Questioning the Answer

In the process of investigating and pondering the meaning of emptiness in the last few years i have encountered a substantial amount of blind, dogmatic belief within Buddhism, especially with respect to the teachings on emptiness. Somehow, this belief in emptiness – as opposed to the living experience of it – has always felt like hypocrisy and a betrayal of the true meaning of emptiness. In my discussions with fellow practitioners i have often struggled to describe and identify this dogmatic belief in emptiness but perhaps it can be explained by considering the difference between viewing emptiness as an answer and viewing emptiness as a question.

Is emptiness an answer or a question?

Usually we interpret emptiness as an answer. It acts as an answer to questions like, “What is ultimate truth?” “What is the gateway to liberation and enlightenment?” and “What is the true nature of all phenomena?” Emptiness is seen as a definitive truth that provides a conclusive resolution to our search for Truth or Reality. By interpreting emptiness in this way, we think of it as a response that decisively settles our questions of existence. Thus, as the ultimate truth and final answer to our deepest concerns, emptiness is deemed worthy of our veneration and belief.

We can also interpret emptiness as a question. In this perspective, emptiness does not provide a simple response to our inquiries into the nature of existence but instead functions to reflect back the beliefs, assumptions, and preconceptions that underlie our desire to know the true nature of existence. Emptiness merely acts as an antidote to our delusions: our self-grasping mind supposes the existence of things and emptiness negates that existence, leaving us in the original groundless position of not knowing what exists. Rather than conveying new information or new realizations, emptiness simply mirrors ourself back to ourself thereby re-presenting our original doubts and desires. In this way, emptiness is asking all the big questions that we are seeking answers to: Who am i? What is the purpose of life? What is the true nature of existence? Thus, as a question, emptiness acts to confront and neutralize all our beliefs that we assume to be true answers – including the belief that emptiness is an answer.

Although both these perspectives can be beneficial, it seems to me that emptiness is most fundamentally a question that functions to oppose and break down all our dogmatic answers. It does not tell us anything about the world we live in but challenges all our assumptions about that world. This provocative and deconstructive nature of emptiness is what gives it vitality and makes it relevant to our spiritual development. By adopting a spiritual practice based on (the experience of) emptiness we commit ourself to facing and wrestling with all the complicated and profound questions that life presents. We humbly admit that there are no easy answers and that all conclusions are ultimately unreliable.

This is why a dogmatic belief in emptiness is such a betrayal to its spirit. By allowing ourselves to accept ‘emptiness’ as an answer to all the wonderful questions of life, we assume that all the great questions have been resolved, which in turn makes us spiritually complacent. We reify emptiness as a concept and proceed to believe in it instead of experiencing it. This causes our spiritual practice to degenerate from a method of directly engaging with life to a form of worship that idolizes direct experience as a distant and abstract ideal.

We can reinvigorate our spiritual practice by approaching emptiness as a question that is constantly probing our subconscious beliefs and forcing us to face life with an open and receptive mind, free from preconception and prejudice. Emptiness is not telling us who we really are, it is asking us who we really are – and it will never stop asking. The only convincing way to answer the question of emptiness is through action. In the end, our understanding of emptiness is demonstrated by who we are and what we do, not by the doctrines we adhere to.