The idea of an abiding substance with changing qualities is very deeply rooted in our habits of thought. Buddhist schools, no matter what they are, Hinayana or Mahayana, realistic or idealistic, are utterly free from such a habit of thought and all maintain the theory of pure change without substratum. When any Buddhist speaks of the true state of reality he means the state without a specific nature. According to the general views of the Hinayana, the state without any special condition is Nirvana, because Nirvana is perfect freedom from bondage. The Realistic School (the Sarvastivada), belonging to the Hinayana, goes a step further and assumes that selflessness, impermanence and Nirvana (flamelessness) are the true state of all things. The Nihilistic School (the Satyasiddhi) holds that all things, matter and mind, are void or unreal and that nothing exists even in Nirvana.

The Mahayana teaches, on the one hand, that the truth can be discovered only by negative views of becoming, and, on the other hand, holds that true perfection can be realized negatively in the denial of the illusory and causal nature of existence. The ‘Wreath’ School of the Mahayana thinks that the ideal world, or the World One-and-True, is without any independent individual. The ‘Lotus’ School identifies the manifested state as it is and the true entity immanent-in-nature.

On the whole, to see only the fact that a flower is falling is, after all, a one-sided view according to the theory of impermanence. We ought to see that immanent in the fact of a flower’s falling there lies the fact of a flower’s blooming, and also immanent in the blooming of the flower there is the fact of its falling. Thus the opposition of falling (extinction) and blooming (becoming) is synthesized and we form the view of reciprocal identification which is an unbiased view of the mean, or Middle Path.

This amounts to saying that we see inaction in action and action in inaction, immotion in motion and motion in immotion, calm in wave and wave in calm. We thus arrive at the true state of all things, i.e., the Middle Path. And this is what is meant by Thusness or Suchness.

When the view is negatively expressed it indicates the true negation or Void, because any special state of things is denied altogether. Such is considered to be the ultimate idea of Buddhist philosophy. When the ultimate principle is considered from the universal point of view, it is called ‘Dharma-dhatu’ (the Realm of Principle), but when it is considered from the personal point of view, it is named ‘Tathagata-garbha’ (the Matrix of Thus-come or Thus-gone). Other ways of expressing this same idea are: ‘Buddha-to’ or ‘Buddhasvabhava’ (the Buddha Nature), and ‘Dharma-kaya’ (the Spiritual or Law-body). These are all practically synonymous. Without knowing the principle of Thusness or Void in the highest sense of the word, one can in no way understand the Mahayana doctrine. The word ‘void’ in its highest sense does not mean ‘nothingness,’ but indicates ‘devoid of special conditions,’ ‘unconditioned.’