emptiness by Brian Swichkow

"Emptiness is the ground of everything. Thanks to emptiness, everything is possible."

Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh makes this seemingly enigmatic remark in his book The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, which explores one of the most important of the sacred works of the Buddhist Dharma, or teachings.

Emptiness, dhunyata, is an absolute in Buddhist meta-physics and mysticism. All form comes out of emptiness, and all emptiness is filled with form. Emptiness is analogous to the Self, especially in its transcendent state, and in that state all potential exists and comes to be in the realm of manifestation. But all form is impermanent; it returns to the primordial nature, the transcendent mystery beyond this life and this world. (see: Sunyata)

Form cannot be seen except in relationship to emptiness Emptiness is the matrix of being, and everything that is, can be, or will be is present in the emptiness.

~ AfterThe Mystic Hours, 276