Expert: Justin Choo - 11/22/2007

Question
Hi Justin,

how would you get a westerner (having logic ingrained in them since birth) around this concept? do you have any examples that could help clear it up for me? i am struggling w/it. thx Justin.

Answer
Hi Paul,

I don't know where you got this equation. Risking being labelled an intellect, I would postulate that form is not emptiness; and vice versa.  Perhaps if you can elaborate further, I may be able to comment.  Be that as it may, let me share with you the concept of "emptiness".

What we are experiencing in life IS real in form.  It is the whole futile process of living (existence) that is "emptiness".  Now let us be an observer of a life cycle of a butterfly.  First the egg, then the caterpillar, followed by the pupa in the chrysalis, and finally emerged the butterfly.  All this process took only a few weeks, and the butterfly will die after another two weeks.  As an observer, we can SEE the futility of this cycle which is real; but don't we see the "emptiness" in this process?  As far as the butterfly is concerned, it is a real life.  As far as we observers are concerned, it is just a passing passage of one very short life.  This to me relates very well to the concept of "emptiness".  Imagine the butterfly to be you, maybe you could see this "emptiness" for real!

As to "form", it is a combination of elements, always in motion.  The main characteristic of this "form" is its "incessant change", culminating in decay and destruction; and repeating its cycle of formation, generation, decay and destruction.  The whole process is a futile phenomenon of struggling to survive, which in the final analysis will inevitably end up in death/destruction.  

Smile from justinchoo :-)