Sat, 13 Mar 2010
Marked by Emptiness
The next verse of the Heart Sutra says:
Shariputra, all Dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure; and they neither increase nor diminish.
Not only are the skandhas empty, so are all the dharmas. Everything which is a dependent phenomenon is empty and all dharmas are dependent phenomena, in one way or another. All dharmas are the result on conditions. For example, a rainbow is the result of the sun, rain, and a person viewing it from a certain angle. The rainbow has no existence apart from the conditions that bring it about. It is not created from these conditions, nor is it destroyed when they cease, because it has no separate existence apart from these conditions. Things that we consider defiled seem so because of our cultural conditioning. They are not inherently defiled and would not seem so to a hypothetical visitor from Mars. Our ideas of gain and loss are also the result of cultural conditioning. No one is inherently a success or failure. Ideas of success and failure are culturally conditioned.
