The following is a summary of the talk given by Professor Yotsuya Kohdoh at the 145th Birth Celebration of Swami Vivekananda in Tokyo on June 10, 2007. Previous issues of The Vedanta Kyokai have presented the talks given from Hindu and Catholic perspectives on the following words from Swami Vivekananda: "This is the gist of all worship; to be pure and to do good to others."

Sunyata (Emptiness) and Altruistic Practice
Professor Yotsuya Kohdoh, Komazawa University, Tokyo

"About two decades ago I became determined to study Buddhism. Since then I have been studying Buddhist philosophy, particularly the philosophy of Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism. To explain a little more in detail, my main interest was to know how the concept of sunyata (empty) was grasped by Mahayana Buddhists in India and Tibet. Last year I published a book for two purposes ｨC one was to summarize what I had learned so far about the idea of sunyata and the other was to find a good place to stop this particular study.

"Although I had made Buddhism the object of academic pursuit, it was no more than a microscopic investigation of old Buddhist documents. It was so technical and was essentially an 'ivory-tower study' having nothing to do with any fundamental understanding of human beings."

"One day when I was asking myself why I had chosen to study Buddhism, I made up my mind to restudy it from a different perspective. With my life already crossing its midpoint, I found myself adopting a much broader view. Almost immediately, a new theme came up in my mind. This time, the theme was karuna/maitri (compassion/mercy).  The concept of sunyata that I had been studying originally is closely related to such fundamental Buddhist ideas as anatman (non-self) or anitya (non-eternal) and is the primary meaning of prajna (wisdom). Within this context, I took a keen interest in discovering how sunya is related to karuna/maitri."

Professor Kohdoh then briefly discussed Gautama Buddha in the context of a historical personality demonstrating mercy and compassion. Drawing on his years of study of sunya concepts (emptiness) and  Mahayana Buddhism, Kohdoh-san illustrated the primary role the many Bodhisattva, meaning 'a human being who seeks enlightenment', have played in developing the various schools of Mahayana Buddhism. Santideva, in particular, was discussed in much detail.

"Santideva recommends," he said, "that we practice identifying and replacing ourselves with others on the basis of equality. According to him, those who do so can feel the other's sorrow or suffering as their own and can learn to care for others as they do themselves." The professor then said that since all others are the same as oneself,  "Santideva's practice cannot be considered 'pure altruistic practice' and is far from 'unconditional or absolute altruism' imbued with the spirit of 'self-sacrifice'."

Kohdoh admitted that in his years of study of the concept of sunya he hasn't found this to be the principle behind the idea of absolute altruism. "Considering all these points," he continued, "I have come to believe that 'altruistic practice' closely related to 'Mahayana Buddhist compassion' is not based on the principle of 'sunya' but rather on the Buddha's vow, as narrated in 'Jataka Tales' or his genuine prayer for peace among all people, which takes the form of self-sacrifice. In fact, all people are intrinsically endowed with the potential to treat other people more affectionately and carefully than they do themselves; as a mother treats her own child."

Professor Kohdoh concluded his talk saying, "Though I have been studying the subject of 'sunya' for many years, I am still not able to practice compassion or altruistic practice successfully. My lack of success may be due to the fact that 'sunyata' (emptiness) cannot be easily related to altruistic practice based on compassion. I should like to stop here by shifting responsibility for my incompetence or lack of success with altruistic practice to the influence of sunyata from my earlier studies." ･