The Difference between the Emptiness of the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna

The emptiness of "all dharmas are empty" has two aspects of meaning. On one hand, there is the meaning of the emptiness of the five-aggregate world taught from the perspective of the Small Vehicle's Dharma, which is relatively shallow in level and narrow in scope, not encompassing all dharmas. On the other hand, there is the meaning of the emptiness of the five-aggregate world and the emptiness of all dharmas taught from the perspective of the Great Vehicle's Dharma, which is progressively deeper in level—it is emptiness at the root, emptiness in essence, emptiness in the ultimate sense, reaching finally a complete and thorough emptiness—and its scope encompasses all dharmas without the slightest omission. The Small Vehicle's Dharma teaches the suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self of the five-aggregate world. This emptiness refers to dharmas that arise, cease, change, and are impermanent: whatever arises will change and even cease; it cannot abide permanently nor last long. Dharmas that arise and cease are dharmas with the nature of non-self. This is the Small Vehicle's emptiness. 

The Great Vehicle's emptiness is that, after realizing the tathāgatagarbha, one observes in direct perception that the five-aggregate world and all dharmas are all manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and therefore all are empty; these dharmas also arise, cease, change, and are not real. Clearly, the Great Vehicle's emptiness is more fundamental, more ultimate, and more thorough, explaining the principle of emptiness clearly. From the perspective of the consciousness-only seed-wisdom (种智) of bodhisattvas on the bhūmis, all objects seen before one's eyes are manifested by the mind; the dharmas that are transformed and generated are illusory and unreal. It is like a magician conjuring a bouquet of fresh flowers out of thin air: although this bouquet of flowers exists phenomenally, in essence it is empty and non-existent; its existence is a false appearance. The Great Vehicle's Dharma expounds the emptiness, falsity, and the middle (空、假、中) of all worldly dharmas, whereas the Small Vehicle's emptiness is relatively shallow: it has no "falsity" and no "middle," but only observes that worldly dharmas are impermanent, changing, and non-abiding. It lacks the falsity of that which is illusorily transformed and has not grasped the essence of dharmas; its wisdom of contemplation is relatively shallow.

Whether the cultivation is that of the Great Vehicle or the Small Vehicle, it is all about breaking the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses and the five aggregates, so that the seven consciousnesses and the five aggregates possess the wisdom of emptiness. If one has been steeped in much Dharma and has a rich theoretical knowledge, able to write numerous argumentative essays, yet the mind is not empty, taking all the theories one has learned as really existent dharmas, then this is acquiring knowledge, not cultivation—it runs contrary to cultivation.

Especially in studying the Great Vehicle's Dharma, if one becomes immersed in profound and interesting theories, constantly absorbing knowledge, diligently exploring and researching, organizing and summarizing, analyzing in fine detail, and grasping at all the dharmas manifested by the tathāgatagarbha as existent dharmas—clinging to existence and not being empty—none of this is cultivation. Cultivation is to realize emptiness on the basis of theory and thereby break ignorance, transforming the mind's conduct and mental nature. The mental nature can only be transformed when the mind is empty; only when the mental nature is transformed can the mind's conduct change accordingly, and only then can karmic retribution change from evil retribution to wholesome retribution. Every Dharma learner must bear in mind that the purpose of studying Buddhism is to attain an empty mind—"when the mind is empty, one returns with success." Cultivation is not about pursuing scholarship, not about accumulating knowledge and researching theories. Therefore one must not cling to principle while discarding phenomena; one must unify principle and phenomena, so that principle and phenomena are perfectly harmonized without obstruction.