Essence: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:54, 24 July 2011

The Ground of Dzogchen is described as being endowed with three qualities―essence (Tib. ངོ་བོ་, ngowo; Wyl. ngo bo), nature and compassionate energy. The first quality is that its essence is empty.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The [[Ground]] of [[Dzogchen]] is described as being endowed with three qualities―'''essence''' (Tib. [[ངོ་བོ་]], ''ngowo''; [[Wyl.]] ''ngo bo''), [[nature]] and [[compassionate energy]]. The first quality is that its essence is empty.
+The [[Ground]] of [[Dzogchen]] is described as being endowed with three qualities―'''essence''' (Tib. [[ངོ་བོ་]], ''ngowo''; [[Wyl.]] ''ngo bo''), [[nature]] and [[compassionate energy]]. The first quality is that its essence is [[emptiness|empty]].
-<blockquote>Unfortunately, the word ‘emptiness’, which is used to translate the Sanskrit term ''shunyata'', (Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་, Tib. ''tongpa nyi'', Wyl. ''stong pa nyid'') carries a connotation of a nothing-ness or a void. Happily, there is a wonderful definition in Tibetan that captures its true meaning: ''tak ché dang dralwa'', which translates as: ‘free from permanence and non-existence’.
-Generally, all philosophies tend to fall into one of two extremes:
-‘[[eternalism]]’: believing in the existence or permanence of something, ‘[[nihilism]]’: believing in non-existence.
-Shunyata—‘[[emptiness]]’—goes beyond both of these extremes, because it is neither permanent nor non-existing, and that is, ultimately, how things are.</blockquote>
 [[category:Key Terms]]