#please don’t expect my satirical ted lasso post to give you complete and contextualized information

[nateconnolly]

Ted Lasso: All right, guys, listen up. The things in the world originate only because of their relation to other things. That means they have no essence or existence of their own. Their true nature is that they are “śūnya" or "empty”.

Coach Beard: Emptiness isn’t their true nature, either.

Ted Lasso: Say what now?

Coach Beard: Emptiness isn’t truer than the false natures of the things that are empty. 

Ted Lasso: Now how the hell does that work? 

Coach Beard: Emptiness did not arise independently, either. Its existence is also dependent upon its relation to other things. If there was nothing to be empty, then there would be no emptiness. 

Dani Rojas [excitedly, like a little kid with a new toy]: if all things are empty, then emptiness itself must be empty, too! 

Ted Lasso: now that right there is what we call “insight beyond insight” back in Kansas 

Higgins: Er, wouldn’t that make nirvana empty as well? And if it’s empty, doesn’t that mean there’s no reason to try to achieve it? 

Jan Maas [unfiltered Dutchman]: Thoughts like those are why you’re still stuck in samsara. 

#ted lasso #nagarjuna #buddhism #commit to the bit #original post #please don’t expect my satirical ted lasso post to give you complete and contextualized information #my educational nonfiction is thoroughly researched #but my bits are just bits #if anyone wants introductory level info about buddhist emptiness #watch the video on nagarjuna by let’s talk religion #you can find intermediate information on the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy #and the nichiren library entry on non-substantiality