Gongjeuksisaeng (空卽是生): Emptiness as the Source of Life

Gongjeuksisaeng (空卽是生): Emptiness as the Source of Life

Introduction
Gongjeuksisaeng is a Buddhist concept that explains why life and creation are possible. Rather than describing emptiness as nothingness, it reveals emptiness as the condition that allows change, growth, and becoming.

Table of Contents

1. Meaning of Gongjeuksisaeng

2. Why Emptiness Leads to Life

3. Everyday Examples of Gongjeuksisaeng

4. Relationship with Form and Emptiness

5. Core Insight

6. Meaning of Gongjeuksisaeng
   Gongjeuksisaeng literally means “emptiness is life.” Emptiness refers to the absence of a fixed, independent essence. Life refers to arising, movement, and ongoing change. Together, the term explains that existence is possible because nothing is permanently defined.

7. Why Emptiness Leads to Life
   Emptiness does not mean nothing exists. It means things are open to conditions. Because nothing is fixed, interaction and transformation can occur. Life unfolds through this openness.

8. Everyday Examples of Gongjeuksisaeng
   A seed grows into a plant only when conditions come together.
   People grow because body and mind are not fixed.
   Emotions arise and fade depending on situation and environment.

These experiences show how emptiness enables life.

4. Relationship with Form and Emptiness
   “Form is emptiness” explains that appearances lack fixed essence.
   “Emptiness is form” shows that emptiness appears as phenomena.
   Gongjeuksisaeng extends this logic by focusing on creation and change.

5. Core Insight
   Gongjeuksisaeng teaches that emptiness is possibility. Because nothing is fixed, life can arise, transform, and renew continuously.

Reference

Wikipedia