Ontology is more than a self evident reliable interpretative framework in Buddhist studies. Therefore it is fundamental to collate its boundary in interrelated context. The essence of Buddhism is not a type of ontology in the Western sense, nor a type of ontology in the theory of body and function. It is indeed pratitya-samutpoda is in accord with emptyness. The theory of body and function is one of the mainframes of Chinese Buddhism, and its root lies outside Buddhism, in Lao-Tzu s theory of the Way as modified by metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
