Knowra Emptiness Emptiness Emptiness is the Buddhist teaching that phenomena lack independent, permanent existence. Things arise through causes, parts, and relations rather than existing from their own side.
Dependent origination : The Buddhist principle that phenomena arise through causes and conditions rather than independently. Emptiness describes the lack of independence that dependent origination reveals.
Svabhava : Intrinsic nature: an existence or identity independent of causes, parts, and conceptual designation. Emptiness specifically denies that phenomena possess svabhava.
Nihilism : The view that existence, meaning, or knowledge lacks genuine basis or value. Emptiness denies independent existence, not conventional causes, consequences, or meaning.
Prajñāpāramitā : The Mahayana literature on the perfection of wisdom, centered on realizing emptiness. These texts present emptiness as wisdom cultivated on the bodhisattva path.
Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras : A collection of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures that teach the perfection of wisdom and emptiness. These sutras are among the earliest major sources for Mahayana accounts of emptiness.
Two truths doctrine : The Buddhist distinction between conventional truth and ultimate truth. It explains how empty phenomena remain conventionally real and usable.
Impermanence : The Buddhist teaching that conditioned phenomena change and do not last unchanged. Change undermines permanence, while emptiness also challenges independent existence.
Eternalism : The view that a self or reality possesses permanent, unchanging existence. Emptiness rejects the permanence that eternalist accounts attribute to things.
Heart Sutra : A short Mahayana sutra that presents emptiness through the analysis of the five aggregates. Its famous formula connects form and emptiness in the practice of wisdom.
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra : An early Perfection of Wisdom scripture, also known as the Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines. It presents an influential early articulation of emptiness and nonattachment.
Show all 25