Mark,
"Emptiness and Appearances in Buddhism: "Does this mean that nothing at all exists? No; the fact that one perceives a world of objects means that at least perceptions exist. So without an enduring essence, all objects exist provisionally. They exist as appearances. More specifically, all objects exist in relation to each other. A wall is an appearance, no more or less real than the eyes that see it. Music exists only insofar as instruments produce it and ears hear it. The keyboard exists as long as fingers feel it. And ideas exist insofar as there is the means to communicate them and minds to think on them. "The same analysis applies to all objects. In some sense, a car both is and is not a car. It is “really” a collection of seats, a steering wheel, an engine, a body, wheels, etc. But it is called a car for sake of convenience. "The school of thought that advanced this idea was the Madhyamaka and its founder, Nagarjuna, flourished in the second or third century CE. He taught that to understand this philosophy one must employ the idea of two truths: The conventional truth is the acceptance of the appearances the world offers. The ultimate truth is the truth that all things are empty. For Nagarjuna, awakening meant knowing this ultimate truth while living in a world of conventional appearances. Even nirvana is of the nature of emptiness. Therefore, according to Nagarjuna, there is no distinction between nirvana and samsara." Marsha ___ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
