The Twenty Types of Emptiness in the Mahāyāna Dharma

In Volume 51 of the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Buddha taught that the Great Vehicle has twenty kinds of emptiness, which bodhisattvas should cultivate and study: the emptiness of the internal, the emptiness of the external, the emptiness of the internal and external, the emptiness of emptiness, the emptiness of the great, the emptiness of ultimate reality, the emptiness of the conditioned, the emptiness of the unconditioned, the emptiness of the ultimate, the emptiness of the boundless, the emptiness of dispersion, the emptiness of the changeless, the emptiness of intrinsic nature, the emptiness of self-marks, the emptiness of common marks, the emptiness of all dharmas, the emptiness of the unattainable, the emptiness of non-existence of self-nature, the emptiness of self-nature, and the emptiness of the non-existence of self-nature. The emptiness of worldly dharmas refers to non-existence, absence, non-being, and unattainability; the emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha of self-nature refers to that kind of emptiness which is devoid of all marks of worldly dharmas. It is different from worldly dharmas: its essence exists and truly is, only it is not cognized in the way worldly dharmas are cognized. If one tries to cognize the emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha by the way of cognizing worldly dharmas, one cannot cognize it correctly and will often misunderstand it. The meanings of the twenty kinds of emptiness are explained roughly as follows:

The emptiness of the internal refers to the emptiness of the internal dharmas of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The emptiness of the external refers to the emptiness of the external dharmas of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas. The emptiness of the internal and external refers to the emptiness of the internal and external dharmas—the six internal sense bases and the six external sense bases. The emptiness of emptiness means that all dharmas are entirely empty, and this emptiness itself is also empty. The emptiness of the great refers to the emptiness of the ten directions—east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, up, and down.

The emptiness of ultimate reality refers to the emptiness of nirvāṇa. Why is nirvāṇa empty? Because nirvāṇa is merely a tranquil state manifested by the essence of the tathāgatagarbha; a state, of course, is not a real dharma, let alone one that is manifested and revealed by the tathāgatagarbha. Do not confuse nirvāṇa with the essence of the tathāgatagarbha as if they were inseparable—one is real and the other is unreal.

The emptiness of the conditioned refers to the emptiness of the three realms of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. The three realms are created and fabricated, and are therefore conditioned; thus dharmas that arise from non-existence into existence are naturally empty. The emptiness of the unconditioned refers to the emptiness of these phenomena of no arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing; that is, the phenomena of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing are empty, and the phenomena of no arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing are manifested and are also empty. Existence and non-existence are merely provisionally established dharmas, mere verbal expression. The emptiness of the ultimate means that all dharmas are ultimately unattainable, and this unattainability is empty. Attainability and unattainability are both without any such thing—mere conceptual proliferation (prapañca)—and therefore are empty.

The emptiness of the boundless means that among all dharmas there is no dharma of a past limit, a present limit, or a future limit to be attained, and no limit of coming and going to be attained; the past, present, and future limits of the occurrence, development, and change of things are unattainable, and this unattainability is empty. That all dharmas have attainable past, present, and future limits is empty; unattainability is also empty; that all dharmas have limits of coming and going, development, and change is empty. For example, sentient beings' past, present, and future lives are empty, and the absence of limits of coming and going is also empty; all phenomena, properties, and states whatsoever are empty.

The emptiness of dispersion means that the phenomena of all dharmas—disintegration, scattering and breaking apart, and abandonment—are empty; gathering and dispersing are both empty. The emptiness of the changeless means that not changing, not altering, not disintegrating, not scattering and breaking apart, and not abandoning—these phenomena are empty. Change and changelessness are both empty; both are conceptual proliferation (prapañca).

The emptiness of intrinsic nature means that the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is empty. Whether it is the conditioned dharma-nature or the unconditioned dharma-nature, it is not created by the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, or pratyekabuddhas, nor is it created by ordinary beings; no one creates it, and therefore it is empty.

The emptiness of self-marks means that the self-mark of the essence of all dharmas is empty. For example, the self-mark of the aggregate of form is material impediment, and this is empty; the self-mark of the aggregate of feeling is reception, and this is empty; the self-mark of the aggregate of perception is grasping images, and this is empty; the self-mark of the aggregate of volitional formations is fabrication, and this is empty; the self-mark of the aggregate of consciousness is discernment, and this is empty. Self-marks of conditioned dharmas such as these, or self-marks of unconditioned dharmas, are all empty.

The emptiness of common marks means that the common marks of all dharmas are empty. For example, the common mark of defiled dharmas is suffering, and this is empty; the common mark of conditioned dharmas is impermanence, and this is empty; the common mark of all dharmas is emptiness and non-self, and this is empty. Seen this way, the emptiness of the five aggregates and non-self realized by arhats is empty, and the twelve links of dependent origination realized by pratyekabuddhas is also empty. All dharmas have countless other common marks, and all of them are empty. All dharmas, whether their self-marks or common marks, are all empty.

 The emptiness of all dharmas means that the dharmas of the five aggregates, the twelve sense bases, and the eighteen elements—whether with form or without form, whether visible or invisible, whether with resistance or without resistance, whether defiled or undefiled, whether conditioned or unconditioned—are all empty.

The emptiness of the unattainable means that all dharmas are unattainable, and even this unattainability is empty and unattainable. All dharmas, including the dharmas of the past, present, and future, are unattainable. If one takes a stand on the past, there is no present or future to be attained; if one takes a stand on the future, there is no present or past to be attained; if one takes a stand on the present, there is no past or future to be attained—and these unattainabilities are also empty.

 The emptiness of non-existence of self-nature means that all dharmas have no properties or attributes whatsoever, and this very non-existence of self-nature is also empty. For example, water has no water-nature and no non-water-nature; it has no wetness, no softness, no hardness or motility, and so on—no nature at all—and this non-existence of nature is also empty. For example, the five aggregates have no nature of the five aggregates and no nature of non-five-aggregates; they have no nature at all, and this non-existence of nature is also empty.

 The emptiness of self-nature means that the self-essence-nature of all dharmas is empty, the nature of self-mastery is empty, and the nature of being able to combine and produce a self-essence is empty. The emptiness of the non-existence of self-nature means that the non-self-mastery and non-sovereignty of all dharmas is empty, and the sovereignty over dharmas being mastered is also empty; that is, the combining capacity of dharmas is empty, and what is combined is also empty.

The existence, non-existence, self-nature, and other-nature of all dharmas are all empty. The emptiness of existence means that the nature of the existence of the five aggregates is empty. The emptiness of non-existence means that the unconditioned nature of all dharmas is empty. The emptiness of self-nature means that all dharmas have no self-essence-nature; this emptiness is not accomplished by wisdom, not accomplished by view, nor accomplished by any other dharma. The emptiness of other-nature means that whether a Buddha appears in the world or does not appear in the world, the abiding of dharmas, the definiteness of dharmas, dharma-nature, the dharmadhātu, equanimity-nature, the nature of liberation from birth, suchness (tathatā), non-falsity, changelessness, and reality-limit (bhūtakoṭi)—all are empty by reason of other-nature.

In short, wherever there is verbal expression, there is no real meaning; wherever there is knowledge and view, there is no real meaning; wherever there is indication, there is no real meaning; wherever there is a notion, there is no real meaning; wherever there is deliberation and fabrication, there is no real meaning; wherever there is a perception of dharmas, there is no real meaning. Empty it all the way to the very bottom, until reaching that which can no longer be emptied—that is the emptiness that is not empty; apart from it, everything is empty.