Emptiness and Compassion in Mahayana Buddhism Their Relationship, Function, and an Aspect of their Practice

Emptiness (śūnyatā) and compassion (karunā) are the essence of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Wisdom (prajñā) and skilful means (upāya) can be regarded as their respective aspects. The present article describes the relationship between emptiness and compassion, and the function of emptiness for the sake of compassion. The Astasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, in its 20th chapter, warns against the direct realization (sāksāt-√kr)of emptiness, and instead recommends thorough acquaintance (parijaya) with it in the description of skilful means and wisdom, which is explained here as the three doors of emancipation, since the direct realization of emptiness leads to nirvāna and disables from acting for the benefit of others. It is the resolution (pranidhāna) made on the basis of compassion that prevents Bodhisattvas from the direct realization. As Schmithausen has already pointed out, such sentences obviously testify to a tension (Spannung) between emptiness and compassion. At the very beginning of the Mahāyāna path, compassion is necessary for the resolution to save all sentient beings. This suggests that compassion precedes emptiness and will not be the result of emptiness. It is true that the skilful means as an aspect of compassion is completed with the assistance of wisdom as an aspect of emptiness, but this does not mean that emptiness logically leads to compassion. Rather, we should regard emptiness as functioning for the sake of archieving compassion. In late Indian Buddhism, Prajñākaramati argues that protecting from the faults of transmigration (samsāra) is the result of emptiness. Therefore he advises those who desire to stay within samsāra for the benefit of others to meditate on emptiness. This is worthy of notice when we consider the relationship between emptiness and compassion. Although one might think that the concept of emptiness is essential to treating all sentient beings equally, the Bhāvanākrama by Kamalaśīla only suggests the simple cause of regarding all sentient beings one's relatives as starting-point of the Mahāyāna path. The path to enlightenment advocated by Atiśa (982-1054), as it is found in his Bodhipathapradīpa and other minor works of his, also refers to the relationship between emptiness and compassion. According to Atiśa, one who desires to remove all the suffering of others is qualified for Mahāyāna Buddhism. This means that compassion is required for entering the Mahāyāna path. Skilful means must be employed in cooperation with the wisdom of emptiness. Although Atiśa clearly does not mention the tensional relationship between emptiness and compassion, his emphasis on practising wisdom and skilful means as a pair might suggest a potential tension. It is true that some passages, not mentioned here, apparently say that compassion arises from the wisdom of emptiness. But I think that most of them can be interpreted as reflecting a functional aspect of emptiness. Although this is still to be examined in more detail, since the present article does not deal with Mahāyāna texts exhaustively, it is most important to distinguish emptiness functioning for the sake of compassion from emptiness as cause of compassion