God or Emptiness Concept of the Bird Net: Appearance and Unity in One

K.S.Chow

Introduction

The National Stadium of Beijing, Bird Net, is a marvelous architectural and engineering feat created from the alliance of civilizations between the west and the east. It is the fruit of collaboration between a Swiss firm, Herzog & de Meuron Architekten AG and China Architecture Design and Research Group. The collaboration integrates  the  best and the brightest brains  from both nations. Succinctly put, the Bird Net National Stadium of Beijing is the unity of two major contigent conditions from the elites of the west and the east. The contigent conditions comprise the expertises of structural engineering and stadium design from the blue chip expertises from the west and the east. The unity of the best and brightest brains dependently co-create the Bird Net National Stadium of Beijing.

This unity of existence of the Bird Net is ontologically perceived as the Truth of Emptiness or the  Unity of God. Every perfectly completed construction or creation is the Unity of Existence of God or the eternal Truth of Emptiness. Since, the Bird Net Stadium has been perfectly created or constructed,  it is a novelty resulted from the Unity of Existence of God or the eternal principle of Emptiness. Since there exist countless and  flawlessly completed icons of modern civilizations all over the globe, there exist countless faces God everywhere. This is called the immanence of God everywhere. Buddhistly put, the eternal Principle of Emptiness sustains the icons of modern civilizations including both secular as well as spiritual development .

Emptiness (or Buddha-nature) or God is the innate unlimited potentialities or possibilities of creations by which possibilities are actualized into unlimited conditioned phenomena, actual entities or Unities of Existence. Mahāyāna Buddhist philosopher, Nāgārjuna defines a conditioned phenomenon as Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā). Emptiness is a unity of contigent cause and conditions.  Western process philosopher, Whitehead defines an actual entity as the unity of contigent conditions of occasions of human experiences. Renowned Sufi Ibn ‘Arabī defines each Unity of Existence as the existence of God . Thus, the brilliant  engineering feat of the Bird Net National Stadium is an example of the novelty of Emptiness or God.

Consequent Nature

However, not every completed infrastructure is called Unity Existence of God. If a completed structure is structurally or engineeringly flawed, it is not the Unity of Existence of God or the Reality of Emptiness as it is incomplete or indeterminate.  Only a perfectly defectless structure  with zero defect in engineering structure is called a comprehensive or determinate actual entity according to Whiteheadian process philosophy. Whitehead adds further that  a comprehensive or determinate actual entity is called the consequencial nature of God. Buddhistly put , the consequential nature of God is the unviolated principle of Emptiness in which there exists a harmony of cause and conditions. A flawless structure is the product of zero defect of the moral character of the construction workers, supervisors , contractors and other related commercial  and government agencies and raw materials used. The duties or responsibilities of human resources particularly direct labour and administration determine quality of output of any project. Human wills and efforts introduce the contigent conditions and the Principle of God or Emptiness consummate the project through the natural principle of dependently co-arisen Unity of Existence.  

Co-creators

Therefore, the collapse of the financial institutions in U.S and E.U in 2008 financial  meltdown is the collapse of the existence or mould of God or the violation of the principle of Emptiness owing to human moral defects in deontological ethics of human duties or responsibilities. Whitehead  categorically exerts that both Man and God are co-creators of the concrescence and accomplishment in the world. God saves only  those who save themselves. God never saves one who is lazy, indolent or irresponsible. The bipolar co-rrelationship between human and material resource and God Power or Emptiness Principle  sustains the creative advance of the world. Buddhistly put, manpower creates the conventional reality of multiplicity and God Power refers to the eternal Truth of ultimate Reality of the Unity of Existence.

Alliance of Civilizations

 From Whiteheadian Process Philosophy of Theism, the western architectural and engineering creative mind is one actual entity (first conditioned phenomenon) ; that of  eastern mind is another actual entity (second conditioned phenomenon). The western actual entity and the eastern entity are   unified and integrated into a larger actual entity (third actual entity). This larger actual entity is the created novelty of the Bird Net National Stadium of Beijing .

Form and Structure in One

The Bird Net National Stadium is composed of external lattice-like interwoven twisted steel beams surrounding the concrete stadium bowl with a seating capacity of 91,000. The bird net of  interwoven twisted steel beams are not merely constructed to beautify the façade or form of the stadium. The  beautifully interwoven twisted steel beams and joints are positionally engineered to invigorate the overall structural unity or strength of the entire stadium. In other words, the farcade or form  and structure are  non-dual and unified into one. They are positionally engineered  into one. The grid-like formation of the interwoven twisted steel beams integrate the stairs, walls, and roof into a cohesive system - the Unity of Existence of the Beijing’s National Stadium.

This Unity of Existence is the external manifest of Bird Net National Stadium and the unmanifest or hidden Unity of God or the Principle of Emptiness. This mirrors that the secular knowledge of  science and technology and the spiritual knowledge of God or Emptiness interpenetrate and co-exist. This corroborates that secularity and spirituality are inseparable. Buddhistly put, this is the two-fold Truth of conventional phenomena and ultimate Principle. Monotheistically put, this is the  bipolar Reality of the World and God relationship. This further corroborates that God concept and Emptiness concept are synonymous ontologically and philosophically.

Thus, the bird net of interwoven twisted steel beams not only beautifies the appearance of the stadium, most importantly, it invigorates the overall structural unity or strength of the entire stadium. In addition, the forcade or form of the stadium regulates wind, weather and sunlight. 

Secularity and Spirituality

Theosophically and ontologically perceived , the forcade or form of the stadium is the multiplicity and the structure is the Unity. The multiplicity is the many or diversity and the Unity is the One. The One is the Buddha-nature which is the Truth of Emptiness or the Unity of God. Multiplicity is conventional truth whilst Unity is ultimate truth. The relationship between multiplicity of phenomena  and the Unity of Principle is depicted in the Mahāyāna Heart Sūtra which affirms thus , “ Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form.”

Key Concern

In the minds of the architects and engineers , the key concern is the absolute safety and security of the stadium. The perfect  safety or security of stadium is the perfect unity of the stadium. Theosophically and ontologically viewed by Whitehead, the perfect unity of the stadium is the complete or determinate actual entity of God. Philosophically visioned by Nāgārjuna , the unity of the stadium  is the primordial Buddha-nature or the Principle of Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā)  of the stadium. The complete stadium is an accomplishment in the world and it brings satisfaction to Man. From the perspective of process philosophy of Whitehead, the perfectly constructed Bird Net Stadium is the accomplishment and satisfaction  of God or Emptiness . As God or Emptiness is immanent in all beings including  human beings, the accomplishment and  satisfaction are also experienced by Man. All actual entities of God are the empirical experiences of Man.

‘Sākyamuni Buddha promulgates that every actual entity is mind-made (cittamātra). Every actual entity is a dynamic process becoming which can only be intuitively discerned with the perennial wisdom of Process Thought. The Process Thought is the Mind of Buddha or God. The stadium is called an actual entity because it is concretely  there for us to perceive through human consciousness. Ultimately , it is illusory and it is unreal because it is empty of inherent existence. It is merely the unity of parts. Unity is real and parts are illusory.

Conclusion

The twisting steel beams are so designed and constructed to perform dual artistic and engineering function. Firstly, the bird net design of the twisted steel beams beautifies the external architectural and artistic beauty of the stadium. Secondly, all forces in the twisted steam are positionally calculated  to furnish reinforcing, invigorating  forces to the entire structure of the stadium. Thus, we perceive the multiplicity in unity through the wisdom of  the eternal principle of Unity of Existence or Emptiness. Thus,  I perceive bi-polarly Zen in the Birth Net National Stadium in Beijing. It is the landmark architectural masterpiece of the crystallization of the alliance of civilizations  between the west and east.   This essay is actually a Zen inspiration from my bi-polar perception of  the Birth Net Stadium of Beijing that I visited during the very cold  autumn in Beijing in 2008.  

In the midst of melancholy yellow flowers are all Wisdom;
In the green green bamboo grove are all the Spirit of Truth.

Chan Patriarch