label: Svabhava

label_alt:
own-being
intrinsic existence
inherent existence
self-nature

sanskrit: svabhāva

pali: sabhāva

tibetan: rang bzhin

tradition: madhyamaka abhidharma

definition: The idea that things possess existence from their own side, independently of causes, conditions, and conceptual designation. The primary target of Madhyamaka negation.


label: Sunyata

label_alt: emptiness voidness shunyata

sanskrit: śūnyatā

pali: suññatā

tibetan: stong pa nyid

tradition: mahayana madhyamaka vajrayana

definition: The absence of svabhava in all phenomena. Not nothingness but the lack of intrinsic existence. Phenomena exist dependently, not from their own side.


label: Anatta

label_alt: non-self no-self anatman

sanskrit: anātman

pali: anattā

tibetan: bdag med

tradition: theravada mahayana

definition: The absence of a permanent, independent self in persons and/or phenomena. Theravada focuses on the person; Mahayana extends to all dharmas (phenomena).


label: Pudgala-nairatmya

label_alt:
no-self of persons
personal selflessness

sanskrit: pudgala-nairātmya

pali: puggala-anattā

tibetan: gang zag gi bdag med

tradition: theravada mahayana madhyamaka

definition: The absence of a substantial, independent self in persons. Agreed upon by all Buddhist schools. The chariot argument is its classic formulation.

is_subset_of: anatta


label: Dharma-nairatmya

label_alt:
no-self of phenomena
phenomenal selflessness

sanskrit: dharma-nairātmya

tibetan: chos kyi bdag med

tradition: mahayana madhyamaka yogacara

definition: The absence of svabhava in all phenomena (dharmas), not just persons. This is the distinctively Mahayana extension of anatta. Theravada Abhidharma denied pudgala-nairatmya but asserted svabhava of dharmas, which Mahayana then negates.

theravada_position: denied

mahayana_position: asserted


label: Pratityasamutpada

label_alt:
dependent origination
dependent co-arising
interdependence

sanskrit: pratītyasamutpāda

pali: paticca-samuppāda

tibetan: rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba

definition: All phenomena arise in dependence upon causes, conditions, and designations. Nothing arises independently. For Nagarjuna, dependent origination IS emptiness — they are coextensive, not two different things.


label: Two Truths

label_alt:
samvrti-satya and paramartha-satya
conventional and ultimate truth

sanskrit: dve satye

pali: dve sacca

tibetan: bden pa gnyis

tradition: mahayana madhyamaka

definition: The framework distinguishing conventional truth (how things appear and function) from ultimate truth (how things actually are — empty of svabhava). Nagarjuna: the teaching of the two truths is itself the teaching of emptiness.


label: Prasanga

label_alt:
consequence
reductio ad absurdum
unwanted consequence

sanskrit: prasaṅga

tibetan: thal 'gyur

definition: The primary logical method of Madhyamaka. Nagarjuna never asserts a thesis of his own — he takes the opponent's position and derives an absurd consequence. Chandrakirti made this the defining mark of Prasangika vs Svatantrika.


label: Dependent Designation

label_alt:
prajnapti
mere imputation
nominal existence

sanskrit: prajñapti

pali: pannatti

tibetan: btags pa tsam

tradition: madhyamaka prasangika

definition: Things exist only as conventional designations dependent on their bases. Not mind-independent (against realism) and not mind-created (against idealism). The Prasangika middle: conventional existence as mere imputation.


label: Emptiness of Emptiness

sanskrit: śūnyatā-śūnyatā

tibetan: stong pa nyid kyi stong pa nyid

definition: Emptiness itself is empty of svabhava. This prevents sunyata from becoming a new absolute — the thing everything is empty of/into. Key to showing Nagarjuna is not a nihilist.


label: Alayavijnana

label_alt:
storehouse consciousness
base consciousness
all-ground consciousness

sanskrit: ālayavijñāna

tibetan: kun gzhi rnam par shes pa

tradition: yogacara zen vajrayana_partial

definition: The Yogacara postulation of a substratum consciousness that stores karmic seeds. Not recognized by Madhyamaka (Chandrakirti explicitly refutes it).


label: Three Natures (Yogacara)

sanskrit: trisvabhāva

tibetan: rang bzhin gsum

definition: Yogacara ontology: (1) parikalpita — the imagined nature, what we falsely project; (2) paratantra — the dependent nature, causally produced events; (3) parinishpanna — the perfected nature, the absence of the imagined in the dependent. Emptiness = absence of parikalpita in paratantra.


label: Tathagatagarbha

sanskrit: tathāgatagarbha

tibetan: de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po

tradition: mahayana vajrayana zen

definition: The buddha-nature present in all sentient beings. Textual tension with strict Madhyamaka sunyata: is this a positive absolute? Rangtong schools read it as metaphor; Shentong schools read it as genuinely luminous ground.

tension_with: sunyata


label: Five Aggregates

label_alt:
five skandhas
pancaskandha

sanskrit: pañcaskandha

pali: pañcakkhandha

tibetan: phung po lnga

definition: Form (rupa), feeling (vedana), perception (samjna), mental formations (samskara), consciousness (vijnana). The analysis that shows there is no self over and above these. The Heart Sutra negates svabhava in each.

components: rupa vedana samjna samskara vijnana


label: Twelve Nidanas

label_alt:
twelve links of dependent origination
dvadasha-nidana

sanskrit: dvādaśa-nidāna

pali: dvādasanidāna

tibetan: rten 'brel bcu gnyis

definition: Ignorance → formations → consciousness → name-and-form → six sense-bases → contact → feeling → craving → clinging → becoming → birth → aging-and-death. The causal structure of samsaric existence. Nagarjuna uses this to argue that without emptiness, the chain cannot function.


label: Two Truths (Theravada)

pali: sammuti-sacca, paramattha-sacca

tradition: theravada abhidharma

definition: Conventional truth (persons, tables, etc.) vs. ultimate truth (dhammas — the irreducible constituents of experience). Unlike Mahayana, Theravada Abhidharma asserts dhammas have sabhava (own-nature) at the ultimate level.


label: Dharmadhatu

label_alt:
realm of phenomena
expanse of reality
space of phenomena

sanskrit: dharmadhātu

tibetan: chos kyi dbyings

definition: The totality of phenomena as they are in their emptiness. In Madhyamaka, the dharmadhatu is sunyata viewed as the open space in which all phenomena dependently arise and function without svabhava.


label: Nonduality

label_alt:
advaya
non-dual
beyond two extremes

sanskrit: advaya

tibetan: gnyis su med pa

definition: Not-two. Beyond the dualisms of existence/nonexistence, self/other, samsara/nirvana. Vimalakirti's silence is the classic gesture. In Madhyamaka: the two truths are nondual.


label: Skillful Means

label_alt: upaya upaya-kausalya

sanskrit: upāya-kauśalya

pali: upāya-kosalla

tibetan: thabs mkhas pa

definition: The Buddha's adaptation of teaching to the capacity of the listener. The three vehicles as one vehicle in the Lotus Sutra is the premier example. Also: why emptiness teachings are dangerous without preparation — they can slide into nihilism.


label: Nihilism (Extreme of Nonexistence)

label_alt: uccheda-vada annihilationism

sanskrit: ucchedavāda

pali: ucchedavāda

tibetan: chad pa'i lta ba

definition: The view that things are completely nonexistent — the mistaken reading of sunyata as nothingness. Nagarjuna's constant refutation: emptiness does not deny conventional existence, only svabhava.


label: Eternalism (Extreme of Existence)

label_alt: sassata-vada substantialism

sanskrit: śāśvatavāda

pali: sassatavāda

tibetan: rtag pa'i lta ba

definition: The view that things have permanent, fixed existence — own-being (svabhava). This is what Madhyamaka primarily refutes. Abhidharma realism is the internal Buddhist version.

is_avoided_by: sunyata pratityasamutpada


label: Abhidharma Dharma-Realism

label_alt:
dharma-svabhava
Abhidharma realism

definition: The Abhidharma position that while persons are conventional, the dhammas (irreducible constituents of experience) possess sabhava/svabhava at the ultimate level. This is the target of Mahayana's extension of anatta to dharmas.


label: Cittamatra

label_alt: mind-only Yogacara Vijnanavada

sanskrit: cittamātra

tibetan: sems tsam pa

definition: The Yogacara position that external objects do not exist — only consciousness and its projections. Emptiness of external objects follows from this. Refuted by Prasangika Madhyamaka (Chandrakirti, Shantideva) as still positing svabhava of consciousness.


label: Bodhichitta

label_alt:
awakening mind
mind of enlightenment

sanskrit: bodhicitta

tibetan: byang chub kyi sems

tradition: mahayana vajrayana

definition: The aspiration and engagement to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Shantideva's entire text is structured around cultivating this. The connection to emptiness: bodhichitta dissolves the self/other boundary that emptiness reveals to be illusory.

connected_to: sunyata compassion nonduality


label: Three Kayas

sanskrit: trikāya

tibetan: sku gsum

definition: Dharmakaya: the emptiness-body of reality itself, corresponding to sunyata. Sambhogakaya: the enjoyment-body of luminosity. Nirmanakaya: the compassionate form-body manifest in the world. Central to Mahayana soteriology.

dharmakaya: kadag

sambhogakaya: lhundrub

notes: The trikaya doctrine bridges emptiness to buddha-activity. Dharmakaya is the emptiness aspect; nirmanakaya is compassion manifest. Nagarjuna's Ratnavali addresses how the form-body arises through merit despite emptiness.