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.