The Difference Between Nature-Emptiness and Emptiness

What is emptiness? Emptiness means nothingness; first, it represents no object, no dharma, no mark, no mind, no volitional activity; second, it represents abiding nowhere and attaining nothing.

The meaning of "empty by nature" (emptiness of nature) is that the nature of a certain dharma is empty—no object, no dharma, no mark, no mind, no volitional activity, and also abiding nowhere and attaining nothing. Which dharma has a nature that is empty in this way? One must look among the eight mind-essences. Although the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses has no object, no dharma, and no mark, it does have mind, has volitional activity, has abiding, and has attainment; therefore it is not empty by nature. The nature of the eighth consciousness is no object, no dharma, no mark, no mind, no volitional activity, abiding nowhere, attaining nothing; the mind does not cling to a single object, does not attach to a single dharma, and within the mind-essence there are no dharmas at all—no wisdom and no attainment. Therefore the eighth consciousness is empty by nature.

Being empty by nature represents virtue; an empty mind is virtue. What people in the world call a "great virtuous one" (great dharma master) mostly refers to a person who has attained the Path by realizing emptiness, whose mind is empty and without objects. Why is being empty by nature and having an empty mind virtue? Because emptiness is the most powerful; no thing or principle can surpass emptiness, and none can defeat emptiness. Since the mind is empty, what could surpass emptiness? Nothing. Emptiness is the highest and the greatest, transcending everything; all people, things, and affairs cannot compare with emptiness. Therefore emptiness is virtue. A person with an empty mind is worthy of offerings from humans and devas, worthy of their admiration and respect.

The "nature" in "emptiness of nature" sometimes refers to the mind-essence, for example, "self-nature" (svabhāva). People in ancient times generally used the term "self-nature" to represent the unborn and unceasing fundamental conscious mind, the eighth consciousness, which has its own independent nature and function (svabhāva-vyāpāra) and is not swayed by other dharmas. The most obvious example is the Sixth Patriarch, who often kept the word "self-nature" on his lips. "Emptiness of nature" is similar to "self-nature," meaning that a certain dharma possesses the nature of emptiness—and this can only refer to the mind-essence of the eighth consciousness. The subject is the omitted eighth consciousness, and the predicate is "emptiness of nature," directly representing the essence of the eighth consciousness itself.