A. When everything is empty, there is no exception at all. From the moral perspective, an amour may be undesirable and blameworthy, but it is undeniable that it is also empty from the Buddhist perspective. However, it doesn’t mean that morality is unimportant and negligible. It is so indispensable for keeping our societies stable that everyone should comply with the morals of the society he belongs to regardless of his religion.
It means that morality is quite different from religion. The former always changes and differs depending on the times and culture. What couldn’t be accepted morally in the past can be common and even popular in our society today. Until some years ago, for example, adultery was often treated as a kind of crime, but nowadays such criminalisation is abolished in most countries. However, the latter signifies unchangeable truth; everything is empty.
In other words, whatever we may do is the function of the universe regardless of whether it is moral, or immoral. The first Patriarch Bodhidharma, when asked if a butcher whose job was to violate the first precept against killing could attain enlightenment, answered, “Once one has realised that everything is empty, one is beyond karma even if one kills living things.” This signifies that from the Buddhist perspective, everything, even killing, is empty without exception.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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