Title: Emptiness
1Emptiness
- and Religious Meaning
- Frederick Streng, Lectures 1-3
2The 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? -
3THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS OF MADHYAMIKA Nine
lectures by FREDERICK J. STRENG
- Randall L. Nadeau, Editor
4Emptiness 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)
5Emptiness 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)
6What 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
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10When is an egg not an egg?
- Is a sterile egg an egg?
- Is a rotten egg an egg?
- Is a chicken an egg?
11From 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
12Masculinity/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
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14Profanity 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.
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16OVERALL 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
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18Virtue
- righteousness
- goodness
- love
- fidelity
- a faithful friend
- a good boy
- a happy life
19God
- 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)
20I
- 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)