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PHILOSOPHY OF NOTHINGNESS AND LOVE
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Kiyokazu NAKATOMI1
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to break the dry and blocking condition of the contemporary philosophy and to create the new horizon of philosophy. The question about nothingness had begun in all ages and places. For example, Lao-tzu, Chaung-tzu, Solomon, Buddha, Pascal, Nietzsche, Bergson and Heidegger. The European philosophy started from Plato who created the idea of being. But the whole of being and matter occupies only a slight position in the universe. Compared to the universe, the whole of being and matter is as negligible as three ants to the earth itself (the average density of the universe). European philosophy has been only questioning about three ants and the idea of them. On the other hand, we question about nothingness which includes three ants and the void of the earth size. Nothingness is not non-existence of all things. It includes, and also transcends relative nothingness and being. We call it Transcendental Nothingness or Absolute Nothingness. Nothingness is the highest wisdom which the transcendent-being revealed to mankind and continues to infinity ^ eternity ^ the transcendent being, God ^ love. I call this the principle of nothingness and love. The following is the proof of it.
KEYWORDS: Nothingness, infinity, eternity, transcendent being, Love Synthesis of Asian philosophy and European philosophy, Biocosmology
Contents
Introduction
1. Nothingness as reality
1.1 Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu
1.2 Reality and Nothingness of Bergson
1.3 Existence and Nothingness after Being and time
2. Nothingness as the root of Ku
3. Nothingness according to the Bible
4. Nothingness in ancient Greece
5. Nothingness of Pascal
6. Nothingness of Nietzsche
7. Nothingness according to Heidegger's Being and time
8. Benevolence by Confucius
9. Buddhist mercy
10. Jesus Christ's love
Conclusion
1 Chiba Prefectural Togane Commercial High School in Chiba, JAPAN.
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Introduction
At first, I build the bridge between Eastern and Western philosophies.
Lao-tzu and Chaung-tzu in ancient China expounded nothingness which was the origin of the creation of all things and the stream of infinite life. In other words, it is reality and nothingness which we cannot perfectly define by language and is the stream of life beyond matter. Once Socrates, Plato and Aristotle intuited nothingness.
Л
As the universe expands by the stream of life and energy of life (vacuum energy), the Biocosmology is adequate to my philosophy. The reality here is similar to the reality of Bergson in European philosophy. That of Bergson is also the stream of consciousness and Life (pure duration ) beyond matter. The stream of consciousness isn’t defined by mechanism, therefore, it is called indetermination and freedom beyond language. It means nothingness. The method of recognition in Bergson is philosophical intuition and that of Lao-tzu is Zabou (meditation).It is only unity of the living subject. This procedure is very important. Without it, there is only an enumeration of philosophy East and West. Still more, without the intuitive method, man entirely depends upon the philology. This requires two to three centuries for thorough study.
Besides, the conclusion is commonplace. As the difference of language is very distinct, we cannot find the common basis of philosophy between East and West. But nothingness as reality and the intuition enable me to establish the theory, Philosophy of Nothingness and Love. This paper is the condensation. Heidegger intuited nothingness, too. He collected European philosophy from Plato to Husserl; therefore he was the greatest philosopher of 20th century. But as he adhered to the European logic, he failed to grasp nothingness as reality in later life. Then he changed from the philosopher to the poet. It was the failure of Heidegger and European philosophy. I try to overcome the failure.
1. NOTHINGNESS AS REALITY
1.1 Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu
In this chapter I shall consider nothingness of Lao-tzu as the metaphysical reality. The main assumptions of it are as follows:
• 'The Way opened Heaven and Earth and is the mother of all creations. It is the * 22
Nakatomi, Kiyokazu (2008). ‘On the synthesis of the theory of relativity and quantum theory’,
22th World Congress of Philosophy, Abstracts
http://www.pdcnet.org/scholarpdf/show?id=wcp22 2008 0043 0137 0143&pdfname=wcp22 200 8 0043 0137 0143,pdf&file type=pdf
Nakatomi, Kiyokazu (2007). ‘On the concept of energy by Bergson and Einstein’, Parerga No.3, University of finance and management in Warsaw http://parerga.vizia.pl/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/parerga 3.pdf
The above two papers of mine are collected in New Horizon of Sciences by the Principle of Nothingness and love, Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken.
The first chapter, with extensive corrections, 'Realism - East and West - the reality concept of Bergson and Lao-tzu' from 'Studies in Comparative Philosophy' No. 20, published in 1993 by The Japanese Association for Comparative Philosophy, (Japan). In my philosophy, the principle of nothingness and nothingness principle are same. Also transcendent and transcendental are same.
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source where all beings come from and proliferate.' (Lao-tzu Tao Te Ching3 Chapter 1). As there is a very similar concept in Greek philosophy called 'Arche', we may say it is universal.
• The Way does not take any physical form, it is transcendent. According to Tao Te Ching Chapter 14, The Way has no shape or shadow, it is 'equable'. Neither it can be heard, it is 'inaudible'. Also we are not able to grasp it with our senses, because it is 'subtle'.
According to chapter 25 of Tao Te Ching, before any form or substance comes to exist, there is chaos. It has no voice or shape and because of that it is beyond any explanation or description with words.
It is nothingness itself. Its enormous size exceeds any human categories, does not depend on anything and conducts all the processes taking place in the universe. For this reason it is called 'Big' or 'Dai' after the Chinese character. The 'Dai' keeps on spreading and advancing the universe. There are no limits to the expansion of nothingness, 'Dai' or the Way. In other words the Way and nothingness are the transcendental beings. For the reason of being transcendental, they embrace all things. Things distant from them as well as close to them such as self; all is included. Because all things are filled with those transcendental beings, it can be said that they include those things and for that reason they can be called 'encompassing' or 'Umgreifende' of Karl Jaspers and as such, they undoubtedly reveal the principles governing nature: four seasons, sunrise and sunset, birth and death. Our limited perception doesn't allow us to see the Way itself, but through comprehending the nature and its rules, we have the ability to experience the Way as the transcendental being. When we reach that state, in front of our eyes there stands the true essence of nature, undistorted and real. This experience brings about a change in us and shows us how to live. But please make no mistake about this; Lao-tzu does not mean doing nothing, but living in accordance with the principles of nothingness. Lao-tzu's nothingness is also called absolute nothingness.
According to chapter 21 of Tao Te Ching, the Way is ecstatic and undefined. Only after you calm down and free your heart from ambitions and care, you can feel its subtle, pure and unadulterated nature. It's total and complete and only through impartial attitude we are able to know it, that is by getting rid of the knowledge and concepts we have learned so far in our lives. Nothing can be understood about the Way by linguistic analysis and breaking down concepts. The only way is the direct, intuitive experience and unity with the Way. However, there is the problem of expressing that intuitive experience with words. Naturally, the Way is a being that exceeds human languages; so describing it in a comprehensible manner poses quite a challenge. Still more, its appropriate description is not any form of compendium or a theory, but rather it should take a form close to poetry. Here, it is the source of Lao-tzu's mysticism, which was later on taken over by Chuang-tzu and developed further. Now, let us have a look at Chuang-tzu's ideas on nothingness.
о
Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu (1960- ). Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu Volume W, Chuang-tzu Volume W, New Interpretation System of Old Chinese, Meiji Shoin, Tokyo.
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Nothingness of Chuang-tzu, similarly to that of Lao-tzu, is a metaphysical reality and a culmination of all things. From now on let me explain in a little more details how Chuang-tzu understood the Way.
According to 'The Adjustment of Controversies'4, as the Way exceeds our cognition, it cannot be expressed with words, no matter how grand the debate aiming at it. Neither is great benevolence the true benevolence, nor exaggerated modesty the true modesty. Using profound figures of speech, like 'the grand way' or 'supreme benevolence', do not bring us any nearer to its essence or deepens our realization of it. If the Way were to be expressible with words, it would disappear because that would indicate its imperfection. In other words, if benevolence were fully contained in this very word, it would lose all its value. Therefore, if wisdom were limited to its ignorant stage of development, would that be enough? The concept of the Way exceeding human cognition was taken over by Chuang-tzu from Lao-tzu. As linguistic description is limited, it can only provide for partial understanding. And because of that partial understanding of ours, we cannot reach complete harmony in our lives. Deep past the linguistic expression, there lies chaos we can touch and by that understand the breath of nature in its entirety. Since that is beyond words, it means it does not exist in its realm so we can call it nothingness. However, this nothingness is not something hollow, inactive and meaningless. It is the centre of any change and the essence of all creation. Chuang-tzu calls it 'the centre of the Way'.
For Lao-tzu the Way was an entity not expressible with words or nothingness and so was for Chuang-tzu. For Chuang-tzu however, nothingness was not just a synonymous word for the Way, but the ultimate realization of it, in other words, a selfless (egoless) state of mind or an ideal one should master by practice.
How can we describe the selfless state of mind then? Shortly, it is absolute nothingness. According to 'Knowledge rambling in the North', to comprehend absolute nothingness is not just to experience the selfless state, but to step further into turning all existence into nothingness, every tiniest manifestation of the existent into inexistent and consequently turning nothingness itself into the inexistent as well. Chuang-tzu thinks that it is impossible to stay in the selfless state of nothingness while deliberating existence and its opposite. Such a state of mind would not allow the realization of the void. Among those who reached that state are those who experienced enlightenment and those who gained knowledge about the Way. In 'The Great and Most Honoured Master' we found that experiencing enlightenment means abandoning scholarly knowledge like Confucius along with human intelligence in order to gain the real wisdom. For a man aiming at enlightenment, success in life as well as working and contributing to the society rather stand as obstacles. The consequences of such an attitude of lack of attachment are no fears, when having climbed a high place, dry, even under water and no burns when in the fire. No dreams
4 Chuang-tzu (1994). Chuang-tzu, translated by Osamu Kanaya, Iwanami Bunko, Tokyo.
Cf. Mori, Mikisaburo (1978). Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu by 'Intellectual Heritage of Mankind', No 5, Kodansha, Tokyo.
Fukunaga, Mitsuji, (1964). Chuang-tzu - the existentialism of ancient China, Chukosinsho Tokyo.
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while asleep and no worries in the morning after waking up. No joy of life and no fear of death. He would not delight the fact of being born and would not loath death even though life was just a step to it. He entrusts all to nature; everything that comes and goes. Neither he would try to avoid the beginning (life), nor demand the end (death). If granted life, he would take it with gratitude, if taken it away, would obediently return to the origin. The enlightened stays calm facing life and death entrusting everything the Way. He understands that he came from the Way and sooner or later he'll return there. In other words life and death is all about a cycle being a creation of the Way, which means it's all one. The enlightened (true man) is the one who understood that oneness. As far as his appearance is concerned, he is tall and of gentle disposition. Avoiding any extravagant decorating, he creates the atmosphere of openness and spaciousness wherever he goes. Overflowing with joy, his composed aura makes people feel calm and spirited. People surrounding him feel peace and the need to mend their ways while experiencing liberation from desires and desperation. Instead, they are filled with hope. We may call it spiritual awakening. Such a selfless state, Chuang-tzu called it the state of trance, Zabo or Zabu later on had a tremendous impact on the development of Zen in Japan.
So far, I have been lecturing on the Way and nothingness, the concepts of ancient Chinese philosophers of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. However, in European thought such concepts exist as well; it is Bergson's theory of reality and the notion of reality by Heidegger's ontology.
1.2 Reality and Nothingness of Bergson
Bergson's reality, as a state of mind or consciousness, is defined as 'pure duration’ (duree pure). I believe, a bit of an explanation is necessary here. In fact, duration consists of two aspects: In Matter and Memory, ‘pure duration’ becomes memory and it becomes the reality and the flow of life in Creative Evolution (‘E.C. ’ as L'evolution creatrice)' Still more it continues into Two sources of Morality and Religion. There, Bergson duration's reality and the rules are presented, so they are indispensable to embrace Bergson's philosophy on the whole. His 'pure duration' is a concept that our consciousness is continuously flowing, merging and permeating with others. In other words it is like a melody that fills everything and organically affects everyone who can hear it. Our everyday consciousness, being preoccupied by the perception of the outside world, the one that is the object of inquiry of psychology and medicine, constantly objectifying and quantifying the world around us, is not our actual consciousness. To be more specific, the feeling of muscular effort and heat, sense of weight and others are mere functions of the brain, which processes stimuli and projects objects and space, or a reflection of the world for us. The point is this projected consciousness is not the real, living and flowing consciousness. Consciousness within a spatial projection is like fish scooped up from the ocean where it swam freely and dried up in the sun. The actual consciousness is the entire, continuous consciousness before it was broken down to pieces and programmed. It is
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the 'intrinsic melody of life' ('melodie continue de notre vie interieure')5, 'profound and incessant howling of life' ('bourdonnement ininterrompu de la vie profonde')6 7.
The 'duration', while criticizing and undermining classic psychology, was described in the essay 'the postulate of directness of consciousness' in Time and Free Will and among two pillars of the concepts, namely Matter and memory, duration would be equivalent to memory. Our living and flowing consciousness keeps on maintaining reality around, which is not to say that it erases the past, but it integrates it with the present. Consequently, the consciousness of present 'I' is the outcome of the long process of repeated integration of my memory of the past with the present conscious self (E.C.2, 4.). In my consciousness, there is my memory and the memory brings the past reality to the present. Our minds with the progress of time and incessant process of accumulated memory or 'duration', keeps on swelling (E.C.2.)
“This duration is nothing else, but a smattering of the future within expanding past along the progress of time. The past gradually grows to take on a more prominent role in our minds, which happens through boundless accumulation.” (E.C.4.)
In this process of successive progress of consciousness and expanding past, memory plays a crucial role; here Bergson hypothesized the existence of two types of it. The first is the one that is 'carved' in our bodies or 'schoolwork memory' (souvenir de la le?on). The second is nowhere to be found, neither in our mind nor in our body, so called 'pure memory' (souvenir pur). The former is a memory created by sensual activity and various kinds of mental exercises; it is located in the functional area of the brain (brain map by Brodmann and Penfield). On the other hand, the latter is completely independent from the body and the cerebrum; it is a pure memory housing the spiritual. At the first glance, the hypothesis, that there exists memory that is independent from the brain, may sound weird, but it has actually been scientifically acknowledged by a Canadian neurologist called Wilder Penfield .
His discoveries and recent interest of the scientific world in 'near death experiences', with the use of holography, support Bergson's idea of the existence of the soul. Moreover, this soul is not the soul of an individual, but a reflection of the universal energy penetrating all things, which Bergson called 'elan vital'. This idea of his is described in Creative evolution. According to the description, life continues its expansion into space, profoundly and metaphysically. It was 'elan vital’ that created this world, propelled its evolution, brought human to life. Matter made the spiritual relaxed and defensive, but still it is inseparable from the spiritual, despite a substantial distance between them. It very much resembles the sun and humankind relationship; the distance between the two is enormous but still, we cannot survive without solar energy. The same sun that feeds us is exposed to the movement of the galaxy it belongs to. If we look at the universe and the whole creation this way, we
5 Henri, Bergson (1934). Lapensee et le mouvant, P.U.F., 91e edition, p.166
6 ibid, p. 167
7 Details can be found in 'The memory theory of Bergson and brain physiology' in Studies in Comparative Philosophy No 12, 1986, assembled by The Japanese Association for Comparative Philosophy.
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realize that everything in this world receives its power to exist. Symbolically we can call it 'The duration of the universe' (E.C.11.) And since for Bergson this world is in incessant movement, I would rather call it 'The motion of the universe'. According to present scientific theories on the universe, it endlessly keeps expanding in all directions. In other words it is in constant, expansive motion. As Bergson's theories are now scientifically acknowledged, we might say he exceeded his time. The solar system as well as galaxies might look separated, but it is only an illusion created by science for the sake of deeper exploration of certain areas. Science, instead of creating theories and principles based on diligent research, rather seems to be preoccupied by abstraction. That abstraction might often lead to the birth of halftruths, for example introducing systems as independent. At the first glance, what appears to be irrelevant for the science might be of utmost importance; there are many such cases in the scientific world for which convenience is a frequent way to go. Since abstraction is all human imaginary creation, how can it be related to the reality? Celestial bodies that are a couple of billion light years from Earth also contribute to this endlessly expanding universe. This is what we call 'duration of the universe'. Bergson's philosophy embraced the source of life in its entirety, matter being the part of it of course. He also predicted the explosive expansion of the universe (called by the scientists of today 'the Big Bang theory'), which enabled the evolution of life. It can be compared to a sudden, wild wind, which blew into a crossroads, hit the corners of it and split into different streets leading to completely different destinations. After it all settled down, matter was born.
Now let's try to compare Bergson's philosophy and the thought of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. At the first look one may think that it is a non-sense to compare people who were so distant from each other in terms of both time and space. While Bergson was a European philosopher of the 19th-20th century, Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu were Chinese thinkers living in the second half of the 5th century B.C. and 4th century B.C. It is hard to find any connection between them. But if we look at the heart of the philosophy of the Chinese being 'the Way' and 'nothingness' through the prism of the real, metaphysical existence, suddenly they become very close to the model of the realism of European philosophy - Bergson. Lao-tzu's 'the Way' and Bergson's duration or real existence are indeed immaterial, life-giving and pantheistic, which makes them already have quite a lot in common. But the greatest of reasons to call them similar is their inquiry methods, namely direct, intuitive method. Is it a coincidence? Not really. No matter whether it was East or West, their philosophies were the products of their attitudes based on penetrating and deep instincts. Searching for the real existence was subject to numerous researches in all the cultures of this world, and the primary purpose of division between them. 'Crossing the ditch' appears to be the main challenge of all those who work for reconciliation of all civilizations. What we need to do in the first place is to clearly realize what we do have in common and what are the bones of contention we have to overcome.
First of all, we all have no doubt regarding the origin of life exceeding the matter; Bergson as well as Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu had a very similar idea here. According to Lao-tzu and his Way, everything is filled with nothingness being the
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life-giving source of all their creations as well as in control of their growth. It has also been named 'ki' or the life energy flowing through the universe and responsible for the vigor and growth of all things. Bergson's concept very much resembles the one of Lao-tzu; to him 'elan vital', which is no different from 'ki', is the energy that being the creator of the entire life and incessantly supporting its duration and flow. In terms of senses exceeding, metaphysical side of the origin of life, Lao-tzu and Bergson speak one language. Here, we can recognize it as a base for reconciliation between the thought of the East and West.
Secondly, both of them employ the direct, intuitive method (methode intuitive). For Lao-tzu it was becoming frank and open-minded, for Chuang-tzu that was Zabu (trance), but linguistic connotations aside, both of the intended to touch the core of life and unification with nature. Neither Bergson nor Chuang-tzu would offer their full trust to language. For Bergson it was rather like a dropped shell or something that surrounds or covers the actual being but not the real meaning. Lao-tzu was not able to name the actual being saying that it is beyond words and put it into the realm of nothingness. And Chuang-tzu... For him words were only a useful tool leading to knowledge about the actual being and should be forgotten just after attaining it. So, their disapproving stance to language and consequently their choice of the intuitive method built a firm, common ground between them. In terms of linguistically expressible intellect and analysis, it is hard to say they created any system, but through their intuition, we may say, they built a bridge above the ocean of differences that has lasted for two thousand and several hundred years.
Third is the problem of freedom. For Lao-tzu, central to the right walk of life should be unifying oneself with the actual existence and the Way by intuition. He taught that it was an ideal means to liberate oneself from the worldly affairs and desires. This state Lao-tzu called 'unconditioned nature (spontaneity)' while Chuang-tzu gave it a name of a 'selfless (egoless) state'. Both of those terms refer to nothingness and living accordingly with its principles, which leads to the realization of the genuine freedom. Likewise for Bergson, who in Time and Free Will explains freedom through the perspective of duration. In our daily lives, our attention is absorbed by all kinds of chores, such absorbed self is not the authentic one. It's no more than a surface. On the other hand we have another self, remaining one with the actual existence, independent of our daily lives and residing in the heart of duration; that is where we experience the real freedom. Here, again both Lao-tzu's being one with the Way and Bergson's remaining unified with the actual existence serve as a basis for building the real self and realizing genuine freedom.
1.3 Existence and Nothingness after Being and time
From the history of traditional philosophy point of view, the crucial points Heidegger makes are described in his Being and time. Since it is not a proper philosophical research, it is impossible to analyze it in a chronological order. As I am going to concentrate on nothingness as the real, actual existence in this chapter, from this point of view, Heidegger's existential concepts presented after Being and time are close to those of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu and can be classified as realism. Being and
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time itself is well explained, interpreted and widely known. On the other hand, since thorough analysis of what Heidegger has written after Being and time takes tremendous amount of effort, among all those explanations and interpretations available, it is rather difficult to find an original and courageous one; most of them remain on an explanatory booklet level. It goes without saying, that if a researcher has no original ideas on his own, he cannot go far, but the foremost source of hardship is the wavering stance of Heidegger including such basic philosophical concepts as existence and nothingness. In Being and time, Heidegger describes existence as our reality (existenz), whilst nothingness as death. Such a statement shows his adherence to the phenomenological school of thought. Going through Being and time was laborious indeed, but the concepts themselves were not all that hard to grasp. However, when it comes to his works after Being and time, the simple reality swells to include the whole world being not just the matter, but its transcendental dimension as well. Also, the word 'death', so present in Being and time disappears being replaced by 'nothingness', but again, its meaning is not determined by the author and prone to change. So... what does it mean then? Personally, I think that he intuitively felt nothingness as the real, actual existence, but he was not really able to grasp nothingness in a conceptual sense. He seems very precise and creative within the realm of the phenomenological existential school of thought and, without doubt, his work should be recognized as the highest achievement of European philosophy and metaphysics. Still not all matters can be grasped methodologically through accuracy of descriptions. Human existence takes a form of a flow and a human is basically a fluid creation. For that reason, analysis through the above mentioned methods of description could hardly be called sufficient. Let me just conclude here that Heidegger's logical way of reasoning and phenomenological theory of existence that he applies must finally lead to a deadlock. However, he had been trying to break the deadlock; it can be observed in his later works by force including Kant and the problem of metaphysics, Nietzsche and Holderlin's hymn THE ISTER. Those and others make him a very productive author. Finally however, as is widely known, he abandoned philosophy and turned to poetry, but even then he continued to search the truth on existence and nothingness. Changed was only the form of his inquiry. In the end he realized that existence is nothingness indeed, but on his way he has left numerous works. Among them, the one that explains nothingness in a most orderly way is What is metaphysics? (Was ist Metaphysik?) that he wrote in 1929. Let me quote some gists from it:
- anxiety reveals nothingness;
- nothingness comes in times of anxiety regarding reality in which one lives (Dasein); that nothingness refuses all things the right to exist (Nichtung);
- the reality in which we live is all maintained within nothingness, which by itself exceeds all things and gives birth to them. Therefore we can call it transcendental (Transzendenz). If the root of substance of all things was not transcendental, or, if it was not maintained within nothingness, then all things, as well as ourselves were disconnected from each other;
- without the manifestation of nothingness, ego would not exist and
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consequently, freedom wouldn't either;
- nothingness reveals the existence of things to us, humans;
- nothingness is the source of all repudiation;
- also the scientific comprehension of the reality around is possible because it is maintained by the nothingness.
In the book, Heidegger clearly presents his assertions, of which the main is that nothingness is the linchpin and the Meta principle of all existence theories and it precedes all logic. It is our denial that enables us to distinguish between things in the first place. By saying 'I am a human' we at the same deny that 'I am not a dog or a cat'. In other words, by defining who is a human, it is simultaneously presumed who, or, what is a being that does not belong to the realm of human beings, which then pushes it to the abyss of nothingness. And, obviously, nothingness was here long before any such reasoning could have taken place thus providing ground for it. Heidegger was not familiar with the thought of the East, but still he intuitively realized the basic principle underlying the whole universe. That, undoubtedly, shows Heidegger's magnificence. Still, despite the fact he comprehended the existence of nothingness, he could not see how it is revealed in the actual being, that is, the stream of life flowing through all things. Unfortunately he was not able to reach that far with his philosophy, but he showed his presence there with his poetry. Even though later Heidegger's poems touched existential matters, as they were detached in their form from a structured philosophy, they did not get recognition as such in Europe; moreover, they had become a proof, that Heidegger abandoned philosophy for good. Their content would include 'holy things', 'inspiration', 'holy chaos', 'pure heart', etc, and are filled with transparent, mysterious and lofty ideas. Obviously Heidegger did not do poetry for the sake of art, but he used it as a vehicle to reveal basic, grave and deep notions regarding existence. In summary, here are the main points from it.
1. The essence of fine arts lies not in their beauty, but in their power to convey truth about existence.
2. A human can but put into a frame of an existential model by words. Poetry is the highest form of art.
3. Even though poetry might look pure and naive, in reality it is the most dangerous and difficult work. A poet is exposed to an existential storm and God sent lightnings.
4. Poetry has the power to start the whole history all over again, save and establish awakening truth for the fallen humanity; it's the deepest gift one can ever get. (based on Heidegger's ontologic thought by Jiro Watanabe, Keiso Shobo, Tokyo 1985)
Allow me to briefly comment on that. If poetry is the highest form of art, the deepest gift a human can be given and has the power to awaken humanity; it means that there is no limit to how much Heidegger trusts words. We can say, words have become 'home to all existence' or even the existence itself, not just a tool to convey thoughts and meanings. It is a striking difference to how Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu and
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Bergson saw words. To them, as it was mentioned earlier in this paper, words can as well be forgotten after their meaning has been understood. If the actual being is seen through the prism of nothingness, the actual being is united with nothingness, and then experiential intuition becomes the primary source of knowledge, while worldly concepts serve as an imperfect, subsidiary tool of expression. The state of trance, central to philosophies of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu is recognized by Heidegger indeed and called by him as calmness (Angelassenheit). Still, he gives priority to poetry. Or, having felt his own inability to embrace unlimited flow of life, he decided to stay in his comfort zone and stick to words. Heidegger's poetry then is rather limited in its scope because it is created from the refreshing perspective that there is no limit to linguistic power of expression.
Because of the language, we are able to understand, realize and be conscious of the world that surrounds us. Due to that, words become the standard of our recognition of the world, basis of all human activity and source of our history. As a consequence, language brings about realization of the undreamed possibilities. And poetry is a pure means of such a realization. This great faith, Heidegger had in words, soon collapsed. Before long, phenomenological theory of existence lost its credibility along with its definition of the language, and despite his esteem for poetry, Heidegger not being a poet himself could only express himself on existence through borrowing from the lyrics of Holderin. Such a deadlock is not something that happened solely to Heidegger; that is the overall state of the European philosophy searching its Logos. The major tool used for that, the concept of language being able to express all existence is obviously not capable to embrace nothingness, so it must regard it as nonexistent. It goes without saying, that nothingness is beyond European logical standpoint and it is hard to expect a breakthrough there. However, if we turn to nothingness as an actual reality, omnipresent, universal and connected with all things and make it our principle, things change dramatically. Heidegger's and Sartre's philosophy are thought to be the demise of European thought; nothing valuable in terms of ideological was born in the old continent since then. On the other hand, as we all know, the fall of the present era is the harbinger of the next. Now, if we made nothingness as an actual reality our principle, it would be like opening windows of the house of philosophy, letting in fresh air and allowing us to come up with completely new ideas. While nothingness embraces the whole universe, our perception and expression are limited by their natures. It can open new, infinite horizons for us. In the following chapter let's have a look at how the concept of nothingness functioned in ancient India.
2. NOTHINGNESS AS THE ROOT OF KU
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Sunyata (KG: Kuu) is the realization of the fact, that the entire, universal being
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KG is the Japanese interpretation of Sunyata. The exact pronunciation is Kuu. The meaning of KG is nothingness or emptiness of desires. The extreme of negation of desires is nothingness, enlightenment and nirvana. To explain KG and enlightenment, various views and words are needed. In here, I want to explain some important words of Buddhism.
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is nonexistent, which leads to recognition of nothingness and awakening. 'Being is nonexistent' is often thought to be equivalent with selflessness, but it seems that its origin is the causation, which means that cause and effect links are always present. Things cannot exist on their own as they are the outcome of some process, interdependence is at the heart of the idea. (In Christianity this notion is regarded as lack of self-existence, since all things are created or are being created by God). This correlation of all things as well as all linked processes taking place in this world are all causation. Buddha who reached enlightenment realized this truth about the world. Entities are reciprocally dependent on each other, so they cannot exist on their own and that means that in reality they do not exist.
There is nothing like the substance of reality. To present it in a linear order, we have causation first which leads to selflessness and finally to sunyata, or the state of nonexistence. Along with the development of Buddhism though, its new interpretations started to emphasize nonexistence (sunyata), especially Mahayana Buddhism made it the core of its teachings. In this paper, I intend to focus on the origin of Buddhism, prior to the advent of Mahayana. In the beginning, its aim and purpose was based on the concept of nonexistence, which was equivalent to nothingness. Consequently, we realize that the principle of nothingness is at the roots of Buddhism. Here, there are two potential grounds for the argument. The first is the experience of nothingness. As we all know here, the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama was born as a prince of the Sakya tribe; that means he never really experienced poverty or other discomfort and lead a life of abundance. In the palace where he lived there were lotus flowers in the pond in the colors of blue, scarlet and white, just to please him. His attire filled the air with sophisticated fragrances; a special cover was invented to provide that Buddha's body never came in contact with sunlight, rubbish or dew. And more he possessed palaces to spend winter, summer and rainy season in. He wasn't allowed to leave the palaces, where women-only musicians played for him. His father, out of concern that he might leave home one day, made him get married with three young women. Before long, Rahula, Buddha's only son was born. As we can see his life was smooth and far from any inconvenience.
Apparently, Buddha, at the plight of an old man realized, that one day he himself too will grow old, weak and be appealing and disliked. After realizing the existence of senility and death, he understood ego and its limits, beyond which he felt
In Buddhism, the meanings of Ku, Sunyata, enlightenment Satori are the same. Satori is the Japanese form of enlightenment. From the point of human cognition, Sunyata is enlightenment and understanding of the theory of Engi which is the cognition of the interdependence and cycle of relations of the world. It is said that Engi is the principle of cause and effect. As there is no substance of things (nothingness as a lack of subsistentia), all things depend on each other. By the lack of substance of things, all things are moving and changing. This phenomenon is called uncertainty or impermanence of worldly things. On the other hand, from the point of human desire, Sunyata is Ku and nothingness of desire. As the origin of desires is self in Buddhism, self is nothing. It is called selfless state. The principle of cause and effect is same as the cause and effect principle.
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nothingness. That was the awakening of Buddha - the experience of nothingness. Sooner or later all things perish and return to nothingness. Although wealthy and abundant, this experience of nothingness nested into Buddha's heart. And it was there to stay. It also inspired him to seek liberation, so he left home, applied himself to ascetic practices and reached enlightenment in the end. In case of Buddha too, the factor that caused him to dramatically change his lifestyle was the experience of nothingness; he went on through poverty and distress to finally arrive at enlightenment. What the life of Buddha actually teaches us is that the nothingness precedes sunyata. That is the first argument.
The second argument supporting the statement that the basis of sunyata is nothingness is that for the before mentioned causation to take place, nothingness is a prerequisite. As I explained before, causation is the interdependence of all existing things, but to realize that, one must understand that there's no such thing as selfsufficiency, namely to deny the possibility of self-existence, realization of nothingness is indispensable. Claiming that interdependence of all things makes them unable to universally exist or come to existence by itself is recognizing functioning nothingness. Absence of independent and universal existence and relation to other things and processes, or causation, leads us to understand the selflessness or the egoless state. That selflessness, or nothingness is the very root of sunyata. So we can now see clearly how working nothingness is crucial to understanding sunyata. Nothingness, when functioning, annihilates all our wants and desires and by that causes ego to disappear.
3. NOTHINGNESS ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE
Since my motivation of writing this paper came from my willingness to present nothingness as a principle, I have already mentioned here and there about that principle also functioning in the Bible. Starting from the first page of Genesis that opens the Bible, we find a description of how the heaven and the earth were created. In the second and third verse the creation process goes on:
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God
said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:2-3, the Bible)
As we can see in the above quotation, at the beginning, before heaven and earth came into being, there was nothing or nothingness. It was God's will that created the universe out of that nothingness. The author of Genesis was Moses, who must have intuitively felt nothingness and his writing conforms to that. The nothingness before the creation was the material, complete and absolute one. If expressed with the language of astronomy or physics, there was no time or space, no laws of physics, no celestial bodies, nothing that could be logically explained. That state of absolute nothingness, by God's intervention and creative activity, little by little, started changing. '...darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.' (Genesis 1:2) This state can be compared to
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'fluctuation of nothingness (shaking nothingness)', known so well to quantum physicists. According to quantum theory, even nothingness, understood as the state of no time and space, is not constant, that it is fluctuation; this 'fluctuation of nothingness' is thought to be the origin of the universe. Just born universe was all empty, but not in a sense of some kind of void space; it was filled with all kinds of microscopic vibrations. (Newton January 1999 /Japanese science magazine/ 'Why was the universe born from nothingness?') The above mentioned microscopic vibrations could be '...the Spirit of God (that) moved upon the face of the waters...', couldn't it? Then, when the microscopic vibrations twinkled with the light of God, explosion took place that we know today as the Big Bang. Today's astrophysics maintains the theory, that the universe was created out of nothingness, which at the same time supports biblical nothingness and the principle of nothingness. Biblical God created the heaven and earth the first day, but obviously it was not the twenty-four hour span we usually associate with a 'day'. It may as well have been a period of a thousand, ten thousand or even a hundred million years. The theory of the universe having been created from nothingness and having the nothingness principle at its foundations, supported by the physics that offered a glimpse into the ultimateness of existence, stepped in a new way leading to an explanation of the origins of the universe. Science, that bumped into nothingness, slowly, by trial and error, moved on forward in accordance with the principle of nothingness.
The first account on nothingness in the Bible comes from Moses, but the strongest intuitive experience of it was described by Jewish King Solomon, who reigned 960-922 BC. He is considered a wise monarch, who ruled the kingdom at the height of its prosperity.
Now, let me deliberate a bit further on what Solomon's experience of nothingness really was.
Solomon's experience of nothingness is especially explicit on the first page of 'Ecclesiastes'.
'Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.'
Just this verse. The very concept of emptiness or sunyata comes from Buddhism, but obviously Solomon could not know that, since he lived five hundred years before Buddha experienced enlightenment. In Hebrew, the origin of the word emptiness (hebel) is 'breath' that instantly disappears. The Hebrew concept of void stresses its similarity to breath being like air, elusive and imperceptible, formless and momentarily vanishing. That is no different to emptiness. That stressing of the formless state and elusiveness of the breath brings it close to the principle of nothingness, especially to its notion of things being unable to exist on their own. Hebrew 'void' has been translated into Japanese using Buddhism term 'sunyata' or 'emptiness', which may cause misunderstandings, but in terms of the essence of the word, there is no word more appropriate. Moreover, if we make the part of the nothingness principle's part assuming that things are unable to exist on their own a rule, then we quickly realize, that it is a universal concept that by far surpasses Buddhism and is applicable for the Bible, etc. In general, however, Buddhist emptiness and emptiness in the Bible are too far culturally and historically to equalize
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them. What connects them though is the principle of nothingness, functioning of which underlies both forms of emptiness. Basically Buddhism and Christianity are two completely different, separate religions. If we look at them though, not from their respective doctrines point of view, but the nothingness principle, all the differences will suddenly disappear, that they are all one. The reason being that is Solomon and Buddha, both intuitively felt and directly experienced the same nothingness, they way they speak about it differs.
4. NOTHINGNESS IN ANCIENT GREECE
The principle of nothingness was intuitively felt in ancient Greece as well. According to Greek mythology, before any creation came into being, chaos, which is thought to be the beginning of everything, ruled. Indicating chaos, Greek word of 'khainein' literally meaning 'wide open mouth yawning and revealing endless, bottomless and empty space of darkness'9.
Well, does not this dark and ominous empty space bear close resemblance to nothingness? Ancient Greeks, intuited nothingness, took this dark and ominous crack for an abyss and named it chaos. This concept of nothingness became the starting point of all Greek mythology, philosophy and civilization. As I stated in previous chapters, functioning nothingness principle is a foundation of ancient Chinese thought, Buddhism, Christianity (the Bible) as well as Greek philosophy. Using a different expression, because nothingness penetrates the entire world and universe, it can make its working appearance anytime and anywhere. We already know that it made such appearances in ancient China, India and Israel. But from now on, after the inquiry into ancient Greece, I am going to focus on Europe and Japan. By comprehensively covering, virtually, the whole world this way, I believe a completely new world view can arise.
Greek mythology, having nothingness for its cradle, gave birth to Greek philosophy. Then, this Greek philosophy since the times of Plato focused its inquiry on 'being' or 'existence' rather than 'nothing' (and nothingness principle in consequence) for two thousand and five hundred years, which greatly affected the European thought. No wonder, the nothingness principle seems to be on the opposite side commencing all its inquiries from nothingness. Because it takes such an opposing stance, from the traditional philosophy point of view, it is of a different nature. Therefore, since the traditional philosophy enjoyed two thousand and five hundred years of development, a similar perspective should be expected for the philosophy based on the nothingness principle. We often hear statements such as 'the poverty of philosophy' or 'the death of metaphysics', but the real reason behind such pessimistic views is persistently sticking to the traditional philosophical dogmas. I have no doubt that the days of the philosophy, that seeks to explain existence or 'being', are over. The proof is that after Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jaspers and Sartre, no such talented superstars of philosophy were born. The principle of nothingness has a potential to open new horizons for philosophy. I believe that from now on, as long as
9 Compendium of philosophy (1971). Heibonsha, Tokyo.
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humankind exists, nothingness is to be inquired into. In the realm of physics, nothingness is just a lack of existence, but in the metaphysical realm it offers unlimited and inexhaustible possibilities.
As I said clearly supra, the starting point of Greek mythology, which provides a spiritual basis for its philosophy, is nothingness. In the mythology, the nothingness principle is expressed by the means of symbolic representations. We can see it most clearly in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, which is a masterpiece tragedy of enormous popularity. In a way, it is a quintessence of the Greek view on what a human and life is. Considering himself as born against his own will, he painfully awakens to nonexistence of self, which makes him stick pins into his own eyes and go blind. While asking for ceasing to exist, he saw what he was not supposed to and as a punishment for that he lost his sight and entered the world of darkness, or in a way, a world of nothingness. Doesn't his life resemble the one of Zedekiah, the last king of Israel in the Old Testament? Oedipus the King, who should not have been born, means that he should have kept on belonging to the nothingness. As his fate was to be born into an unable man, he had to experience the nothingness in a tragic way.
5. NOTHINGNESS OF PASCAL
Pascal's intuition of nothingness very much resembled that of King Solomon’s as mentioned supra. He experienced a clear and convincing vision of human being a mere speck of dust in this enormous and infinite universe. He felt, that in the face of eternity we, humans, are powerless and worthless creatures and belong to nothingness indeed. Seeing such powerlessness, helplessness, emptiness, vanity of humankind and tragedy that they bring sufficed Pascal to awaken and to realize nothingness. To add to King Solomon's words in the Bible 'vanity of vanity, all is vanity' Pascal stressed that 'human is no more than a reed, but a thinking reed'. Solomon was thought to have been endowed with God's wisdom, Pascal was of outstanding intelligence. At the age of seventeen, his essay on conic sections10 was published in Paris, where he presented the first real discovery since Archimedes. To make his father's work easier, he conceives a calculator, and later on at the age of twenty six (in 1649) he receives a patent for the manufacturing of calculators directly from Lord Chancellor.
Therefore, if we realized, that he laid the foundations for making the machine we know today as computer, we would be struck by his genius and magnificence. At the age of twenty three, together with a friend of his father, he successfully repeated Torricelli's vacuum experiment twice and based on that experience he published 'The new experiment regarding vacuum' the following year. Then he exchanges correspondence with father Noel from the Society of Jesus.
At the age of twenty eight he writes 'vacuum theory' and two years later starts working on 'On the balance of liquids' and 'The weight of the atmosphere'. At the age of thirty one, he sends the mathematically calculated results to The Academy of
10 ’Essai pour les coniques et generation des sections coniques ’
Blaise, Pascal (1954). &uvre Completes de Pascal, Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, Libraire Gallimard, Paris, I give a brief account Pensees.
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Sciences in Paris and writes 'the Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle' along with the supplementary theses. On his 'law of share' (probability theory) he exchanges letters with the first class French mathematician, Pierre de Fermat. Four years later, he writes 'The history of the cycloid'. Between thirty four and thirty five years of age he keeps on writing Pensees (lit. Thoughts), published in 1670 posthumously. Pascal, who was of poor health and suffered from various diseases, lived only thirty nine years, but this life was so full of accomplishments that we come to think that it is not the length of life that counts the most. No doubt it is the value of his achievements. I am sure it is the dream of many mediocre, elderly scholars to be able to produce at least one of the Pascal level theses. In the span of the last few centuries, how many scholars were really able to immortalize themselves?
Pascal was an eminent, genius scientist with reaching our times, but on the other, as far as his physical condition is concerned, he lived a life of obscurity and misery, which led him to experience nothingness. The more we shine, the harsher misery is the price for that. During his lifetime Pascal seems to have experienced the light of wisdom and fame as well as the darkness of agony and anguish. That, in one respect, makes him similar to King Solomon, who experienced glory and nothingness at the same time. Solomon, though, was saved from horrible anguish of the body. Undeniably, Pascal's patience and resistance to pain was by far greater than that of an average human. All this he went through, brought him closer to God and his wisdom and let him experience nothingness.
Pascal was afraid of nothingness in darkness and despaired. But through the intuition of nothingness, he thought of the infinitude of universe, and then continued to eternity, the transcendent being (God) and love. Pascal defined that man is the middle being between nothingness and infinity and insisted on the creation from nothingness and the advance for infinity. In Pensee,he wrote:
"Toutes choses sont sorties du neant et portees jusq'a l'infini" et "primiers principes,qui naissent du neant."11 He also supports the principle of nothingness and love. We can propose the new interpretation about Pascal against the accepted theory which he was the supporter of Christianity.
6. NOTHINGNESS OF NIETZSCHE
As Nietzsche intuited nothingness, he insisted on the conquest of nihilism. The nihilism is to deny the highest value and standard of mankind, e. g. morality, religion and philosophy. It is the thought that we cannot find the purpose and sense in life and all things come to nothing. Of course, in that, nothingness functions. Nietzsche denied Christianity and intended to destroy it. The state of the complete denial is the nihilism and intuition of nothingness. In the state of the infinite denial, he reached to the eternal repetition as the infinite returns, the superman and the intuition of God. Nietzsche’s philosophy is explained by the new principle which nothingness
11 Blaise, Pascal (1954). &uvre Competes de Pascal”, Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, Libraire Gallimard, Paris, pp. 1106~1107, No.84.
Cf. Pensees, Japanese version (1982). translated by Shinzaburo Matunami, Kodanshabunko, Tokyo.
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continues to infinity ~ eternity ~ the transcendent being (superman, God) ~ love (Amor fati, love of fate). Now, the superman is nothing but the projection of Christ from my standpoint. Because he was born in Christian family and learned in the high school (Pforte) affiliated to church, we must recognize him under the influence from Christianity. Before anything else, we can never neglect the confession which he decided to devote his life to God in fourteen years old. In history, Jeanne d’Arc intuited God in same age, she saved her country, didn’t she? Florence Nightingale experienced the intuition of God when she was seventeen years old, then she saved so many wounded persons in Curimea War, as a nurse didn’t, she?
The intuition of God in young age often becomes motive power in the society and history. Nietzsche believed in Jesus. At that time, the wedge of Jesus was driven into his deep heart. Whether he was aware of the spirit or not, the wedge existed in his heart. The wedge sometimes brought him light sense and peace of mind as a release from sin. As he had been suffering from illness (headaches, sight impair), he could not be immersed in the peaceful atmosphere. Body hardships often brought motivations of the intuition of nothingness (same as Job and Pascal). The doctor had already given up on the patient. Nietzsche gradually despaired of God. Consequently, he denied Christianity and instead of God, he proposed the superman. But the superman is the lightning of the wedge of Jesus. The thought of the superman became deeper and developed by confrontation with Jesus. If man compares the superman and Jesus by its conceptions of existence, destroyer and creator of value, real ideal for man, peace, eternity and prophet, he would recognize that superman is the projection of Jesus. In his last moment, Nietzsche returned to Christianity. If man denied God one million times, he could be Christian by an affirmation only one time. The new principle proposed to reverse the Interpretation of Nietzsche.
7. NOTHINGNESS ACCORDING TO HEIDEGGER’S BEING AND TIME
Another philosopher, who had an experience of nothingness, was Martin Heidegger. He interpreted it as death, which served him as a basis to define human life as 'Being-toward-death'. At that time Heidegger still understood death as something strictly biological, a simple end of life of a physical body of animals and plants ‘verenden’(to perish). He claimed it was likewise for humans. Heidegger also thought that all our existence is facing death and he called this subtle and vague process 'ableben' (demise) while the end of it 'sterben' (to die). Such a distinction is one great achievement of Heidegger; by that he drew a line between the life of humans and other creatures, which led to recognizing and emphasizing our life as dignified. When a human dies, in terms of language, it is recognized as a similar fact and called 'death'. Apparently death has lost its esteem; he argued that the death of a human being cannot be taken that lightly. Heidegger lived in times, when the First World War has just ended leaving behind indescribable destruction and millions of injured and victims. In concrete terms, on both sides, Allied Powers and Central Powers, almost 9 million combatants lost their lives, while 19 million suffered various kinds of injuries. Human life felt so cheap then as if it was worth nothing at all, as if it was nothingness. This condition of human life being nullified and having
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no value gave Heidegger the direct experience of nothingness and influenced his thought to the extent of making him believe that nothingness is death.
Heidegger inherited the nihilism and intuited nothingness as death (Sein und Zeit). It is the first class Significance that he proposed dignity of life and death. He inquired into existence by phenomenology which was very novel at that time and defined that existence is time, as awareness of death (Sein zum Tode). Surely, he could succeed in the question from existence to time, but could not succeed in it from time to existence by the lack of Christian faith. Then he inquired into nothingness as reality, but failed to grasp it by the hard notions of the phenomenology and European logic. Stated above, that was the fall of Heidegger and European philosophy. We can intuit nothingness of infinity at a time, but cannot describe it at a stretch. The European philosophy has faced nothingness, having nothing to do with it. Only the new principle can break down the condition.
8. BENEVOLENCE BY CONFUCIUS
Confucius also intuited nothingness. As he was an orphan, he faced nothingness as the lack of parents’ love. Then he overcame some serious trials before he could be the Minister of Justice as mentioned above. As he was always conscious of his ignorance, he researched truth with infinite passion and learned the importance of morality and love. He called this Jin (perfect virtue). Generally speaking, Jin (perfect virtue, benevolence) is honesty (loyalty) and consideration (thougtfulness). The meaning of honesty is loyalty to myself and to others, an unwillingness to deceive. Consideration is thoughtfulness for other (Do not impose on others what you yourself don’t want.). But there is a big and mysterious paradox. The following phrase is very famous.
Hsien (a disciple of Confucius) asked, ‘Standing firm against the temptation to press one’s advantage, to brag about oneself, to harbour grudges or to be covetous may this be called “benevolent”?’
The Master said,’ it may be called “difficult”, but I don’t know about its being benevolent.’ (Confucius. The Analects XW-1, Penguin Classics)
What on earth is the meaning of his words? The founder of Confucianism does not seem to know his central notion. It is very mysterious. In generally, from the standpoint of European Philosophy and logic, man cannot understand it. It is like Jesus Christ saying, “I don’t know love.” If man wants to understand the meaning of his mysterious words, he has to accept dignity of benevolence and practice of behavior. Confucius preached benevolence, but it was quite rare.
‘The occasions on which the Master talked about profit, Destiny and benevolence were rare.’ (The Analects K-1)
Confucius was not a merchant, therefore he didn’t tell about profit. On the interpretation of Destiny, Sorai Ogyuu (1666~1728) who was a famous Confucianist scholar in Edo age of Japan interpreted it as life. According to Sorai, benevolence involved dignity of life. His thought was spiritual basis of Tokugawa Shougunate. Therefore, a typical Japanese warrior (samurai) did not speak much. The following sentence is the origin of this idea:
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The Master said,’ Unbending strength, resoluteness, simplicity and reticence are close to benevolence.’ (The Analects ХШ-27)
The Master said, ‘He has not lived in vain who dies the day he is told about the Way.’ (The Analects ^-8)
In these sentences, we can find the resolutions (similar to the resolution of death in Heidegger) for truth and benevolence. Against these sentences, the following is a typical superficial man.
The Master said, ‘It is rare, indeed, for a man with cunning words and an ingratiating face to be benevolent.’ (The Analects I -3)
As Confucius was a minor official, he knew the world of bureaucrats and their nature. A man who is always playing up to his boss is a good example. Therefore, he taught disciples to think poorly of cunning words and an ingratiating face. He did not preach benevolence positively. Only the most heart and eager disciples asked him, and he answered them in a way suitable to the personality and ability of disciples. There were various disciples and various questions. The answers were not fixed. Sometimes the meaning of benevolence is Chuu-Jo (honesty and consideration), or Ai (to love a fellow man), or Rei (courtesy, being good as a son and obedient as a young man), after a great deal of thinking Confucius said that I did not know benevolence. Of course, benevolence was difficult to put in practice. The definition of benevolence is not fixed; it means that benevolence is not absolute but relative. It is not absolute love which Jesus Christ practiced. Confucius knew the dignity of actions and practices but he could not devote his body to the Cross.
In later age, he lived through difficulties and intuited Heaven which is said to be nothingness.
The Master said, ‘I am thinking of giving up speech.’ Tzu-kung said, ‘If you did not speak, what would there be for us, your disciples, to transmit? ‘The Master said, ‘what does Heaven ever say? Yet there are the four seasons going round and there are the hundred things coming into being. What does Heaven ever say?’ (The Analects XW-19)
The meaning of the sentence is that Heaven says nothing. In ancient China, Heaven was the transcendent being which controls the movement of the world with infinite power like ‘Arche’ type. It is nothingness as reality. After that, he attained S ei (saintliness, sage) which saves all the people. Sei is higher than Jin (perfect virtue, benevolence). The thought of Confucius is explained by this new principle.
9. BUDDHIST MERCY
Mercy aims at abandoning attachments and desires of ego and reaches the state of total unity and awareness of others. Discarding one's attachments of ego is a way to be less egoistic and have more exchange and more in common with others. It is believed that in such circumstances a variety of human virtues blossom and 'mercy' is believed to be the purest of them12. Have the ability and be sincere, tell the truth and
12
Hajime, Nakamura (1998). The Personality of Buddha and his Thought, NHK Books, Tokyo, p. 220.
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be soft spoken, meek and not arrogant. Know when you have had enough, eat modestly, do not get taken over by routine activities, lead a simple life, calm your senses, be wise and do not get overexcited, do not take other people's possessions of any kind. Avoid mean deeds for which experts may criticize you. Bring about peace, happiness and comfort to living things.
Doesn't this full of Buddhist mercy 143-145 of Sutta Nipata closely resemble Bible's "I Corinthians" chapter 13, verse 4-8
Because Buddha's state of enlightenment was so sublime, it is rather easy to imagine and compare to what is written in the Bible. In the above fragment we find St. Paul description of the means of his victory over his bodily desires or sin, which he saw as modesty, meekness, tolerance and patience. In other words this is how he understood love. In Buddhism, as expressed in Sutta Nipata, it is mercy that enables practitioners’ liberation from attachments of ego and desires. It also says in verses 147, 149 and 150 in Sutta Nipata about tender, loving care (empathy) practitioners should have for all living things.
Buddha's mercy extends to all living things of this world without exception. His mercy for all creation remains in harmony with the enlightenment (satori) he experienced. To start with, Buddha's enlightenment reflects the truth about the world and the universe and is one with the really existing world where the moon, void, incessant labor-driven movement or the sun do not exist. Also Nagarjuna in his Middle Way describes this state in more detail.
The base of Buddha's concept of mercy for all living things is undoubtedly his experience of enlightenment and deliverance from earthly bondage. That said, essentially what he means by enlightenment and deliverance is not physical nonexistence of the moon, sun, earth, fire and wind but that they should not be regarded as separate. Buddha claims that everything remains in perfect harmony and unity. In other words, the self, the moon, sun, earth and wind are all parts of a great, universal self that we belong to. For this reason, the dualism of body and soul is nowhere to be found in Buddhism. Individual self exists only as long as it belongs to the universal one. Buddha, building his system partly on criticism of Chuang-tzu's concepts, simply added 'body', 'moon', 'sun', etc to it. Originally humanity is one with nature and the world. Buddha understood the truth of unity with all the living things and mercy through reaching the state of enlightenment. That makes enlightenment the origin of mercy. Consequently, if enlightenment or 'sunyata' is the origin of mercy, then as 'sunyata' is just a different name for functioning nothingness, the connection of nothingness to infinity to transcendent being (dharma) and to love (mercy) becomes clear. In other words the doctrine of Buddha can be explained with the use of the nothingness and love principle.
10. JESUS CHRIST’S LOVE
Jesus Christ, man and God, intuited nothingness and love to the largest and deepest extents. Then he realized love. The realization of love is the cross and the atonement for the sins of all humankind that lives from the past to the future.
The first intuition of nothingness by Jesus is the words to Nicodemus. He was a
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man of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews. To the comments of Nicodemus, Jesus answered:
The wind bloweth where it listetth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. (John Chapter 3-8)
In common words, “You do not know from where you came, neither where you go”. As a philosophical view, it is the origin and aim of humankind. Generally biology preaches the evolution from a microorganism to fish, amphibian animals, reptiles, mammals, apes and humankind. The main cause of this evolution is DNA. Well, why and how DNA did change? What is the reason of the mutation of DNA? If man assumes it to be an accident, it means the abandon of the scientific standpoint of view. Science does not admit it as an accident. The origin of humankind is beyond biology. We ask for cosmology. In this paper, I developed upon the creation from nothingness. Modern physics faced the nothingness and followed the principle of nothingness. Jesus already intuited the creation from nothingness and the principle of nothingness.
The second intuition of nothingness by Jesus is nothingness as silence. Jesus stood before the governor Pilate who asked him “Art thou the king of the Jews? “And Jesus said to him, “Thou sayest”. When Jesus was accused by the chief priest and elders, he answered nothing. Though there are so many witnesses against Jesus, Jesus never answered to Pilate (Matthew Chapter 27). Probably Jesus was full of infinite power; his power of dignity overcame Pilate. Therefore Pilate marveled greatly.
The third intuition of nothingness by Jesus is the prophet of the eschatology. It is nothingness as the end of the world in Matthew’s Chapter 24. Jesus predicted not only the eschatology but also his coming back. This means nothingness and Love. From the eternal future, Jesus comes back as the saver of humankind. It is the realization of the principle of nothingness and love. Nothingness continues to eternity ~ infinity ~ transcendent being ~ love.
The fourth intuition of nothingness by Jesus occurred in the prayer of Gethsemane. He intuited nothingness as death. Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Western slope of East Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives. There Jesus brought two disciples and entered in prayer. "Oh my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." What is this cup? Is it the punishment of the Cross with nails to the limbs? Jesus in the prayer of Gethsemane intuited nothingness as death. The pain was so intense that Jesus sweat fell like drops of blood. Although Jesus had the unimaginable suffering of the Cross, that even ordinary people do not experience, there was further suffering. It is the suffering of the redemption of the sins of all mankind. Redemption is not the making of a normal human being. It is that of God only. Jesus' death realization is simultaneously the love of the redemption of sins of all mankind. Since this suffering was too intense, the angel appeared from heaven and encouraged Jesus.
Jesus who intuited nothingness and love at the garden of Gethsemane was arrested by pontiffs and people by the betrayal of the disciple Judah.
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He was crucified in spite of his innocence at the trial. Nails were driven into the hands and feet of Jesus who carried his weight and the weight of the sins of all humankind. Jesus died. It became the nothingness of Jesus and the accomplishment of intuition of love. Jesus bore the sins of all humankind and came to nothing. However, it is not the conclusion. As the conquest of death and nothingness, he resurrected. According to the Bible, it was a symbol of the everlasting life. Jesus resurrected and appeared before the disciples in his body. Jesus was shown to be a person of transcendent being (God) by overcoming death and having proved immortality. In intuition Jesus is one as an infinite transcendent being. Jesus is united with the Almighty God, transcendent being (Yahweh) who is the creator of the infinite space. Death, nothingness of Jesus does not end in misery or the darkness but it is the accomplishment of love and the redemption of all humankind. Revival is the proof of everlastingness and the divine nature of the love of Jesus. The love of Jesus Christ is an everlasting light to sparkle in the infinite space.
Conclusion
Through the research of nothingness in all ages and places, I established the principle of nothingness and love. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle also intuited nothingness. In the case of Socrates, I argued about it in my paper, ’Meditation and intuition’13 and in the case of Plato, ’Kosmologie von Platon’14 and also in the case of Aristotle, ‘Metaphysics of Aristotle and Asian philosophy’15. Aristotle who said that philosophy is to wonder is the easiest example to understand. From my stand point, the wonder is so big that man can express nothing. That means nothingness beyond the words. In ancient ages, Asian philosophy and European philosophy separated from the origin, nothingness. European philosophy started to analyze the world. To the contrary, Asian philosophy started to intuit nothingness. Both philosophies are based on the same experience and are united in origin.
As for the theories of love, I synthesize them as follows.
Confucius also intuited nothingness. As he was an orphan, he faced nothingness as a lack of parents’ love. Then he overcame some trials, he became the Minister of Justice.
As he was always conscious of his ignorance, he researched truth with infinite passion and learned the importance of morality and love. It is called Jin
13
Nakatomi, Kiyokazu (2012). ‘Meditation and Intuition’ Spoleczenstwo i Edukacja, Mi^dzynarodowe Studia Humanistyczne Nr 2/2012, Warsaw. http://www.humanum.org. pl/images/SiE/SiE-2012-nr2.pdf#search='kiyokazu+nakatomi+%2 Cmeditation+and+intuition'
4 Nakatomi Kiyokazu (2013 ). ‘Kosmologie von Platon’
Filozoficzne i kulturowe aspekty dzialalnosci czlowieka w sluzbie rozwoju - wybrane karty historii 2013, Warsaw. http://www.kaweczynska.pl/dokumenty do pobrania/Instytut Studiow nad
Filozofia/ksiazki/filozoficzne i kulturowe aspektv%20,pdf
15 Nakatomi, Kiyokazu (2014). ‘Metaphysics of Aristotle and Asian philosophy’ Izvestia 2014, Volgograd State Pedagogical University http://izvestia.vspu.ru/avtor/5166
The above three papers of mine are collected in New Horizon of Sciences by the Principle of Nothingness and love, Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken.
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(benevolence). Getting older, he lived through difficulties, he intuited Heaven which said nothing. In ancient China, Heaven was the transcendent being who controls the movement of the world with infinite power like ‘Arche’. It is nothingness as reality. After that, he reached to Sei (saintliness) which saves all the people. Sei is higher than Jin. The thought of Confucius is explained by the new principle. It also applies to the Jihi (mercy) of Buddha. He reached Ku by the intuition of nothingness. Ku is the unity of dharma which is transcendent being, infinite and eternal truth of universe. From nothingness Buddha also reached to infinity ~ eternity ~ the transcendent being ~ love (Jihi). By these experiences, Confucius and Buddha intuited and anticipated the love of the Cross of Jesus for mankind. After hundreds of years, Jesus realized God’s Love by the Cross. The great philosophies, thoughts, and religions of all ages and places can be synthesized by the principle of nothingness and love. Nothingness is the highest wisdom in which the transcendent being is revealed to mankind.
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