Sixteen types of emptiness

Sixteen types of emptiness (Skt. ṣoḍaśa śūnyatā; T. stong nyid bcu drug སྟོང་ཉིད་བཅུ་དྲུག་; C. kong 空) are differentiated in the sutras of the Sanskrit Mahayana tradition.

The Madhyāntavibhāga states:

Although the essence of emptiness (sunyata) cannot be divided, sixteen types of emptiness are taught in consideration of, for example, different subjects, i.e., bases, of emptiness.

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso states:

Actually, within emptiness itself there are no distinctions between different types of emptiness because emptiness’ true nature transcends all concepts that differentiate between one thing and another. Therefore, from the perspective of genuine reality, emptiness cannot actually be divided into twenty different categories or classifications. When the Buddha taught the twenty emptinesses, however, he did so from the perspective of the twenty different types of phenomena whose various appearances we cling to as being truly existent. Going through the twenty emptinesses helps us to free ourselves from this clinging step by step. The first sixteen emptinesses are the extensive presentation, and these are then summarized into four.

These different types of emptiness (sunyata) are contemplated in order to gradually deepen one's realization of emptiness.

According to the Madhyāntavibhāga

In the Madhyāntavibhāga, the sixteen types of emptiness are presented as follows:

1. emptiness of the inner (adhyātma śūnyatā; ནང་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
2. emptiness of the outer (bahirdhā śūnyatā; ཕྱི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
3. emptiness of the inner and outer (adhyātma bahirdhā śūnyatā; ཕྱི་ནང་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
4. emptiness of the vast (mahā śūnyatā; ཆེན་པོ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)

   The above distinctions are made on the bases of subject in question.

5. emptiness of emptiness (ṡūnyatā śūnyatā; སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
6. emptiness of the ultimate (paramārtha śūnyatā; དོན་དམ་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
7. emptiness of the conditioned (saṁskṛta śūnyatā; འདུས་བྱས་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
8. emptiness of the unconditioned (asaṁskṛta śūnyatā; འདུས་མ་བྱས་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
9. emptiness of that beyond extremes (atyanta śūnyatā; མཐའ་ལས་འདས་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
10. emptiness of that without beginning or end (anavarāgra śūnyatā; ཐོག་མ་དང་ཐ་མ་མེད་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
11. emptiness of that which is not to be abandoned (anavakāra śūnyatā; དོར་བ་མེད་པའི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
12. emptiness of nature (prakṛti śūnyatā; རང་བཞིན་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
13. emptiness of specific characteristics (svalakṣaṇa śūnyatā; རང་གི་མཚན་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
14. emptiness of all dharmas (sarva dharma śūnyatā; ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)

    The first fourteen of the types of emptiness can be combined into the following two categories.

15. emptiness of nonentity
16. emptiness that is the very essence of the absence of entity

According to the Madhyamakāvatāra

In the Madhyamakāvatāra, the sixteen types of emptiness are presented as follows:

1. emptiness of the inner (adhyātma śūnyatā; ནང་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
2. emptiness of the outer (bahirdhā śūnyatā; ཕྱི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
3. emptiness of the outer and inner (adhyātma bahirdhā śūnyatā; ཕྱི་ནང་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
4. emptiness of emptiness (śūnyatā śūnyatā; སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
5. emptiness of the vast (mahā śūnyatā; ཆེན་པོ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
6. emptiness of the ultimate (genuine reality) (paramārtha śūnyatā; དོན་དམ་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
7. emptiness of the conditioned (saṁskṛta śūnyatā; འདུས་བྱས་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
8. emptiness of the unconditioned (asaṁskṛta śūnyatā; འདུས་མ་བྱས་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
9. emptiness of that beyond extremes (atyanta śūnyatā; མཐའ་ལས་འདས་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
10. emptiness of that without beginning or end (anavarāgra śūnyatā; ཐོག་མ་དང་ཐ་མ་མེད་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
11. emptiness of that which is not to be abandoned (anavakāra śūnyatā; དོར་བ་མེད་པའི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
12. emptiness of true nature (prakṛti śūnyatā; རང་བཞིན་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
13. emptiness of all dharmas (sarva dharma śūnyatā; ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
14. emptiness of defining characteristics (lakṣaṇa śūnyatā; མཚན་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
15. emptiness of the imperceptible (anupalambha śūnyatā; མི་དམིགས་པ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)
16. emptiness of the nature of nonexistence (abhāva svabhāva śūnyatā; དངོས་པོ་མེད་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་)

See also

• fourteen types of emptiness
• eighteen types of emptiness
• twenty types of emptiness

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Dharmachakra Translation Committee (2007), Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, Snow Lion Publications 
• Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso (2003), The Sun of Wisdom, translated by Ari Goldfield, Shambhala