The Buddhist concept of vacuity

Italian

The concept of vacuity is the axle of Buddhism which differentiates it for other religious traditions. What do we mean by vacuity though?

 

The principle of vacuity (In Japanese is “Ku”) as applied to Buddhism has been an issue that generated confusion within the western society as it has been categorised as nihilism. However the concept of vacuity does not deny the existence of what we perceive rather the reality conceived as intrinsic nature of phenomena; according to Buddhism this biasing view in fact would represent the cause of our illusion as well as our afflictions deriving from the Karma.

We can not deny the existence of things we experience, nevertheless it is possible to assess that this existence is conditioned; therefore everything exists as long as there are other conditions; within this frame of interpretation the sine qua non to accept the existence of reality is to grasp its dependent origin. This is the reason why Buddhism does not accept the existence of an eternal soul because it would imply the existence of a Self a priori.

Within Buddhism there are different interpretations of vacuity (Sunyata in Sanscrit). The Indian philosopher Nagarjuna (II Century A.D) founded the Buddhist school called Middle Way (Chu Do in Japanese) and he represents a milestone of Mahayana Buddhism. Other Buddhist schools –namely Consciousness-Only schools- already backed the conditioned co-production of phenomena; however they thought that within the consciousness it was possible spotting the scent of some sort of reality per se. Those schools in fact were agreeing with the interconnectedness of phenomena however they were applying this interpretation only to the external “reality” perceived by the individual; they were accepting the idea of an objective truth inherent of the Self. This interpretation is denied by Nagarjuna, who considers the objective world perceived by the individual and the internal realms of the subject interacting with his environment both as empty.

The relative reality and the empty one are not in opposition; instead they are the two sides of the same coin, which is represented by the Dharma itself.

Zen Buddhists love the expression which says “The Mountain is both  mountain (the reality we perceive) and non-mountain (the reality as vacuity)”. Nichiren Buddhists explain the same concept in a different way when referring to the two Japanese characters of the Lotus Sutra's title Myo-ho (Mystic Law), where Myo referes to the mystic aspect of the Law and Ho to its manifestations. They are two however the are conceived as a whole.

Contemplating the vacuity represents to some extent the “specialty” that practitioners should choose at some point; in this phase of the Buddhist practice the spiritual paths available become mutually exclusive.