Buddhism
…we perceive have “essences” is, as the Buddhist doctrine of [[emptiness]] holds, an illusion. > 11. The preceding point about essences and essentialism…
Contents
The concept in Buddhism (and other philosophical traditions) that things do not have (i.e. are empty of) independent existence. If things do not have independent existence but still exist (the concept isn’t nihilism), they must be interdependent.
Jack Kerouac in The Dharma Bums gives an example:
Your mind makes out the orange by seeing it, hearing it, touching it, smelling it, tasting it and thinking about it but without this mind, you call it, the orange would not be seen or heard or smelled or tasted or even mentally noticed, it’s actually, that orange, depending on your mind to exist! Don’t you see that? By itself it’s a no–thing, it’s really mental, it’s seen only of your mind. In other words it’s empty and awake.
Further Reading
Mentions
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weeds
…Robert Wright connects weeds to the [[Buddhism|buddhist]] concept of "emptiness": > I spent many hours battling it, mostly by pulling it…