..續本文上一頁an that things and events don”t exist on the relative level. Therefore, whatever we should do on the relative level, we must still do it. Of course, we mustn”t commit unwholesome activities. Even though the relative itself is considered illusory, committing illusory unwholesome activities will bring immeasurable pain in an illusory way. This is something that we must all be aware of.

　　(4) Question: In the news, it said that about one hour ago, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Japan and triggered a tsunami. There are so many disasters these days. As a Buddhist, how should we deal with them

　　Answer: OM MANI PADME HUM, OM MANI PADME HUM…. Guru Padmasambhava gave a teaching saying that if people frequently commit negative activities, disasters from the four elements will occur frequently.

　　Although the occurrence of an earthquake has extremely complex reasons behind it, and we cannot be sure whether it is due to the ripening of negative karma, yet, compared to the last few centuries, we can see that human beings are committing far more serious unwholesome activities than before. I therefore think that these disasters must have something to do with the negative karma human beings have created. However, as an ordinary human being, I do not dare to speculate what exactly the causes are that triggered it. The law of causation is very subtle and unpredictable. Only the omniscient Buddha is able to master it.

　　In short, any disaster or tragedy is linked to the common karma shared by sentient beings and is closely related to the specific karma shared by the victims. Besides that, it certainly also involves temporary causes and conditions. Some people have the heretical belief that everything is already pre-determined by karma. However, Buddhism doesn”t believe this; it believes that everything is the product of causes and conditions that come together.

　　(5) Question: I am a student in the Department of Philosophy at Fudan University. In Buddhism, the Madhyamaka philosophy is generally accepted as the ultimate view. Yet, Tibetan Buddhism has many debates about the topic of emptiness, such as the emptiness of self and emptiness of other. May I know what is the main position regarding the emptiness of self and emptiness of other (Shentong) respectively

　　 What are the differences between them and the focus of the debate

　　Answer: In Tibetan Buddhism, the Jonang school belongs to the school of the emptiness of other, and the Nyingma, Gelugpa, and some other great masters are considered as from the emptiness of self school.

　　Khenpo Kunzang, a Nyingma disciple of omniscient Mipham Rinpoche, says in Commentary on the Beacon of Certainty that, in the past, people endlessly debated about the emptiness of self and the emptiness of other; however, ultimately, these two views are actually the same.

　　Why

　　 Because the so-called emptiness of self is about positing all forms, and even the omniscient wisdom of Buddha, as emptiness. In other words, their essence is empty. As for the emptiness of other, although the essence of the tathagatagarbha is not empty, its true existence is a kind of inconceivable existence. It is beyond the four conceptual extremes and eight extremes of conceptual elaboration, not perceivable by our dualistic mind. In fact, the idea articulated in the emptiness of self and emptiness of other only has differences from the distinguishing aspect of viewpoint, but their essences are the same.

　　To put it another way, the emptiness of self ascertains the type of emptiness elucidated in the second turning of the wheel of Dharma, in which all things and events are posited as emptiness. They have no essence at all. As for the emptiness of other, it ascertains the tathagatagarbha, the clear light. Whether we recognize the nature of our mi…

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