Śūnyatā
Śūnyatā (/ʃuːnjəˈtɑː/ shoon-yə-TAH; Sanskrit: शून्यता; Pali: suññatā), translated most often as "emptiness", "vacuity", and sometimes "voidness", or "nothingness" is an Indian philosophical concept. Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and other philosophical strands, 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.
| Translations of Śūnyatā | |
|---|---|
| English | emptiness, voidness, vacuity, openness, thusness, nothingness |
| Sanskrit | Śūnyatā (Dev: शून्यता) |
| Pali | Suññatā (Dev: सुञ्ञता) |
| Bengali | শূন্যতা (Shunnôta) |
| Burmese | သုညတ (thone nya ta) |
| Chinese | 空 (Pinyin: Kōng) |
| Japanese | 空 (Rōmaji: Kū) |
| Khmer | សុញ្ញតា (UNGEGN: Sŏnhnhôta) |
| Korean | 공성 (空性) (RR: gong-seong) |
| Mongolian | хоосон |
| Tibetan | སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ (Wylie: stong-pa nyid THL: tongpa nyi) |
| Tagalog | Sunyata (ᜐᜓᜈ᜔ᜌᜆ) |
| Thai | สุญตา (S̄uỵtā) |
| Vietnamese | Không (空) |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
| Part of a series on |
| Buddhism |
|---|
| Part of a series on |
| Buddhist philosophy |
|---|
| Philosophy portal |
In Theravāda Buddhism, Pali: suññatā often refers to the non-self (Pāli: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman) 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)", but may also refer to the Buddha-nature teachings and primordial or empty awareness, as in Dzogchen, Shentong, or Chan.