Tomistyczna filozofia bytu i buddyjska filozofia pustki

The aim of this article is to compare the basic metaphysical principals of Christian philosophy represented by the works of St. Thomas Aquinas with the Buddhism philosophy of emptiness. Despite of the popular approach to interreligious dialogue, which focuses mainly on the similarities, the author describes the enormous discrepancies between these two conceptions. First of all, Buddhism brings positive value to the concept of „nothingness”, which in Christianity can only be neutral or negative. Secondly, St. Thomas Aquinas respects the law of non – contradiction which is strongly denied by the Buddhist concept of „the middle way”. Furthermore, Buddhism rejects the fundamental categories of western metaphysics such as: existence, essence and substance. Thomism metaphysic is realistic, while Buddhists claim that our world is illusory. Finally, the concept of transcendental God and Trinity opposes the Buddhism idea of impersonal nirvana. Overall, Thomism metaphysics is radically different from Buddhist thought represented by Nagardżuna, Shunruy Suzuku and others. However, these differences are often ignored by the contemporary theologians.