Śūnyatā

Translations of
Śūnyatā
Englishemptiness, voidness, vacuity, openness, thusness, nothingness
SanskritŚūnyatā
(Devanagari: शून्यता)
PaliSuññatā
(Devanagari: सुञ्ञता)
Bengaliশূন্যতা
(Śūnnôtā)
Burmeseသုညတ
(thone nya ta)
Chinese
(Pinyin: Kōng)
Japanese
(Rōmaji: )
Khmerសុញ្ញតា
(UNGEGN: Sŏnhnhôta)
Korean공성 (空性)
(RR: gong-seong)
Mongolianхоосон
SinhalaShunyatā
(Sinhala: ශුන්‍යතා)
Tibetanསྟོང་པ་ཉིད་
(Wylie: stong-pa nyid
THL: tongpa nyi
)
TagalogSunyata (ᜐᜓᜈ᜔ᜌᜆ)
Thaiสุญตา (S̄uỵtā)
VietnameseKhông (空)
Glossary of Buddhism

Śūnyatā (/ʃnjəˈtɑː/ shoon-yə-TAH; Sanskrit: शून्यता; Pali: suññatā), translated most often as "emptiness",[1] "vacuity", and sometimes "voidness",[2] or "nothingness"[3] is an Indian philosophical concept. In Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and other Indian philosophical traditions, the concept 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, Pali: suññatā often refers to the non-self (Pāli: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman)[note 1] nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres. Pali: 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)",[5][6] but may also refer to the Buddha-nature teachings and primordial or empty awareness, as in Dzogchen, Shentong, or Chan.

  1. ^ Dale Mathers; Melvin E. Miller; Osamu Ando (2013). Self and No-Self: Continuing the Dialogue Between Buddhism and Psychotherapy. Routledge. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-317-72386-8.
  2. ^ Nyanatiloka. "Suñña". Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014.
  3. ^ Chattopadhyay, Madhumita (2017), Sarao, K. T. S.; Long, Jeffery D. (eds.), "śūnyatā", Buddhism and Jainism, Encyclopedia of Indian Religions, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 1148–1155, doi:10.1007/978-94-024-0852-2_364, ISBN 978-94-024-0852-2, retrieved July 16, 2023
  4. ^ Bronkhorst 2009, p. 124.
  5. ^ Williams 2008, pp. 68–69.
  6. ^ Gowans, Christopher W. (2014). Buddhist Moral Philosophy: An Introduction. Routledge. pp. 69–70. ISBN 978-1-317-65934-1.


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