Between Construction and Immediacy

Emptiness, a central concept in Buddhist Madhyamaka philosophy, is interpreted in two broad ways. The "enframed" interpretation values language and thought as tools for discovering ultimate truth, while the "unenframed" interpretation sees them as obstacles. Both claim to represent the middle way between essentialism and nihilism. The Geluk tradition treats emptiness as an absence of true existence, cultivated through meditation. In contrast, Mind-Only and Yogācāra-influenced traditions like Kagyü and Nyingma emphasize emptiness as an experiential, participatory dimension, not merely an objective property of things.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter begins with a discussion of emptiness and introduces two broad streams of interpretation of the import of negation. The “enframed” interpretation emphasizes the value of language and thought in the discovery of ultimate truth, while the “unenframed” interpretation emphasizes the way that language and thought impede this discovery. Both interpretations claim to represent the view of Madhyamaka, the middle way between the extremes of essentialism and nihilism. The Geluk tradition of Madhyamaka emphasizes the interpretation of emptiness as an absence of true existence, yet its meaning is also participatory and performative, since the meaning of emptiness is to be cultivated through meditation. In Mind-Only and Yogācāra-inflected traditions like the Kagyü and Nyingma, the experiential or phenomenological dimension of emptiness is emphasized, whereby emptiness is inclusive of a participatory (or cognitive) orientation and is not typically framed as an object or solely the (object-ive) nature of things.