Śūnyatā
Śūnyatā (Sanskrit, also shunyata; Pali: suññatā), translated into English as emptiness, voidness,openness,spaciousness, or vacuity, is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. In Theravada Buddhism, suññatā often refers to the not-self (Pāli: anatta, Sanskrit: anātman) nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres. Suññatā is also often used to refer to a meditative state or experience.
Sunyata is a key term in Mahayana Buddhism, and also influenced some schools of Hindu philosophy.
Etymology
"Śūnyatā" (Sanskrit) is usually translated as "emptiness," "hollow, hollowness," "voidness." It is the noun form of the adjective śūnya or śhūnya, plus -ta:
Development of the concept
Over time, many different philosophical schools or tenet-systems (Sanskrit: siddhānta) have developed within Buddhism in an effort to explain the exact philosophical meaning of emptiness.
Sunyata (Robert Rich album)
Sunyata (1982) is the debut album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. The title refers to śūnyatā, the Buddhist concept that all things in the material world are empty of meaning and independence.
Overview
The album was recorded during Rich’s studies at Stanford University. It was originally released on audio cassette.
In 1994, the title track, “Sunyata (Emptiness)” was included on the two-disc compilation Trances/Drones. Because of the length restrictions of the compact disc format, when Sunyata was finally released on CD in 2000, this track was omitted.
Track listing
References
Podcasts:
