01-29-2015, 12:00 AM
Śūnyatā, (Sanskrit, also shunyata; Pali: suññatā), in Buddhism, translated into English as emptiness, voidness,[1] openness,[2] spaciousness, vacuity, is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. In Theravada Buddhism, suññatā often refers to the not-self (Pāli: anatta, Sanskrit: anātman)[note 1] 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.
"Śūnyatā" (Sanskrit noun from the adj. śūnya or śhūnya: "zero, nothing") is usually translated as "emptiness". It is the noun form of the adjective "śūnya" (Sanskrit) which means "empty" or "void",[4] hence "empti"-"ness" (-tā).
Sunya comes from the root svi, meaning "hollow", plus -ta "-ness", therefore "hollow, hollowness". A common alternative term is "voidness".
The Pali canon uses the term emptiness in three ways: "(1) as a meditative dwelling, (2) as an attribute of objects, and (3) as a type of awareness-release."
Buddhapālita notes:
It is not that we claim non-existence, we merely remove claims for existing existents.
Candrakīrti states:
Since relativity is not objectively created, those who, through this reasoning, accept dependent things as resembling the moon in water and reflections in a mirror, understand them as neither objectively true nor false. Therefore, those who think thus regarding dependent things realize that what is dependently arisen cannot be substantially existent, since what is like a reflection is not real. If it were real, that would entail the absurdity that its transformation would be impossible. Yet neither is it unreal, since it manifests as real within the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81
"Śūnyatā" (Sanskrit noun from the adj. śūnya or śhūnya: "zero, nothing") is usually translated as "emptiness". It is the noun form of the adjective "śūnya" (Sanskrit) which means "empty" or "void",[4] hence "empti"-"ness" (-tā).
Sunya comes from the root svi, meaning "hollow", plus -ta "-ness", therefore "hollow, hollowness". A common alternative term is "voidness".
The Pali canon uses the term emptiness in three ways: "(1) as a meditative dwelling, (2) as an attribute of objects, and (3) as a type of awareness-release."
Buddhapālita notes:
It is not that we claim non-existence, we merely remove claims for existing existents.
Candrakīrti states:
Since relativity is not objectively created, those who, through this reasoning, accept dependent things as resembling the moon in water and reflections in a mirror, understand them as neither objectively true nor false. Therefore, those who think thus regarding dependent things realize that what is dependently arisen cannot be substantially existent, since what is like a reflection is not real. If it were real, that would entail the absurdity that its transformation would be impossible. Yet neither is it unreal, since it manifests as real within the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81