A very different type of request

[Jimmy Pryor]

"Shunyata" -

Here's one explanation:


Shunyata

  Shunyata (Tib. stong-pa-nyid, Chin. kung),usually translated as 
"emptiness", "voidness", "nothingness", or even "relativity", is a key 
technical and philosophical term in the 
<http://www.kheper.net/topics/Buddhism/Mahayana.htm>Mahayana Buddhist 
tradition.
This is a difficult term, usually translated as "Void" or "Emptiness", but 
sometimes more positively as "Openness".  The philosophical nuances of this 
term are complex. Emptiness must not be understood as simple nihilism (the 
denial that anything exists), much less as referring to some absolute 
entity that underlies appearance. Rather, things are "empty" in the sense 
of lacking independent, persistent existence.
  In the Buddhist scholar H. V. Guenther's words: "the technical term 
shunya indicates the "open dimension of being".  The customary translations 
by "void" or "emptiness", fail to convey the positive content of the 
Buddhist idea" <http://www.kheper.net/topics/Buddhism/sunyata.htm#1>[1].
  While according to T. R. V. Murti 
<http://www.kheper.net/topics/Buddhism/sunyata.htm#2>[2], the terms shunya 
and shunyata are used in two allied meanings.
(a) All phenomena are shunya (void, empty), as  they are relative and so 
lack substantiality and independent  reality; they are conditioned by and 
depenedent on other phenomena (this is the Buddhist theory of 
Pratitya-samutpanna or "dependent origination") and hence in themselves 
ultimately unreal.
(b) The Absolute Reality is shunya or shunyata, as it is devoid of 
empirical forms and thought constructs, no predicate ("is", "not-is", "is 
and not-is", neither "is nor not-is") can  legitamately be applied to it.
For an in-depth philosophical discussion, see Francis Streng, Emptiness: A 
Study in Religious Meaning (Abingdon Press, 1975) (unfortunately out of print).

Ultimately shunyata is a phenomenological term for the experience of the 
<http://www.kheper.net/theoryofeverything/The_Absolute_Reality.htm>Absolute 
Reality.  The Absolute Reality is the experience of total freedom from 
the  distortion and limitations of conceptual understanding (vikalpa), it 
is "empty" or "void" of all such  particular characteristics.  This 
Shunyata, according to the great 2nd Century Buddhist dialectician 
Nagarjuna, can only be described in terms of a paradoxical series of 
negations.  So for example in Absolute Reality (Shunyata) there is neither 
Movement nor non-Movement nor both Movement and non-Movement nor something 
other than Movement and non-Movement.  Reality embraces all, includes all 
and transcends all.

Jimmy Pryor


At 12:39 PM 3/13/2006, David Barnes wrote:
>I don't believe I have every posted here before but have to admit that I
>have enjoyed the conversations over the years.  As someone who has
>facilitated Open Space events, and have tried to work in Open Space whenever
>possible, I am transitioning into another venture!!.  Along with a few other
>like minded souls, we are creating a consulting company that will have a
>mission to  be socially responsible in all work that we generate.  Through
>partnerships in the private , NGO and Not for Profit sectors,  we hope to
>create synergies that will benefit those that we are able to serve.  I can
>share more with those who are interested as to how we plan to create this
>work.   We have potential partners in Africa, Denmark, Washington and
>Canada. We share a vision in common to,  create and work within
>organizations  through Open Space and Open Sourcing.  In moving forward, we
>need to come up with a new name, a name that symbolizes our vision for work.
>A company that is in many ways virtual, given the geographic locations of
>our partners, the fact that we want to share leadership, grow ideas and
>services through an open space consulting company.  We want to continue to
>attract individuals who will move the vision forward.   So....the
>challenge......  what should we call ourselves.....  Any thoughts, ideas,
>ways to approach the naming game, would be welcome.
>
>Barnes Kinnear Associates
>1071 King St. West. Suite 102
>Toronto Ontario  M6K 3K2
>Phone 416-977-3811
>Fax 416-977-5690
>Cell 416-804-1319
>
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