By Victor M Fontane
Śūnyatā, translated most often as "emptiness", "vacuity", absolute and sometimes "voidness", is an Indian philosophical concept. Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and other philosophical strands, the concept has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context.
In Buddhist philosophy, the voidness that constitutes ultimate reality; sunyata is seen not as a negation of existence but rather as the undifferentiation out of which all apparent entities, distinctions, and dualities arise.
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.
The five aggregates or heaps of clinging are:
form (or material image, impression) (rupa)
sensations (or feelings, received from form) (vedana)
perceptions (samjna)
mental activity or formations (sankhara)
consciousness (vijnana).
The six sense spheres are:
eye and visible objects
ear and sound
nose and odor
tongue and taste
body and touch
mind and mental objects
In the two schools of Buddhism, the Middle Way and Yogacharya, Sunyata is achieved through meditation and the control and cessation of our thoughts.
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