Emptiness as the Nature of Everything

A reflection on how the apparent divide between subjective experience and objective reality dissolves when emptiness is recognized as the nature of all things, including the self.

Emptiness is the nature of everything, including the self. When this is seen clearly, there is no longer a tension between the experience of subjectivity and objectivity, no tension between what appears and what I am.

Nirvana and samsara are the same

Another way to describe this, in more Buddhist language, is that nirvana and samsara are the same. Samsara is not simply the objective universe. It is the appearance of the world: this nonstop movement in which there is inherent suffering, the illusion of separation that we live within as manifestation. Nirvana, on the other hand, is the ending of that movement, where what is known is what has always been prior to it, always peaceful, always empty, without form.

But even with this understanding, you can still remain going back and forth, wanting nirvana, pushing away from samsara, until you see that they are the same. There are not two. That is Advaita.