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Emptiness

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Emptiness and Religious Meaning Frederick Streng, Lectures 1-3 The Precepts Project Day 3: the vow to avoid harming sentient beings In the past twenty-four hours ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Emptiness


1
Emptiness
  • and Religious Meaning
  • Frederick Streng, Lectures 1-3

2
The Precepts Project
  • Day 3   the vow to avoid harming sentient beings
  •  
  • In the past twenty-four hours, have you...
  •  
  • ... eaten anything? What was in your food? How
    many lives were taken for your meals? Who placed
    the food on your plate? Who cooked it, cleaned
    it, harvested or butchered it, planted and
    nurtured it?
  • ... harmed anyone? Have you said something
    intended to hurt? Have you said something that
    hurt unintentionally? Have you avoided or
    neglected a friend or acquaintance? Have you
    harmed anyone with a glance, glare, scowl, or
    smirk?
  •  

3
THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS OF MADHYAMIKA   Nine
lectures by FREDERICK J. STRENG
  • Randall L. Nadeau, Editor

4
Emptiness and Religious Meaning
  • Scholars need a theory about religious life, not
    an ideology ... and they need to be able to
    examine that theory from the joint perspectives
    of empirical study and philosophical reflection.
    At the same time, any serious consideration of
    the ultimacy of a particular expression of
    religion may open up the possibility of ultimate
    transformation in the researcher's life. (From
    Understanding Religious Life)
  • In all of Streng's work, there is the urge to
    relate religious insight to every aspect of our
    lives, just as Nâgârjuna sought to apply the
    notion of Emptiness to every aspect of subjective
    experience. (From the Editors Introduction)
  • Our purpose in this lecture and the next is to
    explore why a perception of the emptiness of
    causes and actions is an important religious
    concern. (From Lecture 1)

5
Emptiness as Theory Emptiness as Practice
  • The attempt to systematize the phenomenal world
    and to develop a theory of their
    inter-relationships was for these scholars a
    distinctly religious goal. The detailed analysis
    of how each moment of experience arose and
    dissipated was intended to eliminate false
    assumptions about humanity and existence -- an
    intent that was directed toward inner freedom,
    not speculative thought... The goal was to
    perceive how emotional, perceptual, and mental
    conditions contribute to the human experience of
    pain or happiness (from Lecture 1)
  • Emptiness is not seen as a thing, but as a
    process of release it is a procedure which is
    the "middle way."
  • ...
  • Emptiness is not just another theory, not just
    another viewpoint. The designation "empty"
    itself cannot be taken as a thing in itself.
    (From Lecture 3)
  • The claim that all things are empty intends to
    be a spiritual insight that cannot be reduced to
    a viewpoint. (From Lecture 3)
  • Time and again you have made a condemnation of
    emptiness,But that refutation does not apply to
    our emptiness.
  • When emptiness "works," then everything in
    existence "works."If emptiness does not "work,"
    then all existence does not "work."
  • (MMK 2413-14)

6
What is an egg?
  • a verbal formulation describing an essence
  • a verbal fabrication that is useful in popular or
    conventional communication to distinguish a
    particular class of items from other classes

7
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8
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9
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10
When is an egg not an egg?
  1. Is a sterile egg an egg?
  2. Is a rotten egg an egg?
  3. Is a chicken an egg?

11
From egg to abstract values
  • We can begin to see the problem that Nâgârjuna
    was dealing with when we recognize a fairly
    simple thing our words and language can
    generate the expectation of entities that are
    totally nonexistent. Human beings can use
    language in such a way that the words can be
    meaningful while at the same time they are mere
    fabrications of the mind. (From Lecture 2)
  • Masculinity/Femininity
  • Profanity and Obscenity
  • Virtue
  • God
  • I

12
Masculinity/Femininity
  • Born on April 29 1970, Uma Thurman was raised in
    an offbeat, bohemian household by intellectual
    parents. Her Swedish-born mother, Nena, was a
    psychotherapist who was briefly married to
    psychedelic guru Timothy Leary before marrying
    one of his prized students, Robert A.F. Thurman.
    Uma's father has the distinction of being the
    first American's to be ordained a Tibetan
    Buddhist monk (he has long since renounced his
    monastic life and is currently head of the
    religion department at Columbia University).
    Steeped in Buddhist faith and encouraged to be
    free thinkers, Uma and her three brothers,
    Dechen, Ganden, and Mipam (all four children were
    named for Hindu deities "Uma" translates into
    "bestower of blessings"), developed a
    multicultural worldview. The family lived for
    extended periods in India (while the children
    were in grade school), Amherst, Massachusetts,
    and Woodstock, New York.
  • Uma-Thurman.net
  • Your No. 1 source for Uma Thurman Information

13
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14
Profanity and Obscenity
  • Use Of Profanity On TV Increasing, Study Shows
  • Council Looks At Six Broadcast Networks
  • UPDATED 1013 a.m. EDT September 23, 2003
  • LOS ANGELES -- There's too dang much cussin' on
    TV these days -- and it's creeping into the
    family hour, according to a new report by a
    watchdog group.
  • Researchers found that television writers are
    including more four-letter words in their
    primetime scripts these days.
  • The Parents Television Council studied six
    broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB and
    UPN -- during the two-week November sweeps period
    in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
  • The group found a jump in profanity on every
    network and in every time slot. The study found
    during the so-called "family hour," from 8 to 9
    p.m., foul language increased by more than 94
    percent between 1998 and 2002.
  • And profanity rose by 109 percent during the 9
    p.m. hour in the same period.

15
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16
OVERALL OVERALL OVERALL OVERALL    
 
800-900 p.m. ET/PT 1998 2000 2002  
1 Curses, oaths, and intensives 44 48 46  
2 Offensive epithets 16 14 6  
3 Scatological language 26 29 32  
4 Sexually indecent language 14 8 14  
5 Censored language lt1 lt1 1  
   
1 Curses, oaths, and intensives hell, damn hell, damn  
2 Offensive epithets bitch, bastard, son of a bitch bitch, bastard, son of a bitch bitch, bastard, son of a bitch  
3 Scatological language ass, asshole, crap, piss ass, asshole, crap, piss ass, asshole, crap, piss  
4 Sexually indecent language suck, screw, euphemisms for sexual intercourse suck, screw, euphemisms for sexual intercourse suck, screw, euphemisms for sexual intercourse suck, screw, euphemisms for sexual intercourse suck, screw, euphemisms for sexual intercourse
5 Censored language bleeped forms of shit or fuck bleeped forms of shit or fuck bleeped forms of shit or fuck    
17
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18
Virtue
  • righteousness
  • goodness
  • love
  • fidelity
  • a faithful friend
  • a good boy
  • a happy life

19
God
  • Exodus 20
  • 1 And God spake all these words, saying,
  • 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have
    brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the
    house of bondage.
  • 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
  • God and theism
  • God and the God above God (Paul Tillich, The
    Courage to Be)

20
I
  • Who or What am I?
  • I am what I eat
  • I am my parents
  • I am my lovers
  • I am my children
  • I am my memories
  • I am my conscious thoughts
  • I am unknown to myself
  • I am what I am
  • I am what I have
  • I have a car
  • I have two children
  • I have a wife
  • I have a house
  • I have a job
  • I have a mind
  • I have inalienable rights
  • I have the right to an opinion

21
  • Since anything being denied does not exist, I do
    not deny anythingTherefore the statement "You
    deny" -- which was made by you -- is a false
    accusation
  • (From Averting the Arguments)
  • Regarding what was said concerning what does not
    exist"The statement of denial is proved without
    a word."In that case the statement expresses
    "That object does not exist"The words do
    not destroy the object. (ibid.)
  • Words are not just wind. Words have something
    to say. But if what they have to say is not
    fixed, then do they really say something? Or do
    they say nothing? People suppose that words are
    different from the peeps of baby birds, but is
    there any difference, or isn't there? What does
    the Dao rely upon, that we have true and false?
    What do words rely upon, that we have right and
    wrong? How can the Dao go away and not exist?
    How can words exist and not be acceptable? When
    the Dao relies on little accomplishments and
    words rely on vain show, then we have the rights
    and wrongs of the Confucians and Mo-ists. What
    one calls right the other calls wrong what one
    calls wrong the other calls right. But if we
    want to right their wrongs and wrong their
    rights, then the best thing to use is clarity.
  • Everything has its "that", everything has its
    "this". From the point of view of "that" you
    cannot see it, but through understanding you can
    know it. So I say, "that" comes out of "this"
    and "this" depends on "that" -- which is to say
    that "this" and "that" give birth to each other.
    But where there is birth there must be death
    where there is death there must be birth. Where
    there is acceptability there must be
    unacceptability where there is unacceptability
    there must be acceptability. Where there is
    recognition of right there must be recognition of
    wrong where there is recognition of wrong there
    must be recognition of right.
  • Therefore the sage does not proceed in such a
    way, but illuminates all in the light of Tian.
    He too recognizes a "this", but a "this" which is
    also "that", a "that" which is also "this". His
    "that" has both a right and a wrong in it his
    "this" too has both a right and a wrong in it.
    So, in fact, does he still have a "this" and
    "that"? A state in which "this" and "that" no
    longer find their opposites is called the hinge
    of the Dao. When the hinge is fitted into the
    socket, it can respond endlessly... (Zhuangzi,
    Ch. 2)
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