"Ignorance is conquered by understanding the interdependence of all phenomena,
or, in other words, "interdependent origination." So what is the meaning of
interdependent origination? "Whatever is dependent on something else, that thing
is not independent," adds Aryadeva. We cannot talk about a self in any other
sense apart from this. That means that something that comes about in dependence
on something else is not an independent entity. Hence, this "self" is not an
independent entity...And that which is interdependent is called empty. This is
the Madhyamaka, or middle path...Nagarjuna said, "For me, emptiness is
equivalent to interdependent origination. Whatever is interdependent, that is
empty..As long as there is attachment to the Five Skandhas, there will be
clinging to a self." The individual identifies with the skandhas as being
'I'...Yet, there exists no such substantial self. It is empty of substantial
existence. There has never existed a self that the individual can base is or her
pride on...The Buddha said that the idea that things arising from causes and
conditions are existent is ignorance." He also said that something that is not
dependently arisen does not exist. Therefore a non-empty thing does not exist."

"Non-existence, however, does not exist either. Unless this is clear, the
refutation of existence is just words. The skandhas, the basis of our notion of
a personal self, do not exist at all. This does not mean that no individual
exists. If there were no individuals at all we could not speak of samsara and
nirvana, of happiness and suffering. Thus the absence of a self contradicts our
direct experience. We do exist in some way. But the basis on which a self is
imputed does not have the slightest true existence."

"There is, however, what is called "nominal existence" or "merely a name."
There is something that the name refers to, but that thing cannot be found.
Merely a name is found. It is quite odd, isn't it? This is the "emptiness of
emptiness" or natural emptiness. Nirvana can also be analyzed in this way.
Although nirvana is a very famous thing, it is actually the emptiness of nirvana
that is found, not nirvana itself." - H.H. the Dalai Lama


"If he himself is a mere nothing who does not exist, who then is it who takes
all this trouble to prove it?" -....... Paul Brunton