Abstract: Zen Buddhism's idea of form-emptiness has often been viewed as "nothing," although form-emptiness means "no distinction between form and emptiness." The great wisdom in this notion is that on the one hand Zen Buddhism views things as dreams so man can't and shouldn't attach to any of things and on the other hand Zen Buddhism realizes that although the insight may help man cleanse of vain and evil thoughts it can remove the good in thoughts such as vitality and creativity, resulting in poverty of the good provided by things. Therefore, Zen Buddhism emphasizes that man should understand meaning of "emptiness-in-itself" to stimulate the good from thoughts. This paper tries to investigate how the notion of no distinction between form and emptiness is embedded and embodied in Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber so as to reveal the life wisdom in the novel.

Key words: Zen Buddhism, form-emptiness; Dream of the Red Chamber, thing-in-itself, subjecthood