After reading Heart Sutra, I’m left with a quite amount of questions. First of all, what is meant by voidness/emptiness? Avalokiteshvara explains that all phenomena are expressions of emptiness, or empty of natural characteristics. This means that because phenomena are empty of inherent characteristics, they are neither born nor destroyed; neither pure nor indecent; neither coming nor going. Is it implied that there is no existence? Also this relates to a particular paradox I had studied in English 2150. There was a philosopher who had said something along the lines of, “When you leave a room, the room is simply not there anymore.” It is also stated in the text that, voidness is “nothing to be gained.” If nothing is to be gained how can one become enlightened?
Does Emptiness mean that Buddhists believe that nothing exists?
