EMPTINESS IS FORM (2000)

Emptiness is Form refers to a Buddhist text called the Heart Sutra, which is the distillation of all teachings on Emptiness. Emptiness in Buddhism refers not to nothingness, but to the opposite: the interdependence of all phenomena, both mental and physical. In the case of physical phenomena, the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh explains, "You are only made of non-you elements." That is, your body is composed entirely of non-body parts: dirt, plants, previously decomposed bodies, stardust, and so on. Thinking about the human body like this, one may come to understand that independent existence is a mental construction that collapses when we examine it.

In a similar way, one can explore the boundaries between physical objects. For example, the precise line between your body and the rest of the world is unidentifiable and indefinable. Your body dissolves into the world around it, shedding microscopic particles, and constantly absorbing bits of the "outside world" through your skin, orifices, and senses. Furthermore, as many philosophers and scientists note, if you remove parts of your body, you do not become any less "you" - e.g. when you get a haircut, or, much worse, lose a limb. Finally, your mind is composed of thoughts, ideas and perceptions that are only understood through the language you learned, the culture in which you were raised, and the people you encountered. Thus, the notion that any part of you, or "you" itself, exists independent of the world--even your thoughts--is a purely mental construction.

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Emptiness is Form was commissioned for REFRESH: The Art of the Screensaver which is featured at ArtMuseum.net.

Full text of the Heart Sutra

(The Sutra on the Heart of the Transcendent and Victorious Wisdom)

Thus have I heard at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha on Vulture Mountain together with a great assembly of monks and a great assembly of Bodhisattvas. At that time, the Blessed One was absorbed in the concentration of the countless aspects of phenomena called "Profound Illumination." 

At that time also the Superior Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva, the great being, was looking perfectly at the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom, perfectly looking at the emptiness of inherent existence of the five aggregates also.

Then, through the power of Buddha, the Venerable Shariputra said to the Superior Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva, the great being, "How should a child of the lineage train who wishes to engage in the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom?"

Thus he spoke and the Superior Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva, the great being, replied to the Venerable Shariputra as follows: 

"Shariputra, whatever son or daughter of the lineage wishes to engage in the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom should look perfectly like this: subsequently looking perfectly and correctly at the emptiness of inherent existence of the five aggregates also.

"Form is empty, emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is not other than emptiness. In the same way feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty. Shariputra, like this all phenomena are merely empty, without characteristics. They are not produced and do not cease. They have no defilement and no separation from defilement. They have no decrease and no increase.

"Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness. There is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no visible form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no object of touch, no mental phenomenon. There is no eye element and so forth up to no mind element, up to no element of mental consciousness. There is no ignorance and no cessation of ignorance and so forth up to no aging and death and no cessation of aging and death. Likewise, there is no suffering, no origin, no cessation and no path; no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment. 

"Therefore, Shariputra, because there is no attainment, Bodhisattvas rely on and abide in the perfection of wisdom; and because their minds have no obstructions they have no fear. Passing utterly beyond error they attain the final state beyond sorrow. All the Buddhas who perfectly reside in the three times, by relying upon the perfection of wisdom, become manifest and complete Buddhas in the state of unsurpassed, perfect and complete enlightenment. 

"Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom, the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the equal-to-the-unequaled mantra, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering, since it is not false, should be known as the truth. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed:

TAYATA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA!

"Shariputra, this is how a Bodhisattva, a great being, should train in the profound perfection of wisdom."

Then the Blessed One arose from that concentration and said to the Superior Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva, the great being: "Well said, well said, O child of the lineage. So it is. The profound perfection of wisdom should be practiced exactly as you have taught, and the Tathagatas will rejoice."

When the Blessed One had said this, the Venerable Shariputra, the Superior Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva, the great being, and the entire assembly as well as worldly beings -- gods, humans, demi-gods and gandharvas -- were filled with admiration and highly praised what had been spoken by the Blessed One.

This prayer was reproduced by Kurukulla Center for the benefit of all beings. With thanks to the Kurukulla center and the translators, particularly David Molk.

Listen to a two-part commentary on The Heart Sutra by Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman:

EXHIBITION HISTORY

Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, Stanford University, 2000
London Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2002 
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