translate the term ́su ̄nyam. “Emptiness,” “openness,” “noth-
ingness,” “nonsubstantiality,” “relativity,” and “the inex-
haustible” have been used to translate ́su ̄nyata ̄. These two
terms, of major importance in Buddhism, have been used to
express a philosophical idea, a focus of meditation, a religious
attitude, and a manner of ethical action. “Emptiness” may
thus indicate deprivation (or self-substantiated reality in con-
ventional experience), a complex implicit interrelatedness of
all existing things, or blissful perfect freedom (from anxiety,
anger, and pain). As general religious terms, ́su ̄nyam and
́su ̄nyata ̄ are used in an attempt to indicate and incite an
awareness of “the way things really are” (yatha ̄bhu ̄tam). The
complexity of the concept expressed as “emptiness” derives
from the recognition in Buddhism that teaching the truth
about life is urgent for alleviating suffering, but that implicit
in thinking and speaking resides a tendency to create an illu-
sion (of self-sufficient realities) that is itself the cause of that
suffering. The teaching of “the emptiness of things” is a med-
icine for the spiritual illness seen wherever there is greed,
hate, and self-delusion; it is a response to a universal, prob-
lematic condition that is found in particular specific forms
and thus requires different kinds and levels of correction. As-
sertions about the empty nature of existence pertain to differ-
ent objects of concern, for example, conventional phenome-
na, the basic (usually hidden but more fundamental) causal
factors of existence, the highest mode of perceiving phenom-
ena, or the nature of everything. Similarly, different Bud-
dhist schools have recognized the value of different interpre-
tations but have judged the value of a particular
interpretation on a scale from the most superficial under-
standing (for beginners) to the most profound (for spiritual
adepts). In all the interpretations and explanations, however,
there is a clear recognition that the notion of emptiness is
closely tied to the practice of perceiving existence in an
“empty manner,” which, in turn, results in behavior typified
by patience, compassion, strength of character, and morality.
TEACHING OF EMPTINESS AS PART OF THE BODHISATTVA
PATH. During the second century BCE, Buddhist teachers in
India emphasized “emptiness” as a basic description of the
nature of existing things. They were known as “teachers of
emptiness” ( ́su ̄nyava ̄dins). Their approach to enlightenment
is dramatically portrayed in the Prajña ̄pa ̄ramita ̄ Su ̄ tras (The
perfection of wisdom discourses). These su ̄tras maintain that
the teaching and meditation training of the contemporary
traditional masters, as depicted in the analysis of the Abhid-
harma Pit:aka, resulted in only a partial enlightenment. The
Abhidharma masters had insight only into the emptiness of
“the self” and general empirical phenomena, which they
could perceive by breaking up conventional perceptions of
oneself and “the objective world” into their fundamental
causal factors (dharmas). While reviewing the dharmas was
recognized to be a monastic skill that provided the founda-
tion for the cultivation of nonattachment to the self and the
world, the “teachers of emptiness” held that such a review,
with its emphasis on attaining nirva ̄n:a by avoiding attach-
ment to the “constructed world,” could itself become a subtle
attachment. To prevent attachment to dharma analysis and
the expectation of an individual nirva ̄n:a they insisted that
even the dharmas, together with their identifying characteris-
tics, had to be seen as empty. All distinctions, including those
between nirva ̄n:a and the world in flux (sam:sa ̄ra) and between
enlightenment and non-enlightenment, were empty of in-
herent characteristics. The emptiness of all things is a signifi-
cant part of the Bodhisattva Path to enlightenment in
Maha ̄ya ̄na (Great Vehicle) Buddhism (which developed in
northern India and spread to China, Korea, Japan, and
Tibet). This path is a spiritual training that begins with in-
struction of the Buddha’s Middle Way to avoid attachment
to “the appearances of the world” and acquisition of self-
constricting energy (karman). The path includes putting the
teaching into practice (perhaps through many lifetimes and
even aeons of time) by meditation, by moral action that re-
sults in “seeds of virtue,” and eventually by the formation of
“the thought of enlightenment” (bodhicitta) and the earnest
resolution (pran:idha ̄na) to work for the welfare of all living
beings. Progress on the path includes the perfection of chari-
ty, morality, effort, and wisdom. A distinguishing character
of this wisdom is that the recognition of emptiness is com-
bined with compassion for all living beings. Such wisdom is
cultivated through a skill (upa ̄yakau ́salya) to fully engage the
conditioned world (sam:sa ̄ra) without being tainted by its
evil, delusion, and compulsive drivenness toward pain. The
Bodhisattva Path is elaborated in subsequent centuries in
such texts as the Madhyamaka ̄vata ̄ra (Entering the Middle
Way) by Candrak ̄ırti (sixth century CE), the S ́iksa ̄samuccaya
(Compendium of Precepts) by S ́a ̄ntideva (eighth century
CE), and the Bha ̄vana ̄krama (The course of spiritual develop-
ment) by Kamala ́s ̄ıla (eighth century CE). In claiming to per-
fect the meditational practice of the Abhidharma masters
within the Indian Buddhist community, the composers of
the Prajña ̄pa ̄ramita ̄ Su ̄ tras claimed—as did the composers of
such other early Maha ̄ya ̄na discourses as the Saddharma-
pun:d:ar ̄ıka Su ̄tra (Lotus of the good law discourse) and the
Vimalak ̄ırtinirde ́sa Su ̄tra (Exposition by Vimalak ̄ırti)—that
their teaching of emptiness was consistent with, and indeed
the deepest comprehension of, the earliest recorded doctrine
of the Buddha. The earlier recorded discourses (nika ̄yas) had
already used the notion of emptiness to describe the ephem-
eral quality of phenomena, especially the lack of permanence
and self-existence of perceived objects. During meditative
quieting of the mind, and through a descriptive analysis of
the many factors that constitute perceived objects, the monk
sought to remove mental and emotional disturbances that
arose from false expectations of permanence. Though every-
day phenomena “exist” in a composite, conditioned manner,
they are empty of anything that is permanent or self-existent.
In articulating this path of nonattachment to mental, emo-
tional, or material “things,” the nika ̄yas use designations such
as “empty,” “impermanent,” and “nonessential”; however,
they are aware that in conventional speech an assertion im-
plies the denial of its opposite claim. To avoid such implica-
tions they also warn that enlightenment is not the same as8856 S ́U ̄NYAM AND S ́U ̄NYATA ̄