A Fistful of Sand

In spite of it being the currency of the Mahayana Movement, getting a strong and hard definition of “emptiness is very difficult. If one asks fifty teachers one gets roughly fifty answers. The word is as vaguely applied as are the terms “mindfulness,” “vipassana,” and “organic.” When emptiness becomes a philosophy instead of an experience problems in understanding the term often arise.    Many people write entire books about emptiness, and in so doing, they tend to fill pages with absolutely nothing. With all that said, an article by Lewis Richmond published in the Post, says, “‘Emptiness’ is a central teaching of all Buddhism, but its true meaning is often misunderstood. If we are ever to embrace Buddhism properly into the West, we need to be clear about emptiness, since a wrong understanding of its meaning can be confusing, even harmful. The third century Indian Buddhist master Nagarjuna taught, “Emptiness wrongly grasped is like picking up a poisonous snake by the wr...

Visit the Hongaku Jodo Website Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. People in Vain ________________________________________________ Quite often in the West we use the words “awakening” and “enlightenment interchangeably. This is a misinterpretation on our part. They are not synonyms but clearly represent two distinct stages on the Path. Awakening is often referred to as the “Great Awakening” in the Canons of both Pali and Mahayana. Awakening can be seen as a process, indeed it is the process leading to the attainment of Enlightenment.There are many degrees of Awakening and Enlightenment. Attaining the Enlightenment of the Arahants, Pratyekabuddha (Pali, paccekabuddha, literally "a lone buddha", "a buddha on their own" or "a private buddha" ), Bodhisattvas, and others. It need to be awake in order to see clearly. That clear seeing allows us to at least have the possibility of gaining Enlightenment. To experience a Great Awakenin...