Form is emptiness

“Our bodies are given life in the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, “Form is emptiness”. That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, “Emptiness is form”. One should not think that these are two separate things. – Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure, The Book of the Samurai

NOTES: I have been meaning to write on this for some time as I have had this quote bouncing around in my brain for a few weeks now. It is difficult to understand this at first but, it is the mindset of a Samurai explaining the concepts of Zen, hence the term “Nothingness”. This is just another way of defining the “Void” Musashi talks about in his “Book of five rings”. Our thoughts are emptiness, because of the absences of scientific evidence that a thought would actually exist. If it cannot be measured, weighed, or explained as and existing tactile gas, liquid, solid or measurable energy source, how can it (a thought) actually exist? But, from this nothingness comes form, i.e. I am worried about and upcoming test so my heart rate begins to increase and blood pressure rises, along with many other measurable physiological changes (anxiety). Emptiness is form but, that form comes from emptiness. This is the paradox. So my emptiness, nothingness, and or the void must have some sort of influence on the same for those around me? I end that in a question because it truly is a question. This begins to touch on the basics of quantum physics as well as the theories of Intention. What we think (an emptiness with no form) can affect the outcome of matters at hand or the feelings or perceptions of those around us (emptiness no becomes a form) If this is the case then we can truly affect our futures in a form (measurable or immeasurable outcomes) by sending our thoughts into the universe or emptiness or the collective consciousness. What we think in our own minds is an emptiness but, the more we think about things the more we create an energy that can affect the things around us and begin to cause form. Just by our presence alone and the thoughts in our own minds we can have an affect on the situations at hand. If I think to myself I don’t like this person and they don’t like me. When I meet that person, they very well may think or feel that I don’t like them and they not like me, based on my thoughts affecting the emptiness around us that now can become form.

You may ask yourself, how did I get here? Where did “I” come from? Is it from emptiness? And from that emptiness do I become form (a human being)? I suppose to truly answer this in a Zen way, the answer would be, it does not matter, form is emptiness and emptiness is form. “It is what it is” and “This to shall pass”. It is best of to just empty the mind and become truly aware of what is happening around us, Live for the moment for the rest of our lives. If we come from emptiness into from we will return to emptiness where we came from and our form is just a shell to house our emptiness and when this shell (house) dies we will become form once again. This takes all the anxiety of death out of the equation, which is why it is in the way of the samurai to understand this quote, because if we understand this we will not have thoughts of death and be able to act without hesitation or contemplation, our minds will be blank and truly aware to react to the environment around us. Absolute awareness and absence of thought allow for instinctive natural reactions, precisely Musashi’s and Tsunetomo’s philosophies.

Have a GREAT day,
GhostDog