In a Buddhist context, 空 (Sunyata or Sunya) means 'emptiness,' 'nonexistence,' 'void,' 'nothingness,' the opposite of 有(Being, existence), the negation of existence. In varying degrees, so to speak, we're all leading a "fully empty" life or a life of "fully loaded nothingness." Paradoxically, however, if the awareness of this emptiness or nothingness fills one's mind with a full understanding of life, isn't it something out of nothing? Life is empty? Devoid of meaning? Nobody knows for what he is busy? So what? Isn't life still going on at "full" speed despite one's awareness of its "emptiness"? Shall everybody follow the monks to the temple and spend the rest of his "full" life meditating on this "void"? 充实而空, therefore, can have different implications for different people. For a spiritual person, he'd use it only as kind of self-derisive term to describe his otherwise spiritually full life: "Well, nothing! I'm busy everyday exchanging views with my cyber pals out of intellectual-spiritual needs only. Materially I get nothing in return. I'm leading a 'fully empty' life, so to speak." For a material person, if he can deride himself with this phrase as well, he's already getting beyond spiritual "emptiness." What a paradox?! "Emptiness," "fullness," "empty fullness" or "full emptiness," is, therefore, in the eye of the beholder. Why should we bother ourselves with such an elusive paradox? As the saying goes, "Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift; that's why it's called present." So? Enjoy the present as we can! As long as one is happy with what he is doing, it's "fully" approved by Fortune, or else, it's cursed.
Well, "full but empty" or "full yet empty" may be clearer, but "fully empty" is more rhetorical. About Oxymoron (矛盾修辞)...
作者：古月 - 1999/11/07 15:56:16
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According to A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices by Robert Harris, Professor of English at Southern California College in Costa Mesa, California, an oxymoron is a paradox reduced to two words, usually in an adjective-noun ("eloquent silence") or adverb-adjective ("inertly strong") relationship, and is used for effect, complexity, emphasis, or wit.
While "full yet empty" more clearly expresses the paradox, the oxymoron "fully empty" definitely sounds more playful. Even with the possibility for misinterpretation, an effect of added complexity and wit is thereby achieved. Thanks for the alternative version you've offered!
Fully empty, that's the very words I'm looking for
作者：Phoenix - 1999/11/07 20:46:44
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You're not only a scholar of language but a master of life as well! It's not me who have such a feeling, so take it easy! I enjoy every minute gaining nourishment from cyber pals at the forum and I also enjoy today, the valuable present to me!