First of all, we need to understand a fundamental question: Why do we practice emptiness? Of course, the reason can be summed up in one sentence: “Because I want liberation!” But why can the realization of emptiness actually bring about liberation?
When answering these questions, we must step away from merely reciting theoretical doctrinal. Why does emptiness bring us the benefit of liberation? Certainly, practicing emptiness helps us remove attachment—but why does the absence of attachment lead to liberation?
Practicing emptiness is meant to help us realize that everything which causes us suffering does not, in fact, have to cause us suffering. Many things bring us pain—if a steel blade were thrust toward us, or a bullet fired at us, we would certainly suffer. As for pleasant things, they may bring a temporary sweetness, but they cannot grant us lasting happiness. Even the body we rely on to experience pleasure only provides momentary enjoyment; in the end, it too becomes a source of suffering. The root of the problem is that all our happiness arises in dependence upon external conditions.
Since happiness depends on external conditions, our mind must experience some function or effect from those external objects. Take a simple example: if rice had neither fragrance nor the ability to satisfy hunger, what difference would it make to us whether it truly existed or not? In reality, we are not attached to its “inherent existence”; rather, we are attached to its function of filling our stomach. Yet the very craving for fullness already implies the suffering of hunger. Precisely because we would go hungry without rice, we cannot do without it.
Our happiness depends entirely on the functioning of external conditions. But since these external conditions are impermanent (anitya) and constantly changing, the very things that bring us pleasure simultaneously plant the seeds of suffering. This is undeniable, isn’t it? Sometimes external objects directly cause us pain; at other times, while bringing us happiness, they quietly sow the causes of future suffering. Therefore, ultimately speaking, merely pursuing satisfaction through external conditions will only lead us back to suffering.
Why must we realize emptiness (śūnyatā)? Because emptiness brings only joy and no suffering. Why is that? Because it is emptiness—“bliss” is the natural result of emptiness itself. But why does such a result arise? We can trace the reasoning further. When we cling to all phenomena as truly existent, we obtain happiness by relying on the functions of external conditions. Yet at the same time, this dualistic mode of cognition—divided into perceiving subject and perceived object—also carries the possibility of suffering.
However, at the moment of realizing emptiness, the perceiving mind (the subject) and the perceived object are no longer two opposing entities—they are realized as of one taste, non-dual. The dualistic opposition between subject and object completely dissolves. In that state, what arises is only joy; suffering can no longer take hold.
Excerpt adapted and compiled from An Overview of Madhyamaka
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
