“The noble bodhisattva, Avalokitevara, engaged in the depths of the practice of the perfection of wisdom, looked down from above upon the five aggregates and saw that they were empty in their essential nature. So listen, Oāriputra, emptiness is form; form is emptiness. Apart from form, emptiness is not; apart from emptiness, form is not. Emptiness is that which is form, form is that which is emptiness. Just thus are perception, cognition, mental construction, and consciousness. Listen, Oāriputra, all phenomena of existence are marked by emptiness: not arisen, not destroyed, not unclean, not clean, not deficient, nor fulfilled.”

Buddhism adheres to the concepts of pratitya-samutpada (dependent origination) and sunyata (everything one encounters in life is empty of absolute identity, permanence, or an in-dwelling 'self'). But some people have gone so far as to assert that the core doctrine of Buddhism consists of only the concept of sunyata which has been, as once it was the case decades ago, widely misconceived as a doctrine of nihilism. Thus they have reasoned that since the world as well as the mundane life is altogether phantom, it is foolish for people to take it seriously. And they even think it stupid to behave responsibly in everyday life. What they are ignorant of is the very motive dictating Buddhist formulation of the concept of sunyata. Sakyamuni teaches the immateriality of the nature of all things from the motive of exhorting all sentient beings to overcome their attachment to the mundane life by revealing to them—

*that everything one encounters in life is empty of absolute identity, permanence, or an in-dwelling “self”',

*that this is because everything, being inter-related and mutually dependent, is never wholly self-sufficient or independent,

*that all things are in a state of constant flux where energy and information which flow eternally throughout the natural world give rise to and at the same time make themselves undergo major transformations with the passage of time, and

*that a direct realization of sunyata is required to achieve both liberation from the cycle of existence (samsara) and full enlightenment.

The teaching on the emptiness of persons and phenomena is unique to Buddhism, constituting an important metaphysical critique of theism with profound implications for epistemology and phenomenology. It is not for the purpose of showing off his erudition that Gautama Buddha would indulge in a salvo of theoretic expatiation on sunyata. Rather, it is precisely for illustrating the estimable usage of the “transcendental existence” which is at the same time truly immaterial that Gautama Buddha did elaborate on sunyata. Being immune to lapsing into deluded thoughts and guided by the notion that there is the transcendental existence beyond that which is truly immaterial, Gautama Buddha and later Buddhist sages projected a more sublime mental horizon. In the history of Buddhism, only those who acquired the acumen for detecting and identifying that which was in transcendental existence beyond that which was truly immaterial were able to objectively assess everything in the mundane world which was void in nature. And the acumen specified in the last sentence is in fact identical with such a mental horizon as has been alluded to in a particular story of the “koan”. According to the story, as soon as a Chan practitioner has achieved the initial stage of awakening, he is endowed with the ability to intuitively perceive emptiness that is hidden behind form. So at this stage he is apt to perceive emptiness where a laity person sees materiality and reality instead. But when the practitioner continues to push ahead with his self-cultivation program and embarks on a higher stage of awakening. Then he will acquire a more sublime mental horizon which would enable him to spontaneously realize the “transcendental existence” which is at the same time truly immaterial. It is by embarking on the higher stage of awakening and by acquiring the more sublime mental horizon that great Chan masters in the history of the Buddhist Chan Order achieved their great spiritual unhinderedness. When a practitioner has gained access to the higher stage of awakening and acquired the more sublime mental horizon, he would be able to perceive the world from a truly objective point of view which would inspire and activate him to walk bodhisattva-carya (the 52-stage path of bodhisattva). And he would no longer be fettered by a banal world outlook and would cease to lead a mundanely blind existence. Thus he would be able to “engage in commonplace everyday activities out of a motive that is generated of a supramundane frame of mind”. In this way his line of conduct would be so oriented as to be biased neither by an attachment to the Hinayanistic practice nor by a reconciliation with the secular world outlook. In a word, Buddhism prescribes that a Buddhist should always have an optimistic and enterprising frame of mind. Buddhism esteems life. One of its axioms is that “a sentient being is a wonder”. From the fact that Sakyamuni persisted, for forty-nine long years after his attainment of Buddhahood, in traveling far and wide for preaching and propagating Buddhism, it can be readily seen that Buddhism advocates a life that is both optimistic and active.（From My Heart My Buddha）