Emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is form.

Emptiness is like the mathematical concept of 0.

  • It seems to have no value, yet is it the foundation of mathematics.
  • Without 0, you cannot have 1, 2, 3, so forth.

Emptiness thus does not mean nothingness (0 is not null), emptiness is the base case through which existence is meaningful.

In order for a glass to even be empty, it should first and foremost be there.

Emptiness means empty of independent existence — all things are interdependent. Thus, form is emptiness but emptiness is form (existence is to depend on others). This is sometimes referred to as dependent origination.

Indra’s Net

Source: Indra’s net on Wikipedia

Imagine a net stretching out infinitely in all directions with a monadic-like jewel at each node that reflects every one, including itself. These objects are nodes in a net of ontological interdependence, one in all and all in one.