emptiness 空

Went to a seminar at a Catholic university in Taipei on one Buddhism school's interpretation on Emptiness.

到輔仁大學旁聽一個佛門學派（中觀，根本中論）對【空】的解釋。

"The world is one big illusion, nothing has its real own-being, all things are cause-effect related" are some fundamental assertions of Buddhism, as you may well know, but here's some simple, interesting logic this particular Buddhism school (Madhyamaka) uses to explain them:

【婆娑世界只是幻象，不存在本相，萬物互為因果】是我們熟悉的一些佛門基本信念，中觀學派卻以一套簡單，有趣的邏輯思考來闡釋這些道理：

When we say something has some quality, it implies that "thing" and that "quality" both exist at the same time, otherwise that thing shows no such quality, and that quality has nothing to apply itself to.

當我們說某物具有某種特質時，隱涵的意義是該物與該特質是同時並存的，若不然則該物無該特質可顯現，而該特質則無該物可附著。

Similarly, the concept of cause requires and cannot occur without the concept of effect, and the concept of effect requires and cannot occur without the concept of cause. When "x is the cause of y," it implies that the requirement for y is built into the nature of x.  

同樣的道理，【因】的觀念必須有【果】的觀念同時存在才能成立，【果】的觀念也必須有【因】的觀念同時存在才能成立。當我們說【甲是造成乙發生的原因】時，我們意指造成乙發生的元素已經存在甲裡面了。

 
Since the truly existing own-being of a thing has to exist autonomously, independent of the aid or influence of anything else, this built-in need for an external condition will preclude real own-being. Therefore the world is not real, but one big illusion.

既然真實本相是自有而不需依賴或受外來因素影響的存在，這個萬物皆隱含需外力誘發才能顯現的世界並非本相，而是幻象存在。

This doesn't mean the "worldly" things we experience daily do not have their effects on us, or the seeds won't sprout, or a person's actions cannot achieve their intended effects. Like objects experienced in dreams, reflections seen in a mirror, echoes, and like illusory creations conjured up by a skilled magician, they all seem so real and fancy changing.

但這並不表示我們生存在這個【俗世】裡的所有感受都是不真實的，或者種子不會發芽，人的努力不會有成效。而是我們如同活在夢裡，或看著鏡中的影像，或聽著迴聲，所有一切就像一個高明的魔術師為我們製造出的幻象，讓我們感覺他們是多麼真實又富變化。

But the real real behind all these has always been in a state of calm. "One need not seek deliverance from things that have never existed but must merely awaken to the true state of affairs," as concluded by Dr. Anne MacDonald, the speaker from Austrian Academy of Sciences of Vienna.

但隱藏在這些繁複背後的卻是一貫平常的真實本相。如同來自維也納科學學術研究院的主講人Anne MacDonald的結語所說的：【人們不需追求逃離原本就不存在的虛無世界，而只需覺醒看見萬物的本相。】

​