Calvin Kessler

Professor Alexander Mayer

EALC 122

1 December 2017

Emptiness Teachings and the Four Noble Truths

In the developing the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha first sought to establish an understanding

of suffering and its causes from which he then defined a path that sentient beings could follow to

escape the karmic cycle and end their suffering. The original teachings of the Buddha have been

reformed several times since their initial formulation, which has led to the development of three

primary schools of Buddhism. One of these schools known as the Mahayana school contains a series of

sutras including the Prajpramit sutra, which emphasizes the notion of emptiness in Buddhist

thought. Emptiness can be loosely understood in this context as the idea that every object, physical or

otherwise, is merely conceptual and that the things that we designate with various labels and

descriptions may not actually be true to the labels and descriptions apply to them. The Prajpramit

emphasizes that the notion of emptiness implies that everything in reality, including the self, is in a

constant state of change and thus trying to attach labels and make definitive statements about any

object is not only pointless, but detrimental to the process of reaching nirvana. The emptiness teachings

found in the Prajpramit can be applied to the Four Noble Truths to acquire a greater insight of the

reasons of mankinds suffering and how the Noble Eightfold path ought to be practiced.

The first two Noble Truths are concerned with suffering and the factors that give rise to

suffering. In these Truths, the Buddha states that the causes of suffering are generally related to

ignorance and attachment to reality. This includes ignorance and attachment to the five aggregates

through which we interact with our perceived reality: physical-elements, sensation, intellection,

volitional formations, and cognitions. It is said in Prajpramit that the Bodhisattva Avalokitevara

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saw that the five aggregates are all empty and crossed over all suffering [Reader pg. 216]. In

recognizing reality as empty, Avalokitevara was able to escape the causes leading to suffering

described in the Four Noble Truths and attain nirvana. The natural contrapositive of the emptiness

teachings suggest that we deceive ourselves when we consider any part of these five aggregates to be

non-empty. In considering an object to be non-empty, we attach certain thoughts, feelings, and

characteristics to that object which we then become attached to. Attachment, being a cause of suffering,

then leads us away from nirvana and keeps us trapped in the karmic cycle of rebirth. It is only through

accepting reality as empty that we are able to avoid these sort of attachments and find release from

suffering.

The Four Noble Truths are careful in establishing that the causes of suffering not only stems

from attachment to purely physical objects, but also in attachment to characteristics that we apply to

our own thoughts, value systems, and identities. The emptiness teachings resonate with this idea by

emphasizing that the mind with which we interpret reality is also empty by nature. If the mind is empty

by nature, then the characteristics that we use to describe our values and identity must also be empty.

Therefore, to view our core values or identity as non-empty characteristics of our life would have to

imply that we are to some extent attached to these characteristics. In the emptiness teachings, there is

no distinction between attachment to characteristics which may be regarded as good or those that may

be regarded as bad as both represent attachment to something that is empty in nature. The Chinese

scholar, Huangbo Xiyun, states that in being attached to characteristics and doing good, one vainly

undergoes laborious suffering [Reader pg. 222]. Being in pursuit of a characteristic that is labeled as

good still implies that this desired characteristic is being viewed as something that is unchanging and

non-empty, which according to the emptiness teachings, is a denial of the true nature of reality and is

therefore a cause of suffering.

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 It is said in the Prajpramit that there is no obtaining. For the reason that there is nothing to

be obtained [Reader pg. 217], meaning that those who seek to obtain release from suffering do not

find release because release is empty by nature and therefore is not capable of being obtained.

This creates an interesting predicament for those who actively set out on the Noble Eightfold Path to

develop characteristics that are considered to be Buddha-like: If there is truly nothing to obtain, then

why is pursuing the Noble Eightfold Path necessary for liberation? On being attached to these Budda-

like characteristics, Xiyun states that The more [the students] seek it, the farther they go astray. [This

is like] dispatching the Buddha in search of the Buddha. That is to say that when students attempt to

use their mind as a vehicle towards attaining Buddha-like characteristics, they regard the mind and

these characteristics as being non-empty parts of reality. Ironically, this then leads these students to fall

prey to the same attachment and suffering that they were experiencing before trying to relieve

themselves from attachment! On this, the emptiness teachings even go as far as to say that There is no

suffering, no collection of causes, no ending, and no path [Reader pg. 217], which, at first glance,

seems to dismiss the Four Noble Truths entirely. However, if everything in reality is empty, this means

that the Four Noble Truths must also be empty as well. By extension, the Noble Eightfold Path must

also be consider as empty and must be followed without becoming attached to it or the characteristics

that they seek to cultivate.

The Four Noble Truths can be viewed through the lens of the emptiness teachings by

understanding that the nature of reality is emptiness and that the causes of suffering as specified in the

Four Noble Truths can be escaped if these causes are also fully accepted to be empty components of

reality. By accepting that the causes of suffering are empty, we are able to detach ourselves from them

and then achieve liberation from suffering and from the karmic cycle. While the vast majority of

Buddhists will likely not achieve this in a single or many lifetimes, following the Four Noble Truths

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and the emptiness teachings can nevertheless help an individual cultivate mindfulness and self-

discipline in their every day life.