Emptiness

"Emptiness" is not a "thing" that can be equated with anything else. It is, if anything, a characteristic of phenomenon, a quality. I dont think you can say God is a characteristic of phenomenon. God is a thing, or perhaps, a causative force (still a thing).

It might be said that God is the source of all things. And it might be said that all phenomenon arise out of emptiness. But these statements have different meanings. In the case of God, this statement has the sense that all phenomenon have God as their literal source of creation. The statement with regard to emptiness has a psychological connotation regarding the nature of the subject-object conciousness. Phenomenon are perceived to arise out of a state that is ultimately empty in nature because our deluded conciousness imposes distinctions upon the undifferentiated real. These are completely different ideas.

Furthermore, to say that something is godly has a completely different meaning than to say that something is empty.

From the Buddhist perspective, you could say that God is characterized by emptiness, which is to say that there is no God, or anything essentially identifiable as God. But somehow, i do not think that statement is acceptable from a deist perspective. There is something fundamentally different in the ideas, such that trying to relate them is unproductive. I cannot conceive of a way that the statement "emptiness is characterized by God" is acceptable. This would require changing the meaning of either of the terms.

Emptiness really has to do with an analysis intended to help one understand why attachment to dharmas is futile. It is NOT intended to become a basis for a reified reality.

As for equating aspects of the three bodies of the buddha with christian formulations of reality, you are overstretching and assigning too much substance to the concepts of the three bodies. These concepts are meant to be instructive concerning the nature of enlightenment, they are meant to be tools that faciliate realization.

They are not meant to be turned into real "things" and certainly NOT intended to be turned into objects of reverence. From the Buddhist perspective, at least the Madhyamaka and the subsequent traditions derived from that school of thought, all the buddhist teachings are expedient means intended to help one along the path, but not intended to be reified and turned into somthing literal. As a Buddhist, this impulse should be resisted. This is referred to as reverting to the views of non-Buddhists.

So, in the final analysis, there is no relationship between God and emptiness. Perhaps it can be said that God is characterized by emptiness. But if some people understood the full implications of that, they would get mad at that statement. Its probably better left unsaid.

Sometimes, I feel empty. I feel weak. That's really pathetic, yes. A few ask, "Are you having problems with your relationships?"

No, that's not the case. There's not even the slightest problem with my relationship. all is well. I believe everyone do feel empty at one point of time. You sit there, at the busy streets of Orchard, alone, you'll feel empty. The sudden surge of emptiness filling up your heart.