Lakṣaṇa śūnyatā
lakṣaṇa śūnyatā (T. mtshan nyid stong pa nyid མཚན་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་; C. zixiang kong 自相空). Translated as "emptiness of intrinsic marks", "emptiness of characteristics", etc.[1][2] One of the sixteen types of emptiness, according to the Madhyamakāvatāra, etc.[1][3]
Lack of true independent existence of the characteristics or marks of all conventional things, of all paths to enlightenment and of all qualities of an enlightened being.[1]
The Madhyamakāvatāra states:
The nonexistence of entities such as “suitable to be form” and so forth
Is the emptiness of defining characteristics. (201cd)
All composite and noncomposite phenomena
Have their own individual defining characteristics.
These are all empty of themselves,
And this is the “emptiness of defining characteristics.” (215)[4]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2
mtshan nyid stong pa nyid, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑ Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. Lists of Lists, "sixteen emptinesses".
- ↑ Some texts refer to "emptiness of own characteristics" (svalakṣaṇa ṡūnyatā) rather than lakṣaṇa ṡūnyatā.
- ↑ Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso 2003, Appendix 3.
Sources
Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso (2003), The Sun of Wisdom, translated by Ari Goldfield, Shambhala