MYSTERY OF EMPTINESS AND LOVE: A Buddhist Exploration--The Innate View

Part One defines the problem sentient beings face with understanding the nature of reality. This predicament results because the innate view causes us to see ourselves and the world around us in a way that is not consistent with the way it actually exists. Because of the innate view, we experience suffering that moves from imperceptible to manifest, while remaining in a kind of sleep-like inner stupor or hypnosis. Part Two contains the step-by-step method by which the innate view is dismantled. We arrive at the correct view through careful, sequential elimination of incorrect views. The arguments are presented in the form of short excerpts and my commentary based on Twenty Emptinesses by Chandrakirti, (600 c. 650), a small but important segment of Chandrakirti s seminal Introduction to the Middle Way, Madhyamakavatara. Part Three places the analysis of emptiness in harmony with the teachings of compassion and spiritual love. We learn how the bodhisattva heroes, enlightened beings on their way to perfect Buddhahood, think and behave. Their understanding of the illusory nature of reality might logically make them stern and unforgiving, but they are quite the opposite. How do they train themselves in love?