Nothingness, Emptiness, or…?

Question

In physics they say we are 99.9% empty space.

In Buddhism, it is taught that all things are ‘empty’, but they say that this emptiness is not nothingness. Buddhist teachings also say this is an extremely important concept.

My problem is that I don’t get it.

I think it means, in Buddhism, that this ‘empty space’ freely interacts among all things. That you essentially cannot separate objects (more importantly living things) at this level. But I may be totally wrong, and/or incomplete in my understanding.

Any thoughts? Scientists? Theists? Any other religions talk about this? How?

Answer 1

You need the book "The Nothingness-The Science of Empty Space " by Henning Genz

Answer 2

An atom is made of a nucleus which is a dense collection of protons and neutrons, and a 'cloud' of electrons around the nucleus. The protons, neutrons, and electrons are very tiny compared to the size of the atom. It's something like our solar system. The Sun is very big, but it is tiny compared to the full size of the solar system (especially if you include the Oort cloud out beyond the orbit of Pluto).

I probably don't fully grasp the Buddhist concepts of emptiness and nothingness, but let me venture a guess. Imagine an empty vessel of some sort. You probably are thinking of something that would actually be full of air. If so, it's not empty at all. Now imagine that vessel out in interstellar space. Now it is in vacuum space, so the inside is a vacuum. This may mean the vessel has nothing inside it, right? But no, the vessel may be empty, but it is not nothingness. There is still spacetime inside the empty vessel. Nothingness would not even include spacetime. It is hard to get a mental grasp of this kind of nothingness. But I think it is the biggest question of all, far bigger than "why are we here?" or "Is there a god?". The question is: why is there anything, and not just nothingness?

Answer 3

If you were to build a model of an simple atom, and say to make the Proton the size of a pea, and set the pea on the 50 yard line of a football field, the electron would be the size of a small grain of sand, set on the goal posts.

As you can see there is a lot of space between the 50 yard line and the goal posts, thus most things are made of mostly nothing!

Answer 4

All things are empty is a most challenging image to explain. It might be likened to when your father dies, he disappears. Where did he go, where did he come from? That all things are empty means that all things are really not permanent. Everything, that appears to be outside or inside of ourselves, is in a state of motion and transformation, as are our thoughts which are the source of our identifying one thing from another. As nothing "stays the same" ( our minds are just so - always changing ) it could be said that there is no self ( like an identity ) in anything, because as soon as you have identified it, it has already moved on and become something new. So, in that sense, as there is nothing ( no-thing ) there, it could be said to be empty. Wherever we each go with this, it is important not to step in front of a moving bus because there is nothing there, or to not appreciate the splendor of a living being because it can be seen to be empty. That you might see them as empty certainly does not mean they are nothingness. Rather, this emptiness can express itself most dynamically ard may turn out to be most memorable.

Answer 5

I am not a scientist and i repeat incomplete information, scientist say at near absolute Vacuum,in empty container,matter materializes. also recently astronomers have found that in space there is invisible matter,seen in nebuli kind of like the invisible man in the steam room. I hope there is a scientist to give us more info.

Answer 6

From a scientific perspective, 'empty space' is not empty at all. It's a bustling foam of random quantum events.

Answer 7

We are 99.9% emtpy space? and that is physics? that doesnt make any sense to me