In fact, Shakyamuni [the Buddha] criticized the philosophy of Brahmanism for making brahman the supreme principle of the cosmos and atman (individual soul) the immanent principle, and for reducing everything to them. He took observation of things as they are as his own starting place. Consequently, what he teaches is the impermanence of all things, the nonexistence of a permanent self, and interdependent arising. In other words, neither things nor the truth that is their basis are independent or unchanging., but always occur and change in relation to others. Such a way of occurring or being is, in a word, emptiness.
---Introduction to the Lotus Sutra, by Yoshiro Tamura---
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