Śūnyatā

''Śūnyatā'' ( sa, शून्यता, śūnyatā; pi, suññatā) pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as ''emptiness'', ''vacuity'', and sometimes ''voidness'', is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience.

In Theravāda Buddhism, ''Suññatā'' often refers to the non-self (Pāli: ''anattā'', Sanskrit: ''anātman'') nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres. ''Suññatā'' is also often used to refer to a meditative state or experience.

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, ''śūnyatā'' refers to the tenet that "all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature (''svabhava'')", but may also refer to the Buddha-nature teachings and primordial or empty awareness, as in Dzogchen, Shentong, or Chan.

Etymology

"''Śūnyatā''" (Sanskrit) is usually translated as "devoidness", "emptiness", "hollow", "hollowness", "voidness". It is the noun form of the adjective ''śūnya'', plus ''-tā'':
* ''śūnya,'' in the context of buddha dharma'','' primarily means "empty", or "void," but also means "zero," and "nothing," and derives from the root ''śvi'', meaning "hollow"
* ''-tā'' is a suffix denoting a quality or state of being, equivalent to English "-ness"

Development of the concept

The concept of ''śūnyatā'' as "emptiness" is related to the concept of '' anatta'' in early Buddhism. Over time, many different philosophical schools or tenet-systems (Sanskrit: ''siddhānta'') have developed within Buddhism in an effort to explain the exact philosophical meaning of emptiness.

After the Buddha, emptiness was further developed by the Abhidharma schools, Nāgārjuna and the Mādhyamaka school, an early Mahāyāna school. Emptiness ("positively" interpreted) is also an important element of the Buddha-nature literature, which played a formative role in the evolution of subsequent Mahāyāna doctrine and practice.

Early Buddhism

Pāli Nikāyas

The Pāli Canon uses the term ''śūnyatā'' ("emptiness") in three ways: "(1) as a meditative dwelling, (2) as an attribute of objects, and (3) as a type of awareness-release."MN 122. See, e.g.,
Maha-suññata Sutta: The Greater Discourse on Emptiness translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
" Retrieved on 30 July 2013 from "Access to Insight" at www.accesstoinsight.org

According to Bhikkhu Analayo, in the Pāli Canon "the adjective suñña occurs with a much higher frequency than the corresponding noun suññatā" and emphasizes seeing phenomena as 'being empty' instead of an abstract idea of "emptiness."

One example of this usage is in the ''Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta'' ( SN 22:95), which states that on close inspection, each of the five aggregates are seen as being void (''rittaka''), hollow (''tucchaka''), coreless (''asāraka''). In the text a series of contemplations is given for each aggregate: form is like "a lump of foam" (''pheṇapiṇḍa''); sensation like "a water bubble" (''bubbuḷa''); perception like "a mirage" (''marici''); formations like "a plantain tree" (''kadalik-khandha''); and cognition is like "a magical illusion" (''māyā'').Shi Huifeng, Is "Illusion" a Prajñāpāramitā Creation? The Birth and Death of a Buddhist Cognitive Metaphor, Fo Guang University, Journal of Buddhist Philosophy , Vol.2, 2016.

According to Shi Huifeng, the terms "void" (''rittaka''), "hollow" (''tucchaka''), and "coreless" (''asāraka'') are also used in the early texts to refer to words and things which are deceptive, false, vain, and worthless. This sense of worthlessness and vacuousness is also found in other uses of the term '' māyā'', such as the following:

"Monks, sensual pleasures are impermanent, hollow, false, deceptive; they are illusory (''māyākatame''), the prattle of fools."

The ''Suñña Sutta'',. part of the Pāli Canon, relates that the monk Ānanda, Buddha's attendant asked,

It is said that the world is empty, the world is empty, lord. In what respect is it said that the world is empty?" The Buddha replied, "Insofar as it is empty of a self or of anything pertaining to a self: Thus it is said, Ānanda, that the world is empty.

According to the American monastic Thanissaro Bhikku:

Meditative state

Emptiness as a meditative state is said to be reached when "not attending to any themes, he he bhikkuenters & remains in internal emptiness" (MN 122). This meditative dwelling is developed through the "four formless states" of meditation or Arūpajhānas and then through "themeless concentration of awareness."

The ''Cūlasuññata-sutta'' (MN III 104) and the ''Mahāsuññata-sutta'' (MN III 109) outline how a monk can "dwell in emptiness" through a gradual step-by-step mental cultivation process, they both stress the importance of the impermanence of mental states and the absence of a self.

In the ''Kāmabhu Sutta'' S IV.293, it is explained that a bhikkhu can experience a trancelike contemplation in which perception and feeling cease. When he emerges from this state, he recounts three types of "contact" ('' phasso''):
# "emptiness" (''suññato''),
# "signless" (''animitto''),
# "undirected" (''appaihito'').
The meaning of emptiness as contemplated here is explained at M I.297 and S IV.296-97 as the "emancipation of the mind by emptiness" (''suññatā cetovimutti'') being consequent upon the realization that "this world is empty of self or anything pertaining to self" (''suññam ida attena vā attaniyena vā'').

The term "emptiness" (''suññatā'') is also used in two suttas in the ''Majjhima Nikāya'', in the context of a progression of mental states. The texts refer to each state's emptiness of the one below.

Chinese Āgamas

The Chinese Āgamas contain various parallels to the ''Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta''. One partial parallel from the Ekottara Āgama describes the body with different metaphors: "a ball of snow", "a heap of dirt", "a mirage", "an illusion" (''māyā''), or "an empty fist used to fool a child". In a similar vein, the Mūla-Sarvāstivādin ''Māyājāla Sūtra'', gives two sets of metaphors for each of the sensory consciousnesses to illustrate their vain, illusory character.

Other Sarvāstivādin Āgama sutras (extant in Chinese) which have emptiness as a theme include Samyukta Āgama 335 - ''Paramārtha-śunyatā-sūtra'' ("Sutra on ultimate emptiness") and Samyukta Āgama 297 - ''Mahā-śunyatā-dharma-paryāya'' ("Greater discourse on emptiness"). These sutras have no parallel Pāli suttas. These sutras associate emptiness with dependent origination, which shows that this relation of the two terms was already established in pre- Nagarjuna sources. The sutra on great emptiness states:

The phrase "when this exists..." is a common gloss on dependent origination. Sarvāstivādin Āgamas also speak of a certain "emptiness samadhi" (''śūnyatāsamādhi'') as well as stating that all dharmas are "classified as conventional".

Mun-Keat Choong and Yin Shun have both published studies on the various uses of emptiness in the Early Buddhist texts ( Pāli Canon and Chinese Āgamas). Choong has also published a collection of translations of Āgama sutras from the Chinese on the topic of emptiness.

Early Buddhist schools and Abhidharma

Many of the early Buddhist schools featured ''śūnyatā'' as an important part of their teachings.

The Sarvastivadin school's Abhidharma texts like the ''Dharmaskandhapāda Śāstra'', and the later ''Mahāvibhāṣa'', also take up the theme of emptiness vis-a-vis dependent origination as found in the Agamas.Shì hùifēng, "Dependent Origination = Emptiness"—Nāgārjuna's Innovation? An Examination of the Early and Mainstream Sectarian Textual Sources

Schools such as the Mahāsāṃghika Prajñaptivādins as well as many of the Sthavira schools (except the Pudgalavada) held that all dharmas were empty (''dharma śūnyatā''). This can be seen in the early Theravada Abhidhamma texts such as the '' Patisambhidamagga'', which also speak of the emptiness of the five aggregates and of svabhava as being "empty of essential nature". The Theravada '' Kathavatthu'' also argues against the idea that emptiness is unconditioned. The ''Mahāvastu'', an influential Mahāsāṃghika work, states that the Buddha

"has shown that the aggregates are like a lightning flash, as a bubble, or as the white foam on a wave."

One of the main themes of Harivarman's Tattvasiddhi-Śāstra (3rd-4th century) is '' dharma-śūnyatā'', the emptiness of phenomena.Skilton, Andrew. ''A Concise History of Buddhism.'' 2004. pp. 91-92

Theravāda

Theravāda Buddhists generally take the view that emptiness is merely the not-self nature of the five aggregates. Emptiness is an important door to liberation in the Theravāda tradition just as it is in Mahayana, according to Insight meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal. The classic Theravāda text known as the '' Patisambhidamagga'' (c. 3rd century BCE) describes the five aggregates as being empty ( ''suññam'') of essence or intrinsic nature ( ''sabhava''). The ''Patisambhidamagga'' also equates not-self with the emptiness liberation in a passage also cited by Buddhaghosa in the ''Visuddhimagga'' (Vism XXI 70):

"When one who has great wisdom brings olitional formationsto mind as not-self, he acquires the emptiness liberation" -Patis. II 58.Kalupahana, D. Mulamadhyamakakarika of nagarjuna, page 26.

The ''Visuddhimagga'' (c. 5th century CE)'','' the most influential classical Theravāda treatise, states that not-self does not become apparent because it is concealed by "compactness" when one does not give attention to the various elements which make up the person.Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu (trans), Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga, Buddhist Publication Society, 1991, p 668. The ''Paramatthamañjusa Visuddhimaggatika'' of Acariya Dhammapala, a 5th-century Theravāda commentary on the ''Visuddhimagga'', comments on this passage by referring to the fact that we often assume unity and compactness regarding phenomena or functions which are instead made up of various elements, but when one sees that these are merely empty dhammas, one can understand the not-self characteristic:

"when they are seen after resolving them by means of knowledge into these elements, they disintegrate like froth subjected to compression by the hand. They are mere states (''dhamma'') occurring due to conditions and void. In this way the characteristic of not-self becomes more evident."

The modern Thai teacher Buddhadasa referred to emptiness as the "innermost heart" of the Buddhist teachings and the cure for the disease of suffering. He stated that emptiness, as it relates to the practice of Dhamma, can be seen both "as the absence of Dukkha and the defilements that are the cause of Dukkha and as the absence of the feeling that there is a self or that there are things which are the possessions of a self."Ajahn Buddhadasa, EMPTINESS; From: 'Heart-wood from the Bo Tree', a collection of three talks given by Venerable Ajahn Buddhadasa to the Dhamma study group at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, in 1961, https://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha196.htm He also equated nibbana with emptiness, writing that "Nibbana, the remainderless extinction of Dukkha, means the same as supreme emptiness." Emptiness is also seen as a mode of perception which lacks all the usual conceptual elaborations we usually add on top of our experiences, such as the sense of "I" and "Mine". According to Thanissaro Bhikku, emptiness is not so much a metaphysical view, as it is a strategic mode of acting and of seeing the world which leads to liberation:Thanissaro Bhikkhu. "The Integrity of Emptiness" Access to Insight, 5 June 2010, Retrieved on 30 July 2013
/ref>

Emptiness is a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to and takes nothing away from the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there's anything lying behind them.
This mode is called emptiness because it's empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience to make sense of it: the stories and world-views we fashion to explain who we are and the world we live in. Although these stories and views have their uses, the Buddha found that some of the more abstract questions they raise — of our true identity and the reality of the world outside — pull attention away from a direct experience of how events influence one another in the immediate present. Thus they get in the way when we try to understand and solve the problem of suffering.

Some Theravādins, such as David Kalupahana, see Nagarjuna's view of emptiness as compatible with the Pali Canon. In his analysis of the '' Mulamadhyamikakarika'', Kalupahana sees Nagarjuna's argument as rooted in the Kaccānagotta Sutta (which Nagarjuna cites by name). Kalupahana states that Nagarjuna's major goal was to discredit heterodox views of Svabhava (own-nature) held by the Sarvastivadins and establish the non-substantiality of all dharmas. According to Peter Harvey, the Theravāda view of dhammas and sabhava is not one of essences, but merely descriptive characteristics and hence is not the subject of Madhyamaka critique developed by Nagarjuna (see below).

In Theravāda, emptiness as an approach to meditation is also seen as a state in which one is "empty of disturbance." This form of meditation is one in which meditators become concentrated and focus on the absence or presence of disturbances in their minds; if they find a disturbance they notice it and allow it to drop away; this leads to deeper states of calmness. Emptiness is also seen as a way to look at sense-experience that does not identify with the "I-making" and "my-making" process of the mind. As a form of meditation, this is developed by perceiving the six sense-spheres and their objects as empty of any self, this leads to a formless jhana of nothingness and a state of equanimity.

Mathew Kosuta sees the Abhidhamma teachings of the modern Thai teacher Ajaan Sujin Boriharnwanaket as being very similar to the Mahayana emptiness view.

Mahayana Buddhism

There are two main sources of Indian Buddhist discussions of emptiness: the Mahayana sutra literature, which is traditionally believed to be the word of the Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism, and the shastra literature, which was composed by Buddhist scholars and philosophers.

Prajñāpāramitā sūtras

The Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutras taught that all entities, including ''dharmas'', are empty of self, essential core, or intrinsic nature (''svabhava''), being only conceptual existents or constructs. The notion of prajña (wisdom, knowledge) presented in these sutras is a deep non-conceptual understanding of emptiness.Williams, Paul. ''Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations 2nd edition.'' Routledge, 2009, pages 50. The Prajñāpāramitā sutras also use various metaphors to explain the nature of things as emptiness, stating that things are like "illusions" (''māyā'') and "dreams" (''svapna''). The ''Astasahasrika Prajñaparamita,'' possibly the earliest of these sutras'','' states:

If he knows the five aggregates as like an illusion, But makes not illusion one thing, and the aggregates another; If, freed from the notion of multiple things, he courses in peace— Then that is his practice of wisdom, the highest perfection.

Perceiving dharmas and beings like an illusion (''māyādharmatām'') is termed the "great armor" (''mahāsaṃnaha'') of the Bodhisattva, who is also termed the 'illusory man' (''māyāpuruṣa''). The ''Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra'' adds the following similes to describe how all conditioned things are to be contemplated: like a bubble, a shadow, like dew or a flash of lightning. In the worldview of these sutras, though we perceive a world of concrete and discrete objects, these objects are "empty" of the identity imputed by their designated labels. In that sense, they are deceptive and like an illusion. The Perfection of Wisdom texts constantly repeat that nothing can be found to ultimately exist in some fundamental way. This applies even to the highest Buddhist concepts (bodhisattvas, bodhicitta, and even prajña itself). Even nirvana itself is said to be empty and like a dream or magical illusion.

In a famous passage, the Heart sutra, a later but influential Prajñāpāramitā text, directly states that the five skandhas (along with the five senses, the mind, and the four noble truths) are said to be "empty" (''sunya''):In the Prajñāpāramitā sutras the knowledge of emptiness, i.e. prajñāpāramitā is said to be the fundamental virtue of the bodhisattva, who is said to stand on emptiness by not standing (-stha) on any other dharma (phenomena). Bodhisattvas who practice this perfection of wisdom are said to have several qualities such as the "not taking up" (''aparigṛhīta'') and non-apprehension (''anupalabdhi'') of anything, non-attainment (''aprapti''), not-settling down (''anabhinivesa'') and not relying on any signs (''nimitta,'' mental impressions). Bodhisattvas are also said to be free of fear in the face of the ontological groundlessness of the emptiness doctrine which can easily shock others.

Mādhyamaka school

Mādhyamaka is a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy which focuses on the analysis of emptiness, and was thus also known as ''śūnyatavāda''. The school is traditionally seen as being founded by the Indian Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna. Williams, Paul (2000). ''Buddhist Thought'' Routledge, p140.

Nāgārjuna's goal was to refute the essentialism of certain Abhidharma schools and the Hindu Nyaya school. His best-known work is the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (MMK), in which he used '' reductio'' arguments ( Skt: ''prasanga'') to show the non-substantiality of everything. Nāgārjuna equated the emptiness of dharmas with their dependent origination, and thus with their being devoid any permanent substance or primary, substantial existence (''svabhava''). Nāgārjuna writes in the MMK:

We state that conditioned origination is emptiness. It is mere designation depending on something, and it is the middle path. (24.18)

Since nothing has arisen without depending on something, there is nothing that is not empty. (24.19)

Nāgārjuna's Mādhyamaka states that since things have the nature of lacking true existence or own being (''niḥsvabhāva''), all things are mere conceptual constructs (''prajñaptimatra'') because they are just impermanent collections of causes and conditions. Because of this, Mādhyamaka is also known as ''Niḥsvabhāvavāda''. This also applies to the principle of causality itself, since ''everything'' is dependently originated. If one is unaware of this, things may seem to arise as existents, remain for a time and then subsequently perish. In reality, dependently originated phenomena do not arise or remain as inherently existent phenomena and yet they still appear as a flow of conceptual constructs.Tsondru, Mabja. ''Ornament of Reason.'' Snow Lion Publications. 2011, pages 56-58, 405-417. Thus both existence and nihilism are ruled out. Any enduring essential nature would prevent the process of dependent origination, or any kind of origination at all. For things would simply always have been, and will always continue to be, without any change. For Nāgārjuna, the realization of emptiness is a key understanding which allows one to reach liberation because it is nothing but the elimination of ignorance.

There has been significant debate, both in ancient India and in modern scholarship, as to how to interpret Mādhyamaka and whether it is nihilistic (a claim that Mādhyamaka thinkers vehemently denied). Some scholars like F. Shcherbatskoy have also interpreted emptiness as described by Nāgārjuna as a Buddhist transcendental absolute, while other scholars such as David Kalupahana consider this interpretation to be a mistake.Jorge Noguera Ferrer, ''Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality.'' SUNY Press, 2002, page 102-103. According to Paul Williams, Nāgārjuna associates emptiness with the ultimate truth but his conception of emptiness is not some kind of Absolute, but rather it is the very absence of true existence with regards to the conventional reality of things and events in the world.

For Nāgārjuna the phenomenal world is the limited truth (''samvrtisatya'') and does not really exist in the highest reality (''paramarthasatya'') and yet it has a kind of conventional reality which has its uses for reaching liberation. This limited truth includes everything, including the Buddha himself, the teachings (Dharma), liberation and even Nāgārjuna's own arguments. This two-truth schema which did not deny the importance of convention allowed him to defend himself against charges of nihilism. Because of his philosophical work, Nāgārjuna is seen by some modern interpreters as restoring the Middle way of the Buddha, which had become influenced by absolutist metaphysical tendencies of schools like the Vaibhasika.

Nāgārjuna is also famous for arguing that his philosophy of emptiness was not a view, and that he in fact did not take any position or thesis whatsoever since this would just be another form of clinging. In his ''Vigrahavyavartani'' Nāgārjuna outright states that he has no thesis (''pratijña'') to prove. This idea would become a central point of debate for later Mādhyamaka philosophers. After Nāgārjuna, his pupil Āryadeva (3rd century CE) commented on and expanded Nāgārjuna's system. An influential commentator on Nāgārjuna was Buddhapālita (470–550) who has been interpreted as developing the ' prāsaṅgika' approach to Nāgārjuna's works, which argues that Madhyamaka critiques of essentialism are done only through reductio ad absurdum arguments. Like Nāgārjuna, instead of putting forth any positive position of his own, Buddhapālita merely seeks to show how all philosophical positions are untenable and self contradictory without putting forth a positive thesis.

Buddhapālita is often contrasted with the works of Bhāvaviveka (c. 500 – c. 578), who argued for the use of logical arguments using the pramana

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