Fire Cannot Burn Itself: Exploring Nishitani’s Absolute Nothingness

Imagine a flame. It flickers, dances, and devours its fuel with an energy that captivates the eye.

But here’s the paradox: fire cannot burn itself.

This seemingly simple statement challenges how we think about existence, identity, and the interconnected nature of all things.

Japanese existentialist philosopher Keiji Nishitani takes this idea and uses it to dive deep into one of life’s most profound questions: what does it mean to truly be?

In this article, I’ll explore Nishitani’s philosophy of absolute nothingness (Śūnyatā) and how his ideas dissolve the rigid boundaries of self and other, truth and illusion.

The Web of Connection

Keiji Nishitani believed that everything in the universe exists in a vast web of relationships.

He wrote, “Not a single thing comes into being without some relationship to every other thing.”

Think about it: no flower blooms without the rain, no breath is drawn without air. Even your identity—your sense of self—is shaped by your connections with others.

But Nishitani goes further. He suggests that the essence of each thing exists through its relationship with what it is not.

A tree is a tree because it is not soil, not water, not air—but paradoxically, it is also those things.

The tree depends on these elements for its existence.

Its identity is not fixed; it emerges from this interplay of being and non-being.

Truth and Illusion: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Nishitani’s most challenging idea is that being itself is both truth and illusion.

This isn’t an easy concept to grasp, so let’s break it down:

Truth as Illusion: What you perceive as “you” is only part of the story. You might see yourself as independent, but your existence depends on countless external factors—your relationships, the environment, even the air you breathe.

The idea of a fixed, isolated self is, in this sense, an illusion.

Illusion as Truth: At the same time, the way you experience yourself and the world is deeply real. The illusion of separateness has its own kind of truth because it allows you to navigate life, make decisions, and form connections.

In Nishitani’s view, truth and illusion are inseparable, constantly flowing into and out of one another.

Table: Contrasting Perspectives

Western PhilosophyNishitani’s Philosophy
Focuses on individual substances with fixed identities (e.g., Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am”).Emphasizes relational existence—nothing exists in isolation.
Seeks objective truths and clear distinctions between real and unreal.Sees truth and illusion as interconnected aspects of existence.
Often separates the material world from the spiritual or abstract.Views all things as arising from absolute nothingness (Śūnyatā).

Fire and Absolute Nothingness

Returning to the metaphor of fire, Nishitani explains that fire exists only through its relationship with what it is not: it burns other things but cannot burn itself.

This paradox points to a deeper truth: the essence of fire includes its inability to act upon itself.

Similarly, your existence arises from an interplay with what you are not—your relationships, your environment, even the emptiness within you.

This emptiness, which Nishitani calls absolute nothingness, is not a void in the Western sense.

Instead, it is the fertile ground from which all things arise and to which they return. It’s the “nothing” that makes change, growth, and transformation possible.

Without it, everything would be static and unchanging.

The Key Quote That Says It All

All things that are in the world are linked together, one way or the other. Not a single thing comes into being without some relationship to every other thing.

Scientific intellect thinks here in terms of natural laws of necessary causality; mythico-poetic imagination perceives an organic, living connection; philosophic reason contemplates an absolute One.

But on a more essential level, a system of circuminsession has to be seen here, according to which, on the field of Śūnyatā, all things are in a process of becoming master and servant to one another.

In this system, each thing is itself in not being itself, and is not itself in being itself. Its being is illusion in its truth and truth in its illusion.

This may sound strange the first time one hears it, but in fact it enables us for the first time to conceive of a force by virtue of which all things are gathered together and brought into relationship with one another, a force which, since ancient times, has gone by the name of “nature” (physis)

.- Keiji Nishitani

Keiji Nishitani’s quote above reveals the notions in the first part of the article.

Imagine you are standing in a forest. The trees, the air, the soil, the birds, and even the rain are all connected.

If one thing wasn’t there, everything would be different.

Some scientists think about it using laws of cause and effect, like how one thing causes another.

Poets and storytellers might see it as all living things being part of one big, beautiful web. Philosophers think of it as a deeper, all-encompassing truth.

Nishitani talks about something called Śūnyatā, which means “emptiness” in Buddhism.

But this “emptiness” is not a nothingness or a void—it is actually the space where everything begins and changes.

Nishitani also introduces the idea of circuminsession, which is a big word for how everything depends on everything else.

Nishitani also says that this connectedness is what we call nature or physis, a word from ancient Greece.

Nature isn’t just trees or animals—it’s the force that connects everything in the world.

It’s a living force that brings everything into relationship with each other.

Critiques of Keiji Nishitani’s Philosophy

While Keiji Nishitani’s philosophy has been influential, there are also critics who have different views on his ideas about interconnectedness, Śūnyatā (emptiness), and the nature of reality.

Here are some common criticisms of his ideology, explained simply:

Nihilism (Nothingness)

Some critics argue that Nishitani’s emphasis on “emptiness,” leads to nihilism—the belief that life has no inherent meaning or value.

They worry that if everything is “empty” and nothing has a fixed identity, then nothing truly matters, and we might lose the motivation to live meaningfully.

Response: Nishitani would argue that emptiness isn’t about nothingness in a bad sense—it’s about freedom and possibility.

By recognizing that everything is connected and in a constant state of change, we can embrace life as a dynamic process full of potential, not as something meaningless.

Overemphasis on Interconnectedness

Another criticism is that Nishitani focuses too much on interconnectedness and relationship and doesn’t pay enough attention to individual identity and autonomy.

Response: Nishitani’s view is that the individual self is not isolated, but it is still real in its own way.

He doesn’t deny individual experiences; rather, he suggests that our identity is shaped by how we relate to everything else.

This doesn’t mean you lose your identity—it means your identity is flexible and shaped by relationships.

Practicality of Emptiness

Some critics question how practical or useful the idea of emptiness really is in everyday life.

In their view, focusing too much on the idea that nothing is permanent or fixed could be stop progress, especially when we need clear, practical actions and decisions in the real world.

Response: Nishitani argues that understanding emptiness doesn’t mean we should ignore practical life. Instead, it allows us to see that life is fluid and changing, so we can adapt and respond to circumstances with more openness and less attachment to rigid ideas of who we are or how the world should be.

Over-Complexity and Abstraction

Finally, some critics paint Nishitani’s philosophy as too abstract and difficult to understand or apply.

His ideas about interconnectedness and emptiness sound more like intellectual puzzles than practical wisdom that can help people with real-life problems.

Final Thoughts

Nishitani challenges us to embrace the paradoxes of existence, to see ourselves not as isolated entities but as dynamic parts of a larger whole.

His philosophy isn’t just an intellectual exercise—it’s an invitation to live more deeply, to see the beauty in the interplay of being and non-being.

As the Zen proverb says, “Fire does not burn itself. Water does not wash itself.”

These simple truths remind us that life’s deepest mysteries often lie in its simplest observations.

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