The Difference Between Nature-Emptiness and Emptiness

What is emptiness? Emptiness means non-existence; first, it represents no things, no dharmas, no marks, no mind, no actions, and so on; second, it represents non-abiding, nothing to be attained, and so on.

The meaning of "empty by nature" (emptiness of nature) is that the nature of a certain dharma is empty—no things, no dharmas, no marks, no mind, no actions, and also non-abiding, nothing to be attained. Which dharma has a nature that is empty in this way? One must look among the eight mind-substances. Although the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses is without things, without dharmas, and without marks, it nevertheless has mind, has actions, abides somewhere, and attains something; therefore it is not empty by nature. Only the nature of the tathāgatagarbha is without things, without dharmas, without marks, without mind, without actions, non-abiding, and with nothing to be attained—the mind is attached to not a single thing, does not cling to a single dharma, and within the mind-substance there are no dharmas at all; there is no wisdom and nothing attained. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is empty by nature.

Being empty by nature represents virtue; an empty mind is virtue. What people in the world call a "great virtuous one" (dade) mostly refers to a person who has attained the Path, whose mind has realized emptiness and is empty without things. Why is being empty by nature and having an empty mind virtue? Because emptiness is the most powerful; no thing, matter, or principle can surpass emptiness, and none can defeat emptiness. Since the mind is empty, what could surpass emptiness? Nothing. Emptiness is the highest and the greatest, transcending everything; all people, things, and affairs cannot be compared with emptiness. Therefore emptiness is virtue. A person whose mind is empty seeks nothing and attains nothing, and is thus worthy of offerings from humans and devas, worthy of their admiration and respect.

Emptiness (śūnyatā), at times, refers to the quality of being empty—the essential nature of all dharmas is empty—meaning that a certain dharma possesses the quality of emptiness, its nature is empty, it does not cling to any dharmas, and there is nothing it grasps. This mainly refers to the nature of the tathāgatagarbha mind-substance. The fundamental tathāgatagarbha is precisely like this: its nature is empty, and its marks are also empty. Although the tathāgatagarbha is empty in nature, it does have a real substance; it is the ultimate reality (dharmatā) that is unborn and undying. Whereas the mind-nature of the seven consciousnesses, although clinging to existence and not empty, is in its essence empty without real substance—a false mark that arises and ceases.

At times, emptiness refers to the mind-substance, with the omitted subject being the tathāgatagarbha and the object being emptiness, directly representing the tathāgatagarbha substance itself. For example, take the term "self-nature" (svabhāva): people in ancient times generally used the word "self-nature" to represent the unborn and undying fundamental consciousness-mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which has its own independent nature and function and is not swayed by other dharmas. The most obvious example is the Sixth Patriarch, who frequently had the word "self-nature" on his lips. Whereas all worldly dharmas and marks, as well as the five aggregates, have no self-nature of their own; they are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and their nature is also empty. The appearance of the five aggregates is produced and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; they seem to exist, but in reality they too are empty.