In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches the meaning of the cornerstone Buddhist concept of “emptiness.” Many people confuse it with the idea of nothingness; Professor Thurman points out, and continues: experientially, emptiness means that everything is there, but it is there with a mirror image reflection-like or an illusion-like quality. The realization of emptiness means that your perception of any seeming object is an interaction where you — the subject — are very powerful in determining your experience of that object. Therefore, you are responsible for shaping that experience yourself.


This episode was recorded on June 24, 2016 at Menla Mountain Retreat Center as part of a retreat called “Tibetan Rejuvenation Immersion” with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang and Robert Thurman.