..续本文上一页Being,"

　　precisely because it is Emptiness which "empties"

　　even emptiness, true Emptiness (Absolute

　　Nothingness) is absolute Reality which makes all

　　phenomena, all existents, truly be.[14]

　　Sunyata, then, carries and permeates all phenomena and makes their development possible. Sunyata is often equated with the absolute in Mahayana, since it is without duality and beyond empirical forms. In quantum physics, ultimate reality is equated with formless energy at the core of the atom. This energy (of physics) or sunyata (of Mahayana) is not a state of mere nothingness but is the very source of all life and the essence of all forms.

　　Another helpful way to undertand sunyata is through the Zen term of "nowness," sometimes used interchangeably with "momentariness." In the absence of a permanent, abiding substance anywhere, there is only the nowness of things: ephermeral, transitory, momentary. In traditional Buddhist literature, the "nowness" of things is described as tathata or "suchness." The concept of tathata was first formulated by Asvaghosha, another great Buddhist thinker who probably lived a hundred years before Nagarjuna, and influenced him greatly. In Asvaghosha”s formulation, when the futility of all conceptual thinking is recognized, reality is experienced as pure "suchness." What is realized in suchness is the existence of form-as-itself (the treeness of the tree, for instance), but that realization is suffused in intuitive wisdom (prajna) so that the ultimate reality of the form is seen as momentary and essentially devoid (sunya) of any lasting substance. Masao Abe, among others, insists that "Emptiness is Suchness."

　　Lama Angarika Govinda uses the word "transparency" to come to a fuller understanding of sunyata:

　　If sunyata hints at the nonsubstantiality of the

　　world and the interrelationship of all beings and

　　things, then there can be no better word to

　　describe its meaning than transparency. This word

　　avoids the pitfalls of a pure negation and

　　replaces the concepts of substance, resistance,

　　impenetrability, limitation, and materiality with

　　something that can be experienced and is closely

　　related to the concepts of space and light.[15]

　　He goes on to elaborate,

　　Far from being the expression of a nihilistic

　　philosophy which denies all reality, it (sunyata)

　　is the logical consequence of the anatman

　　(non-self) doctrine of nonsubstantiality. Sunyata

　　is the emptiness of all conceptual designations

　　and at the same time the recognition of a higher,

　　incommensurable and indefinable reality, which can

　　be experienced only in the state of perfect

　　enlightenment. While we are able to come to an

　　understanding of relativity by way of reasoning,

　　the experience of universality and completeness

　　can be attained only when all conceptual thought,

　　all word-thinking, has come to rest. The

　　realization of the teachings of the

　　Prajna-paramita Sutra can come about only on the

　　path of meditative practice (yogacara), through a

　　transformation of our consciousness. Meditation in

　　this sense is, therefore, no more a search after

　　intellectual solutions or an analysis of worldly

　　phenomena with worldly means--which would merely

　　be moving around in circles--but a breaking out

　　from this circle, an abandoning of our

　　thought-habits in order to "reach the other shore"

　　(as it has been said not only in the

　　Prajna-paramita-hridaya, but also in the ancient

　　Sutta Nipata of the Pali Canon.) This requires a

　　complete reverseal of our outlook, a complete

　　spiritual transformation or, as the Lankavatara

　　Sutra expresses it, "a turning about in the

　　deepest seat of our consciousness." This reversal

　　brings about a new spiritual outlook, similar to

　　that which the Buddha experienced when returning …

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