Hyderbada: Shunyata is a concept that emphatically denies two extreme views in philosophy, namely nihilism and absolutism/ eternal fixity, says Dr Santosh Raut, a Buddhist expert.
Dr Raut was speaking at a lecture named ‘Shunyata and social transformation’, organised as part of Buddhavanam project Acharya Nagarjuna lecture series.
It is about how we perceive things in our daily life without pre-defined or pre-supposed notions or concepts. “It is about the way you see, understand and listen. Every moment we undergo is based on external conditions. We think it is reality, but it is not,” he said.
Thinking that something is predestined, pre-decided and like birth of a person in a particular caste, gender, colour is something they can’t change.
It is where Buddhism comes with a concept of Shunyata through which it attacks or empathetically denies both the concepts or viewpoints.
Social transformation is attained through Shunyata. Dr Raut said, “If we are not free from ourselves, we can’t change the world. This concept of Shunyata was told by the great Buddha and then the great Nagarjuna and his disciples. In modern times, it was followed and told by Dr B. R. Ambedkar.”
