PART ONE: Background The Buddha 7 Nāgārjuna 15 Zen Buddhism 24 Kitarō Nishida (1870-1945) 35 PART TWO: Keiji Nishitani and the philosophy of emptiness Stimuli 49 From Nihilistic despair to the emptiness of "open hands" 64 Emptiness and the appreciation of world, history and man 93 PART THREE: Stepping stones for dialogue Mystical experience and philosophical reflection 121 God and emptiness 138 Jesus Christ: the figure of the "empty" God 155