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The Buddhist Notion of Emptiness and Its Potential Contribution To International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 27 | Issue 1 Article 10 1-1-2008 The uddB hist Notion of Emptiness and its Potential Contribution to Psychology and Psychotherapy José M. Tirado Saybrook Graduate School Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Tirado, J. M. (2008). Tirado, J. M. (2008). The uddB hist notion of emptiness and its potential contribution to psychology and psychotherapy. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 27(1), 74–79.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 27 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2008.27.1.74 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Special Topic Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Th e Buddhist Notion of Emptiness and its Potential Contribution to Psychology and Psychotherapy José M. Tirado Saybrook Graduate School Hafnarfj ordur, Iceland A growing number of psychologists now have their practices and theories informed by Bud- dhist meditation practices. Th ese practices, however, are themselves deeply informed by the Buddhist notion of emptiness (śūnyatā). Th is Buddhist concept off ers a rich vein of possibili- ties in informing psychology and psychotherapy. Th e present paper examines the develop- ment and potential of this concept for infl uencing these and other areas. n his fi rst book, Th oughts Without a Th inker: Psycho- suggest that our collective lives have become more whole. therapy from a Buddhist Perspective, Epstein (1995) Even with an abundance of easily available psychothera- Ibeautifully encapsulated within the title´s fi rst peutic modalities, hardly any would say we have become clause a potentially innovative contribution to modern happier or less neurotic. Who can dismiss entirely the psychology. Within this intriguing statement are hints of tongue-in-cheek title of a book co-penned by Jungian the Buddhist concept of emptiness, including its possible analyst James Hillman (Hillman & Ventura, 1993), benefi ts, prospective applications, and impact on psycho- We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy and the therapy. For if there really is no thinker, who precisely World’s Getting Worse? is caught up in the snares of psychological illnesses? Since Buddhism argues that grasping onto the Elaborating on this question, Epstein has said that “this notion of a self is at the root of the most essential existen- emphasis on the lack of a particular, substantive agent tial human problem, Buddhist critiques of this notion of is the most distinctive aspect of traditional Buddhist the self might helpfully address the narcissistic emphases psychological thought” (p. 41). He also suggested, of psychology. Th ese critiques are salient because, as correctly, that this Buddhist notion of a lack of “self” Epstein (1995) stated, the overwhelming dis-ease of may point us toward a new understanding of conscious- the human condition is narcissism, which he defi ned in ness. part as “the inability to tolerate unpleasant truths about Th e Buddhist answer to this question of who oneself” (p. 48). According to Epstein, “the Buddha was suff ers might be posited as follows: the attachment to the articulating a vision of a psyche freed from narcissism” sense of a thinker is the ultimate source of our illness, and (p. 41), adding that, “all the insults to our narcissism can therefore, upon release from this confi ning fi xation, our be overcome, the Buddha proclaimed, not by escaping illness will subside. Yet to whom does this attachment or them but by uprooting the conviction in a ‘self’ that fi xation occur? Our very use of a language that requires needs protecting” (p. 45). Few concepts seem as eminently subjects and objects, referring to essential entities and suited for such a task as the central Buddhist concept things, becomes problematic from a Buddhist standpoint of emptiness. Th is concept directly challenges the very because what is being pointed at is said to be insubstantial, notion of an independent, inherently existent self and possessed of an ineff able nature. Th e potential contribu- therefore off ers an initially uncomfortable but possibly tions this notion might off er to the world of psychology groundbreaking palliative to some of the most pressing and psychotherapy are therefore signifi cant. psychological diffi culties in the human condition. Th e While the accumulation of material goods and positive interpretation of emptiness allows for a philo- the ever-increasing fi lling up of our lives with more sophically deconstructed yet healthily adaptive self that invasive forms of entertainment and communication responds to psychological challenges with neither narcis- accelerates at seemingly breakneck speed, few would sistic myopia nor dissociative fragmentation. 74 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies , 27, 2008, pp. 74-79 It is the purpose of this paper to briefl y defi ne self, “it seems that human dispositions…tend to move… and describe the ramifi cations of adopting this Buddhist in two diff erent directions….the fi rst is in the direction idea into the realm of psychology and thereby hopefully of absolute negation….the other is in the direction of contribute a bit to its understanding and possible use. making it a permanent and eternal reality” (Kalupahana, 1987, p. 40). Neither position was correct according to Emptiness the Buddha, and both represented distortions of his own Th e English word, emptiness, is universally “Middle Way.” Th is said, it should be noted that, “both agreed upon as a proper translation of the Sanskrit word, Madhyamaka and Advaita Vedanta deny that ultimate śūnyatā. Śūnyatā has been defi ned as, “the ultimate nature reality can be understood in a dualistic manner” (King, of reality which is the total absence of inherent existence 1995, p. 135 [emphasis added]). and self-identity with respect to all phenomena” (Coleman, Th e eff ort to translate religious or spiritual 1993, p. 304 [emphasis added]). It is further character- terms from one language to another is always fraught ized more specifi cally as “empty and void of Perma- with diffi culty. It was no diff erent in the transition from nency, of true Happiness, Personality, and Pleasantness” the literary, spiritual languages of the Indian subconti- (Nyanatiloka, 1952, p. 132). Th us, “being devoid of any nent, Pali and Sanskrit, to East Asia, where many of the phenomenal characteristics, ‘void’ or ‘the indescribable’ languages adopted the Chinese ideographs (known in is the real nature of things” (Grimes, 1989, p. 354). Japanese as kanji) as the whole or part of their own writing Th e word śūnyatā is made of two parts: śūnya systems. Th ese ideographs were able to visually contain a or “empty” (its root –svi refers to being swollen, as in wealth of information, deposited as it were within each a belly, and this lends itself to the image of a swollen sub-section (called a radical) of the character, from which belly, presently devoid of any contents, but laden with literally tens of thousands of compounds with multiple possibilities) and –tā, describing the quality of being meanings could then be made. Th e languages themselves ascribed to the former part of speech (i.e., equivalent to (Chinese in particular, certainly Japanese as well) were the English suffi x –ness): thus, empty-ness. Since within quite comfortable with ambiguities and subtleties, diff er- most Western languages this writer is familiar with the entiating them from the precision and defi nitive clarity notion of emptiness is understood as pejoratively negative, of, say, Sanskrit. Th e ideograph adopted to represent this describing the absence of any thing (nihilism in Buddhist word, śūnyatā, is ku [空], which means, “sky, [to] make/ terms), it might be less misleading and more helpful to be unoccupied, empty” (Hadamitzky & Spahn, 1997, p. follow the broader Buddhist development of this idea as 92). Its signifi cance in this discussion lies in the tradi- Buddhism moved from India to Tibet, China, Japan, tionally dual expositions of its value as a synonymous and Korea. reading for śūnyatā. It should be noted at the outset that the Buddha Th e reasoning of the fi rst reading went as follows: made clear his determination to keep the interpretation as the sky is not a thing but rather, a space, it can be of his teachings away from the two extremes of what said to be without solidity, empty of things and thingness. he called nihilism and eternalism. Th e former position, It only hosts, so to speak, all passing phenomena, nihilism, would argue that nothingness is the natural remaining without inherent identity or substance (a bird, conclusion derived from analyzing the nature of self as for example, in the literal sky image, and thoughts, for empty. Th is lent itself to the rejection of any Ultimate its application to objects of consciousness). So too with Reality and denial of the possibility of apprehending śūnyatā. Th is was the negative formulation. “It does not anything beyond our senses. It had potentially disastrous mean that things do not exist but rather that they are consequences morally as well, for if no ultimate standard nothing but appearances” (Schuhmacher & Woerner, 1989, for moral behavior exists, it could be argued that no pp. 330-331 [emphasis added]). Traditional Zen imagery, restraints on moral behavior are necessary. the moon’s refl ection in a dew drop for example, capture Th e latter concept of eternalism was akin to somewhat the essence of what mistaking the image for Vedantic beliefs in (1) the soul, an eternal, transmigrating the reality might be like.
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