Sunyata

Arrival at meaning, emptiness and transcendence in

traditional Buddhist thought
 1.Anatta
• a. Refutation of Hindu thought, key points of
departure
• b. 5 skandhas, delusion of self

• c. Egolessness leads to void nature, shown in

d. Analysis of states of experience/existence
(impermanence in ourselves = impermanence in the
outer world)
 2.Dharma-nature
• a. Making sense of impermanence – the great
void and the nexus, scientific backing
• b. Rising and falling, and yet cessation

• c. Illusion of reality
 3.Enlightenment
• = overcoming the illusion of the material
world in this way
• a. 3 Universal Truths

• b. Meditation, through different paths

• c. Live sunyata, don’t merely understand it –

greater understanding, Zen
 4. Western Equivalents
• a. Particle theory; nexus and cessation

• b. Certainly not physicalism; focus on states of

existence and phenomena
 Always a catch…
• So nirvana is the realisation that nothing has
inherent existence except as a part of
interconnected processes
• All we have to do is reveal the illusion of
separate forms, not too bad!
• If only it weren’t for this passage: