I believe that it does mean that.
I would clarify that by pointing out that the “despicable neighbor” does not exist as such in the ultimate sense because he has no inherent true self nature. In that perspective he is empty…even though he still exists. We need to take care that we don’t drift from the middle way and into a nihilistic perspective right? He only becomes the “despicable neighbor” when he is reified (or conditioned) as such in the conventional sense.
For me, the important takeaway is that both conventional (form) and ultimate (empty) perspectives are required if we are to remain in the middle way. In his book “Emptiness”, Guy Armstrong says that, “Ultimate truth cannot be pointed to without using conventional language.” He goes on to quote Nagarjuna:
The Dharma taught by the Buddha relies on two truths:
The conventional truths of the world and the ultimate truth.
Those who do not understand how they differ
Do not understand the profound teaching of the Buddha.
Without using conventional truth, the ultimate truth cannot be disclosed
I apologize to you @quakeyjase for hijacking your thread like this, but these kinds of discussions come up a lot when we start to dive deeper into the world of dream yoga. Remember that dream yoga was being taught by these lamas that we are quoting a couple of thousand years ago and it is from dream yoga protocols that the techniques of lucid dreaming were formulated.
