ABSTRACT
Of all Buddhist philosophical concepts, the theory of Emptiness has perhaps attracted the most curiosity in the Occidental world. The teachings of Emptiness, received via both the Sino-Japanese Zen tradition and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, were at once philosophical, paradoxical, therapeutic and mystical, appealing to Western imaginations of Oriental religions. The only Oriental topic to rival Emptiness in this regard is perhaps the Taoist dyad of Tao and Te. Even they, however, cannot compare with the theory of Emptiness in the virtue of being grounded in rational argument, the true mark of philosophy.
