Sat, 27 Mar 2010
Empty Truths
The next section of the Heart Sutra says that the Four Noble Truths are also empty.
There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, and no Way
The translation here is a little unclear. I would translate as "no suffering or its origin, cessation or its path." Up to now emptiness has been applied to the impure dharmas. Here it is applied to the pure dharmas of the Four Noble Truths. A well known saying goes "all dharmas are empty, from form up to omniscience." All cessations are dependent phenomena. The absence of an elephant in my bedroom is an imputation and not a real phenomenon. So all cessations, including nirvana, are imputed and therefore empty. Since nirvana is an empty phenomenon, it is not produced or stopped. So there no path. Suffering, also, is a composite and empty phenomenon and hence has no origin. So all Four Noble Truths are empty.
