Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Kenosis and Sunyata

1.      Introduction
The doctrine of Sunyata in Buddhism seems to have a similar meaning to self-emptying (kenosis) in Christianity. However, if we try to look both concepts more deeply, we will find that both of them come from a completely different starting point: Buddhism's starting point is the mystery of human suffering and how humanity evades suffering while the Christian perspective is the mystery of incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

In this paper I will try to see the concept of Sunyata and its relationship with humanity in Buddhism and then try to compare it to my Christian understanding of God and God's relation to humanity. In so doing, I try to investigate some key elements, of which could open up some opportunities for a dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism.

2.      Starting Point: the Truth in Buddhism

The Buddhist's understanding of Sunyata, I think, comes from their understanding of humanity in relation to creation where everything is interdependent. The truth about it is that the existential phenomenon of humanity is suffering.  Humanity is bound by a cycle of suffering: the experience of giving birth, sickness, death, and then re-birth. If one wants to get rid of all this suffering, she/he should get rid of all her/his desires, wants or needs. This way can be achieved by self-discipline, i.e., through the noble eightfold path: right beliefs, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right vocation, right effort, right attention (meditation) and right concentration. By following these eight paths one can hope to reach the state of an Arahat where she/he is freed from the necessity of re-birth.
This starting points show us that in Buddhism self-discipline and practice are needed in order to achieve enlightenment and to get rid of suffering. Those who reach this state of life can experience SUNYATA. It means that humanity has an opportunity to experience "emptiness" in this life. An experience of Sunyata is an experience of Buddha and enlightenment in this life.
 
3.      The Buddhist's Concept of Sunyata

Sunyata is the Sanskrit word for "zeroness" or "emptiness". This doctrine in Buddhism is used to explain the doctrine of the relativity and interdependence of all phenomena. According to Nagarjuna (the Indian Buddhist philosopher who founded the Middle Doctrine School and one of the chief of Mahayana Buddhism, lived in 100-165), Sunyata is not nothingness, but it is truth or the absolute reality of things or "suchness" of the universe. Sunyata is not being as distinguished from beings, nor is it a transcendent God distinguished from this world, nor is it nothingness distinguished from somethingness of ordinary life. It is not to be found outside oneself, nor to be found inside oneself. If it were any of these things, or if it were found in any particular place, it would be a relative emptiness, not ultimate reality.
Sunyata, therefore, is simply a name for the ultimately un-nameable force that makes things in its uniqueness, be what they are (James W. Heisig, Spirituality Today, Autum 1987, Vol.39). It seems to me that the concept of Sunyata is like Tao (the universal soul of nature or the all pervading energy of nature) in Taosim, which can never be put into a concept. It is an unnamed name.
 
4.      Sunyata and its Relationship with Humanity

When we acknowledge that Sunyata is the truth or the absolute reality of all things -its force is to make things be what they are-, we then can see that humanity in their existential reality of suffering because of desires, needs and wants can achieve its uniqueness as human by experiencing Sunyata by doing or following the noble eight-path in their lives. This condition is based on the fact that Buddhism has been a religion of practice rather than of grace. According to Japanese thinkers, in the absolute selflessness of pure experience, one finds the ultimate reality (Sunyata) that grounds our derivative experience of subjective selfhood and the objective world. All subjective and objective realities of conscious experience are forms of pure experience, which are unified by the self. Therefore, the unity of pure experience in humanity finds the oneness of reality as Sunyata, i.e., the original and true self of all things.

5.       A Comparative Study: The God of Christianity

 In Christianity the mystery of incarnation of Jesus Christ becomes the crucial point because it was the moment that God, who is far and transcendent became human in Jesus Christ who was, is and will be close to humanity and creation and immanent in human history. Therefore, God who became man in Jesus Christ has a special relation to creation. This means that God is the source of all creation. The doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, "creation is never from nothing, but out of God" shows us an understanding of God as the source of all. We, therefore, can use the doctrine of Sunyata by saying "creatio ex sunyata". It means that absolutely transcendent God is absolutely immanent in creation. Creation is the act in which God communicates God's reality.
The second point I want to make is that the God of Christianity is the God who has a special relationship with the humanity. Humanity was created in the image and likeness of God and humanity is sanctified by the presence of God in Jesus Christ. This consequence is for the benefit of humanity because of the grace brought by Jesus Christ. Dr. Rewata Dhamma, who spoke of Buddhist-Christian dialogue in London 27 March 1993, stated that:
In Christianity, one can also say that we all have an original union with God, given the creative kenosis of God at the ground of our being, and that we can obtain a realization of this fact through a redemptive union with God. But there is a major difference here between Buddhism and Christianity. In Buddhism one can become a Buddha in the realization of emptiness (by self discipline). But in Christianity, one cannot say that one can become a Christ in realization of the redemption. Rather, this Christian realization is a participation in Christ's redemptive kenosis.

The third point is the self-emptying of Christ found in Phil. 1:5-11. The Person of Jesus is the self-emptying God. The suffering of Jesus and his death on the Cross depicted the profound realization of his self-emptiness. Masao Abe, in Divine Emptiness and Historical Fullness: A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation with Masao Abe (Edited by Christopher Ives, 1995), on his theological reflection on the self-emptying of God by focusing on the kenosis hymn of Philippians 2:5-11, states that:
In the case of Christ, kenosis is realized in the fact that one who was in the form of God emptied himself and assumed the form of a servant. It originated in the Will of God. It is not that God become something else by his partial self-giving, but that God is something --or more precisely, that God is each and every thing-- by his total self-emptying. Only through this total kenosis is God truly God. Here we realize the reality of God which is entirely beyond conception and objectification. This kenotic God is the ground of the kenotic Christ.


6.      Conclusion

The ideas of Sunyata in Buddhism and Kenosis in Christianity have some similarities as well as differences but these elements may be developed further for dialogue. Sunyata is the absolute reality of all things which in the Christian understanding can be identified with God as the source of all creation. Sunyata in Buddhism can be gained by self-discipline and Kenosis in Christianity can only be achieved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  We, therefore, can learn from Buddhist's self-discipline. By personal prayer and meditation, we can achieve our self-emptying, which is the mark of our discipleship; the mark of our genuine desire to live in Christ.

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