Śūnyatā
From Bodhicitta
शून्यता śūnyatā
emptiness
སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་
stong pa nyid
空,空門
kōng, kōng mén
Sanskrit - Noun
Basic Meaning
The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.
Has the Sense of
Though emptiness is generally predicated on the dependent origination of relative phenomena, it is a dialectic method of explaining the ultimate truth through a negative assertion and thereby highlighting what true reality lacks, rather than making a positive assertion of what that reality actually is.
Read it in the Scriptures
Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.
Emptiness is not other than form; form is not other than emptiness.
Emptiness is not other than form; form is not other than emptiness.
Heart Sūtra
| Term Variations | |
| Key Term | Śūnyatā |
|---|---|
| Topic Variation | emptiness |
| Tibetan | སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ ( tong pa nyi) |
| Wylie Transliteration | stong pa nyid ( tong pa nyi) |
| Devanagari Sanskrit | शून्यता ( shunyata) |
| Romanized Sanskrit | śūnyatā ( shunyata) |
| Chinese | 空, 空門 |
| Chinese Pinyin | kōng, kōng mén |
| Japanese Transliteration | kū, kūmon |
| Buddha-nature Site Standard English | emptiness |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | emptiness |
| Richard Barron's English Term | emptiness |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | emptiness |
| Gyurme Dorje's English Term | emptiness |
| Ives Waldo's English Term | emptiness |
| Term Information | |
| Usage Example | Sanskrit:
Tibetan:
|
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning | The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. |
| Has the Sense of | Though emptiness is generally predicated on the dependent origination of relative phenomena, it is a dialectic method of explaining the ultimate truth through a negative assertion and thereby highlighting what true reality lacks, rather than making a positive assertion of what that reality actually is. |
| Related Terms | rangtong, zhentong |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Definitions | |
| Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism | See page 871: In Sanskrit, “emptiness”; the term has a number of denotations, but is most commonly associated with the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) sūtras and the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna philosophy. |
| Tshig mdzod Chen mo | rang bzhin med pa'i gnas lugs sam de kho na nyid |
