Shunyata

Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit), Suññatā (Pāli) or stong pa nyid (Tibetan), generally translated into English as "Emptiness" or "Voidness", is a concept of central importance in the teaching of the Buddha, intimately related to the doctrine of the three marks of existence (ti-lakkhana). Widely misconceived as a doctrine of nihilism, the teaching on the emptiness of phenomena is unique to Buddhism constituting an important metaphysical critique of theism with profound implications for epistemology and phenomenology.

Śūnyatā signifies that everything one encounters in life is empty of absolute identity, permanence, or 'self'. This is because everything is inter-related and mutually dependent - never wholly self-sufficient or independent. All things are in a state of constant flux where energy and information are forever flowing throughout the natural world giving rise to and themselves undergoing major transformations with the passage of time. This teaching never connotes nihilism - a charge which has been levelled against Buddhism throughout Christian civilisation. Nihilism is, in fact, a belief or point of view that the Buddha taught was incorrect - a delusion, just as the view of the materialist is a delusion. In the English language the word emptiness suggests the absence of spiritual meaning or a personal feeling of alienation but in Buddhism the emptiness of phenomena makes possible the joy of the liberation of a human being from the limitations of form. It is sometimes suggested that the word 'fullness' is rather more appropriate to convey the experiential reality of the liberated consciousness.

Rawson (1991: p.11) states that: "[o]ne potent metaphor for the Void, often used in Tibetan art, is the sky. As the sky is the emptiness that offers clouds to our perception, so the Void is the 'space' in which objects appear to us in response to our attachments and longings."

In the Mahayana Tathagatagarbha sutras, in contrast, only impermanent, changeful things and states (the realm of samsara) are said to be empty in a negative sense - but not the Buddha or Nirvana, which are stated to be real, eternal and filled with inconceivable, enduring virtues.

Further, the Lotus Sutra indicates that seeing all phenomena as empty (sunya) is not the highest, final attainment: the bliss of total Buddha-Wisdom supersedes even the vision of complete emptiness.

Origin and development of Śūnyatā

The theme of śūnyatā emerged from the Buddhist doctrines of Anatta (Pali, Sanskrit:Anātman—the nonexistence of the self, or Ātman) and Paticcasamuppada (Pali, Sanskrit: pratītyasamūtpāda, Interdependent Arising). The Suñña Sutta, part of the Pali Canon, relates that the monk Ananda, the attendant to Gautama Buddha 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, Ananda, that the world is empty." Śūnyatā is a key theme of the Heart Sutra, which is commonly chanted by Mahayana Buddhists worldwide. Śūnyatā was further developed by Nāgārjuna and the Madhyamaka school, which is usually counted as an early Mahayana school. Śūnyatā ("positively" interpreted - see Tathagatagarbha section below) is also an important element of the Tathagatagarbha literature, which played a formative role in the evolution of subsequent Mahayana doctrine and practice. It should be noted that the exact definition and extent of shunyata varies within the different Buddhist schools of philosophy. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, detailed dialogs between the perspectives of the various schools are preserved in order to train students.

Śūnyatā in presecular Buddhism, in the Nikayas

Sunnata (Sanskrit: Śūnyatā, "Emptiness", is the noun form of Shunya (zero) in Sanskrit, literally zero "ness") in Pali contexts is not the metaphysical Zero (non-being as a principle of being, infinite possibility as distinguished from indefinite actuality), but a characteristic of this world.

In S IV.295 96, it is explained that the Alms-man experiences a deathlike contemplation in which consciousness and feeling have been arrested. When he returns he recounts "three touches" that touch him, "emptiness" (suññato), "formlessness"(animito) and "making no plans (appanihito phasso)," and he discriminates (viveka) accordingly. The meaning of the "emptiness" as contemplated here is explained at M 1.29 as the "emancipation of the mind by Emptiness (sunnata ceto vimutti) being consequent upon the realization that `this world is empty of spirit or anything spiritual' (suññam idam attena va attaniyena)".

The term 'sunnata' is synonymous with 'anatta'; of which it really only paraphrases and isolates the privative AN. It is no doubt in the same sense that in A 1.72, "the texts are coupled with `emptiness' (suttanta . . . sunnata patisannuta)". Buddhist teaching is known perhaps the most for the characteristic constant resort to negatives (above all in the sense of the word anatta), which even some contemporary hearers found perplexing.

The denial of spirituality to contingent things, in particular, is a denial of any real essence to these things in themselves, and, thus forms the basis of the more sweeping 'sunyavada' doctrine which in the Mahayana denies not any "value" but any essence to even the Buddha's appearance and to the promulgation of the Dhamma itself.

If such a doctrine disturbs us, it may be found more palatably expressed in the 'Vajracchedika Sutra' where the following is stated 'Those who see me in the body (rupena) and think of me in sounds (ghosaih), their way of thinking is false, they do not see me at all . . . . The Buddha cannot be rightly understood (rjuboddhum) by any means (upayena)."

Not that "means" are not dispositive to a right understanding, but that if regarded as ends, even the most adequate means are a hindrance. In such a radical iconoclasm as this all traditional teachings are finally agreed. What is true of ethics is also true of the supports of contemplation: as in the well known Parable of the Raft, the means are of no more use when the goal has been reached.

Śunyata in the Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra (one of the Mahayana Perfection of Wisdom Sutras) declares that the skandhas, which constitute our mental and physical existence, are empty in their nature or essence, i.e., empty of any such nature or essence. But it also declares that this emptiness is the same as form (which connotes fullness)--i.e., that this is an emptiness which is at the same time not different from the kind of reality which we normally ascribe to events; it is not a nihilistic emptiness that undermines our world, but a "positive" emptiness which defines it.

• "The noble bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara, engaged in the depths of the practice of the perfection of wisdom, looked down from above upon the five skandhas (aggregates), and saw that they were empty in their essential nature."
• "Hear, O Sariputra, emptiness is form; form is just emptiness. Apart from form, emptiness is not; emptiness, form is not. Emptiness is that which is form, form is that which is emptiness. Just thus are perception, cognition, mental construction, and consciousness."
• "Hear, O Sariputra, all phenomena of existence are marked by emptiness: not arisen, not destroyed, not unclean, not clean not deficient nor fulfilled."

The Heart sutra also states that emptiness is empty, of the self, and is the world of the self of non-self, and while being independent of thing it reflects it directly.

Śūnyatā in Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka school

For Nāgārjuna, who provided the most important philosophical formulation of śūnyatā, emptiness as the mark of all phenomena is a natural consequence of dependent origination; indeed, he identifies the two. In his analysis, any enduring essential nature (i.e., fullness) would prevent the process of dependent origination, would prevent any kind of origination at all, for things would simply always have been and always continue to be. That things happen is proof that things lack the kind of nature attributed to them in mainstream Indian metaphysics.

An interesting consequence of this is that this enables Nāgārjuna to put forth a bold argument regarding the relation of nirvāna and samsāra. If all phenomenal events (i.e., the events that constitute samsāra) are empty, then they are empty of any compelling ability to cause suffering. For Nāgārjuna, nirvāna is neither something added to samsāra nor any process of taking away from it (i.e., removing the enlightened being from it). In other words, nirvāna is simply samsāra rightly experienced in light of a proper understanding of the emptiness of all things.

Sunyata in the Tathagatagarbha Sutras

The class of Buddhist scriptures known as the Tathagatagarbha sutras presents a seemingly variant understanding of Emptiness. According to these scriptures, the Buddha and Nirvana, unlike a compounded conditioned phenomena, are not empty of intrinsic existence, but merely empty of the impermanent, the painful and the Self-less.

In the "Srimala Sutra" the Buddha is seen as empty of all defilement and ignorance, not of intrinsic Reality. The "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" supports such a vision and views Ultimate Emptiness as the Buddhic cognition ("jnana") which perceives both Emptiness and non-Emptiness, wherein "the Empty is the totality of Samsara and the non-Empty is Great Nirvana". The Buddha in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, further, indicates that to view absolutely everything as empty is an unbalanced approach and constitutes a deviation from the middle path of Buddhism:

"The wise perceive Emptiness and non-Emptiness, the Eternal and the Impermanent, Suffering and Bliss, the Self and the non-Self. ... To perceive the Emptiness of everything and not to perceive non-Emptiness is not termed the Middle Way; to perceive the non-Self of everything and not to perceive the Self is not termed the Middle Way."

Moreover, this particular sutra contains a passage in which the Buddha castigates those who view the Tathagatagarbha (which is the indwelling, immortal Buddha-element) in each being as empty. The sutra states how the Buddha declares that they are effectively committing a form of painful spiritual suicide through their wrongheaded stance:

"By having cultivated non-Self in connection with the Tathagatagarbha and having continually cultivated Emptiness, suffering will not be eradicated but one will become like a moth in the flame of a lamp."

( The Tibetan version of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra). The attainment of nirvanic Liberation ("moksha"), by contrast, is said to open up a realm of "utter bliss, joy, permanence, stability, [and] eternity" (ibid), in which the Buddha is "fully peaceful" (Dharmakshema "Southern" version).

Perhaps, the clearest statement of Tathagatagarbha Buddhism's understanding of Emptiness is found in the Angulimaliya Sutra, where we read the following clarifying explanation:

" ... by cultivating extreme emptiness and continually considering things to be empty, one will behold the utter destruction of all phenomena. Though Liberation is not empty, one will see and think it to be empty. Thus, for example, having thought hail-stones to be jewels, one comes to think that real gems are empty [śūnya]. Likewise, you too think of phenomena which are not empty [aśūnya] to be empty [śūnya], for viewing phenomena as empty, you dissolve into emptiness (śūnya) even those phenomena which are not empty. Some phenomena are empty [of existence] and some phenomena are not empty [of existence]. Just like the hail-stones, the billions of kleshas [mental and moral afflictions] are empty [of existence], like the hail-stones, those phenomena appertaining to ignorance are empty [of existence] and swiftly fade away. Like the real beryl gems, the Buddha is eternal. Liberation is like the real beryl gems."

Thus in the distinctive Tathagatagarbha sutras a balance is drawn between the empty, impermanent and coreless realm of samsara and the everlasting, liberative Reality of the Buddha and Nirvana. The Lotus Sutra (Chapter 4) likewise suggests that seeing all things as empty is not the ultimate Buddhic realisation, not the final "gain" or "advantage": Buddha-Wisdom is indicated there to transcend the perception of emptiness.

See also

• Angulimaliya Sutra
• Atman (Buddhism)
• Buddha Nature
• Nirvana Sutra

References

Primary

• Cula-suñña Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 121, The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikku
• Maha-suññata Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 122, The Greater Discourse on Emptiness, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikku
• Phena Sutta, Samyutta Nikaya XXII.95, Foam, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikku

• The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra - full text, plus link to other tathagatagarbha sutras

• Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (The Lotus Sutra) (Columbia University Press, New York 1976), translated by Leon Hurvitz

Secondary

• Boruah, Bijoy H. (2000). Atman in Śūnyatā and the Śūnyatā of Atman
• Rawson, Philip (1991). Sacred Tibet. London, Thames and Hudson. ISBN 050081032X

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