Donna Quesada. Buddhism: Emptiness. (Thich Nhat Hanh) 3/5

[jbearden]

Nagarjuna

[Flaytt744]

i like what nagarjuna says in the 70 verses on emptiness..."in truth there's no birth".i normally stop there and contemplate.

[profquesada]

Any "ultimate beginning" idea comes with some intellectual peril, namely the problem of nihilism-that something has come from nothing (w/o causes), and further..creationism. But, doesn't necessarily conflict with Buddhism, since Buddha himself urged us away from just this sort of thing! Buddha never denied nor affirmed creation; he just focused on practice. Cyclical time just suggests repetition, with all its pauses and bangs--this may actually resolve certain problems (like nihilism)!

[bayreuth79]

I am curious what Buddhist scholars think about Big Bang cosmology? Most physicists seem to think that there was an absolute beginning of space and time. This wouldn't cohere with a cyclical conception of time. Emptiness seems also to imply cause and effect; but why is there something rather than nothing? What caused there to be something?

[bhaugart]

I am a witness of Maya... and so I know now that I do not exist. Thanks Donna.