Emptiness, No-self and Buddhanature
             Buddhism in all of its different variations tends to emphasize the important realization that the ordinary material world is an illusion and that reality is not something that we can encounter through logic or reason. This view is derived for the initial Buddhist view of suffering in the world as being essentially false, and that the only way to eradicate suffering is to become aware of the truth that transcends the opposites of this world.
             The understanding of emptiness or nothingness as a central aspect of reality is a central foundation of the Buddhist view in general. This may seem strange to the modern Western consciousness. However it is only strange if we attempt to understand emptiness in opposite or dualistic terms. Stated very simply, emptiness actually refers to the unexplainable richness and depth of reality. We understand the Buddhist view of emptiness when go beyond all opposites and beyond limited and rational views of reality and of ourselves. Things become "empty" only because we no longer categorize or restrict them through reason or logic.
             Possibly the best way to understand the difficult concept of emptiness and no-self is through the Taoist Classic, The Tao Te Ching, which states this apprehension of reality as nothingness very clearly.
             The Tao that can be talked about is not the true Tao.
             This famous book elaborates on the idea of nothingness as it relates to natural human experience. The author states that the Tao or the Way should be followed without the interference of conceptual or rational thought.
             And you can be like it, not needing anything,
             Seeing the wonder and the root of everything.
             The above passages therefore emphasizes that reality is "nothingness" or emptiness in the sense that we cannot capture or define it through names or concepts. This non-dualism is reflected in Zen and in other Buddhist schools of thought in ...