user-1: Is the emptiness of final nirvana an illusion?
When we misplace a box with nothing at all inside we haven't really lost its contents. I am convinced, based on this, nothingness is only really inside things that exist.
Meaning at final nirvana, the conventional self, which really no longer consists of anything at all, is really composed of absolutely nothing, must exist and have no parts.
Final nirvana does still arise, but the Buddha continues to exist, so emptiness, partite lack of substance, is an illusion. I'd like a Buddhist wide quote with sound reasoning.

user16635: This perspective on emptiness is a bit turned around. Instead of standing as an outsider looking at a supposedly empty box, imagine being inside that box.  It's (perhaps) a somewhat claustrophobic experience (though we might not recognize that feeling for what it is); we are in this small, confined space that is filled with 'us'. Then follow this progression:

The box disappears and we find ourselves in a larger room, filled with 'our stuff'
The walls of the room disappear, and we find ourselves in a larger house, intermingling with those we know and care about
The house disappears and we find ourselves in a town or city, with all sorts of activity and distractions
The town/city disappears and we find ourselves in an open field, with far horizons
The field and sky disappear, and we are left in the vast expanses of space

We experience 'fullness' when we are bound by the attachments produced by the egoic mind, because we have placed ourselves in a mental container formed of our thoughts, attitudes, feelings, desires, etc. It's like wrapping ourselves in a blanket of mind; warm and familiar, but constrained. When we begin to quiet and still the egoic mind, those constraints loosen, and we start to feel the expanse around us. The more expansive that feeling becomes, the smaller and more intermittent the products of the egoic mind seem, and we start to experience that same sense of emptiness that we might have standing in a field under the wide blue sky. It isn't an objective emptiness in which nothing exists; it's the subjective emptiness of perspective and freedom.

-1: <h2>Is the emptiness of final nirvana an illusion?</h2>
<p>When we misplace a box with nothing at all inside we haven't really lost its contents. I am convinced, based on this, <em>nothingness is only really inside things that exist</em>.</p>
<p>Meaning at final nirvana, the conventional self, which <em>really no longer consists of anything at all</em>, is <em>really composed of absolutely nothing</em>, must <strong>exist and have no parts</strong>.</p>
<p>Final nirvana does still arise, but the Buddha continues to exist, so emptiness, partite lack of substance, is an illusion. I'd like a Buddhist wide quote with sound reasoning.</p>
 16635: <p>This perspective on emptiness is a bit turned around. Instead of standing as an outsider looking at a supposedly empty box, imagine being inside that box.  It's (perhaps) a somewhat claustrophobic experience (though we might not recognize that feeling for what it is); we are in this small, confined space that is filled with 'us'. Then follow this progression:</p>
<ul>
<li>The box disappears and we find ourselves in a larger room, filled with 'our stuff'</li>
<li>The walls of the room disappear, and we find ourselves in a larger house, intermingling with those we know and care about</li>
<li>The house disappears and we find ourselves in a town or city, with all sorts of activity and distractions</li>
<li>The town/city disappears and we find ourselves in an open field, with far horizons</li>
<li>The field and sky disappear, and we are left in the vast expanses of space</li>
</ul>
<p>We experience 'fullness' when we are bound by the attachments produced by the egoic mind, because we have placed ourselves in a mental container formed of our thoughts, attitudes, feelings, desires, etc. It's like wrapping ourselves in a blanket of mind; warm and familiar, but constrained. When we begin to quiet and still the egoic mind, those constraints loosen, and we start to feel the expanse around us. The more expansive that feeling becomes, the smaller and more intermittent the products of the egoic mind seem, and we start to experience that same sense of emptiness that we might have standing in a field under the wide blue sky. It isn't an <em>objective</em> emptiness in which nothing exists; it's the <em>subjective</em> emptiness of perspective and freedom.</p>
