Emptiness

Emptiness, or voidness, means a total absence of impossible ways of existing. Nothing exists in an impossible way.

A determination to be free of suffering, a bodhichitta aim to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all, and a correct understanding of emptiness are the three principal aspects of the graded path to enlightenment.

“Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior” (Skt. Bodhisattvacharyavatara) has ten chapters dedicated to the development of bodhichitta through the six far-reaching attitudes (perfections) – generosity, ethical self-discipline, patience, perseverance, concentration and discriminating...

Disturbing emotions and disturbing attitudes arise from our unawareness of reality, which is fed by incorrect consideration. With incorrect consideration, the confused mind projects something that is not there.

With correct understanding of voidness, we also correctly understand the different levels of dependent arising.

The “heart” means the essence of the extensive teachings Buddha gave, incorporated into an abbreviated form in this sutra that synthesizes all the main points of voidness.

The basis of the meditation on voidness is the identification and understanding of what is to be refuted: the truly established existence of persons and of all phenomena.

A Gelug presentation of the topic of negations and affirmations, which are crucial in meditating on the negation phenomenon, voidness.

In “Four Hundred Verse Treatise,” Aryadeva deconstructs the various types of incorrect consideration that we all have, as espoused by the different non-Buddhist Indian schools of philosophy.

Non-conceptual cognition of self-voidness (“rangtong” – the emptiness of self-established existence) with a mind of other-voidness (“zhentong” – the emptiness of grosser levels of mind) brings enlightenment.