incorporate  other  Buddhist  essentials  to their quest for
peace and harmony. It was further developed and crystallized
into the famous  wheel of life (pratiitya-samutpaada,  缘起)
in  twelve  segments.  In  a  way it  depicts  the wave-like
phenomenal sa.msaaric  life (轮回), i.e., the  continuum  of
suffering  due to the desires  and attachments thereof.   It
also instructs that the suffering states can be  removed  as
the desires  and attachments  cease to grasp the being.  The
psychological  ground  in  brief   is  foundational  to  the
understanding of suffering  and the ultimate realization  of
enlightenment.
   The foremost Mahayana Buddhist contribution is the concept
of  emptiness  (`suunyataa,空).   It  is  close  to  but  not
identical to Taoist vacuity (虚) and
 
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non-being (无), although within certain limits both seem to be
expressing similar phenomena of experience.Vacuity is closer
to the concept of void, and non-being to the  status of non-
existence prior to phenomenal existence. Emptiness,a not too
happy  English term for the Sanskrit `suunyataa, is actually
depicting the state of fullness of being, that despite or in
spite of the occluded nature of experience (sa.msaara,轮回),
the realm of emptiness or purity can be achieved.This status
of experience is a clear reminder that Buddhist principles or
essentials are non-dichotomous through and through.Ignorance
(avidyaa,无明) or   the  conventional  nature   or　　 truth
(sa.mv.rti-sat,世俗谛) may exist and persist but it does not
clash  with the  state  of  illumination (vidyaa,明) or  the
supreme nature or  truth  (paramaartha-sat,胜义谛).　　 They
function within the selfsame realm of existence. This is made
possible by the nature of emptiness.
   Ontologically  speaking, for  example, emptiness  is  the
state of ridding one's being of all forms of defilement.  In
this way, all perceptual data would be in a more flexible and
resilient ground.  Without emptiness, the data would be rigid
and unable to move and adjust readily to different conditions.
It serves as an ontological cushion, so to speak, upon which
variant perceptual forms rest, thrive and express themselves.
In a sense, it is the lynchpin of existence or experience, an
ontological  principle  responsible  for  all clear and easy
experiences.   Naturally, only a few are gifted in capturing
this very principle of being  because  the vast majority are
so caught up in the perceptual  data that they are unable to
intimate with the grounds of the data themselves.
   Another great  concept  of  Mahaayaana Buddhism is Buddha
-nature (Buddhaksetra,佛性).   This  concept  together  with
emptiness have laid the foundation for the vast and extensive
nature possible in experience just as the term, Mahayana (大乘),
implies. It has made experiential content cover more grounds
than  ordinary  experience  permits.   This  means  that  in
ontological  terms,  Buddha-nature  refers  to  a  boundless
ground  or basis  for enlightenment.  All this  sounds  very
metaphysical  and it is but  in a truly  existential  sense.
Buddhist psychology  clarifies  not only the inner ways of a
person but alsounifies  the external ways of a man-in-nature
as well.  This is the basic
 
　　　　　　　　　　  P.374
 
 
premise  upon which human relationship  functions, i.e., the
initial   establishment   and   resolution   of   meditative
discipline  already  contains  an opening  to the vaster and
extensive  nature  of being  in contact  with  the  external
realm.  In this way, there  is no inner and outer realms  of
existence.  It  reveals, in another  way, how  the  Buddhist
non-self doctrine (anaatman,无我) prevails in the Mahayanistic
way.  It also  affirms  forceably  the nature  of compassion
(karu.naa, 慈悲) of the Bodhisattva way of life