Śūnyatā (emptiness)

The Buddhist teaching that nothing has an independent, intrinsic nature; all things exist only in dependence on others.

Also: sunyata, shunyata, emptiness, voidness

What it means

Śūnyatā, or emptiness, is the central idea of the Madhyamaka ('Middle Way') school founded by Nāgārjuna, who lived around the second century CE. To say a thing is empty is to say it lacks svabhāva, an intrinsic nature or independent existence. A table, for example, exists only in dependence on its parts, causes and the concepts we apply to it. Nāgārjuna treated emptiness and dependent origination as effectively the same claim. Critics, including other Buddhists, charged that emptiness amounts to nihilism; Madhyamaka thinkers replied that it rejects both intrinsic existence and its nihilistic opposite. Later commentators such as Candrakīrti and Bhāviveka developed rival readings, and emptiness is even said to be empty itself.

The questions it belongs to

• 1.1 OntologyWhat is there?
• 1.10 Meta-MetaphysicsAre metaphysical arguments about anything?

Thinkers

• Nāgārjuna
• Āryadeva
• Candrakīrti
• Bhāviveka
• Tsongkhapa

Traditions

• Buddhist
• Indian

To read

• Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way — Nagarjuna
• Introduction to the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra) — Candrakīrti
• The Dispeller of Disputes (Vigrahavyāvartanī) — Nagarjuna

Sources and further reading

• Nāgārjuna (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Madhyamaka Buddhist Philosophy (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Sunyata (Britannica)

Written by the Coordinates of Thought editors and checked against the sources above on 29 October 2026. Not peer-reviewed. How we write and check.

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