← Home
soteriology

Sunyata Emptiness

The Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena lack independent self-nature; emptiness as the positive recognition that things arise only in dependence on conditions — distinct from kenoma's mere deficiency.

71 passages · 6 traditions
buddhism: 42 passagesbuddhism42taoism: 13 passagestaoism13western_esoteric: 13 passageswestern_esoteric13christian_mysticism: 1 passagechristian_mysticism1renaissance_hermeticism: 1 passagerenaissance_hermeticism1sufism: 1 passagesufism1
buddhism42
The Dhammapada | Chapter I, Section 1a
p. 3 DHAMMAPADA. CHAPTER I. THE TWIN-VERSES. 1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as th…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter I, Section 1b
70-75.' I do not deny that this may have been the traditional interpretation, at all events since the days of Buddhaghosa, but the very legend quoted by Buddhaghosa in illustration of this verse shows that its simpler and purely moral inter…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter III, Section 1b
That s ru means 'to run,' and is in fact a merely dialectic variety of sru, has been proved by Burnouf, while Boehtlingk thinks the substitution of s for s is a mistake. Â s rava therefore, or âsrava, meant originally 'the running out towa…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter IV, Section 1a
p. 16 CHAPTER IV. FLOWERS [1] . 44. Who shall overcome this earth, and the world of Yama (the lord of the departed), and the world of the gods? Who shall find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the (right)…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter IV, Section 1b
The flower-arrows of Mâra, the tempter, are borrowed from Kâma, the Hindu god of love. For a similar expression see Lalita-vistara, ed. Calc. p. 40, l. 20, mâyâmarî k isad ri sâ vidyutphenopamâ s k apalâ h . It is on account of this p…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter VI, Section 1b
I would rather take the whole sentence together as a gloss upon the word va g anti:--va g antîti arahatta ñ ânena apaka ddh antâ kh andarâga m vi g ahanti; va g anti means that, ridding themselves of lust by the wisdom which Arhatship confe…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter VII, Section 1a
p. 27 CHAPTER VII. THE VENERABLE (ARHAT). 90. There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey, and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides, and thrown off all fetters. 91. They depart with their thoughts well-co…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter XI, Section 1c
I had formerly translated anibbisan, as not resting (anirvi s an), but the commentator seems to authorise the meaning of not finding (avindanto, alabhanto), and in that case all the material difficulties of the verse seem to me to disappear…”
Show all 42 →
taoism13
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 1
The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a n…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 6
The valley spirit dies not, aye the same; The female mystery thus do we name. Its gate, from which at first they issued forth, Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth. Long and unbroken does its power remain, Used gently, and wi…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 14
We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the Equable.' We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the Inaudible.' We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it 'the Subtle.' With these three qualitie…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 15
The skilful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep (also) so as to elude men's knowledge. As they were thus beyond men's knowledge, I will make an effort to desc…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 40
The movement of the Tao By contraries proceeds; And weakness marks the course Of Tao's mighty deeds. All things under heaven sprang from It as existing (and named); that existence sprang from It as non-existent (and not named).…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 42
The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 43
The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose). There are few in th…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 45
Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide. Do thou what's straight still crooked deem; Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquenc…”
Show all 13 →
western_esoteric13
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 4 (part 4)
These people of the fourth dimension are in the world but not of it: their range is far wider than this slum of space. In them dormant faculties are alert. Like birds of the air, their fitting symbol, they are at home in realms which othe…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 5)
It is not true because our experimental knowledge is not a confused perception of a real world . It is a very acute perception of an entirely unreal world appearing round about us at the moment of our contact with the world of true causes,…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IX (part 8)
Thus in all its relations to the world the animal is quite analogous to the imagined, unreal two-dimensional being living upon a plane. All our world appears to the animal as the plane through which phenomena are passing, moving upon time,…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XI (part 2)
I talked with him in January, 1912, and from our conversation I saw that he was stopping half way, as it were, between the ideas of the fourth dimension approximating p. 126 those expressed by me in the first edition of Tertium Organum and…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 9)
In our language only an eternally becoming universe exists. The "Eternal Now" cannot be expressed in language. Thus our language pictures to us beforehand a false universe— dual , when in reality it is one ; and eternally becoming when it…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 1)
p. 232 CHAPTER XIX The intellectual method, objective knowledge. The limits of objective knowledge. The possibility of the expansion of the application of the psychological method. New forms of knowledge. The ideas of Plotinus. Differ…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 3)
All attempts to penetrate mentally into that higher, noumenal world, or world of causes, by means of the logic of the phenomenal world, if they did not fail altogether, or did not lead to castles in the air , gave only one result: in becomi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 4)
This sensation of light and of unlimited joy is experienced at the moment of the expansion of consciousness (the unfoldment of the mystical lotus of the Hindu yogi), at the moment of the sensation of infinity, and it yields also the sensati…”
Show all 13 →
christian_mysticism1
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 13)
Nevertheless he has nothing (objectively), because that which is before Him is nothing in His comprehension, for it does not comprehend Him. Likewise will this be the state of a person according to his submitted will if he entirely surrend…”
renaissance_hermeticism1
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguee
This alone I will not leave (unsaid) that it is not without reason that the affection of the heart is said to be the infinite sea by the apprehension of the eyes.[X] For the object of the mind being infinite, and no definite object being pr…”
sufism1
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY XII
Joseph a‚Žd the Mirror. An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after some remarks upon the bad behaviour of his brethren, Joseph asked him what present he had brought to show his respect. The friend replied that he had long…”