What is an emptiness according to Buddhism?

Answer 1

Emptiness is also sometimes called selflessness, and it refers to the ultimate nature of how all things, including people, exist in this world. Normally we think of ourselves as existing independently from anything else.. But when you examine what existing is really carefully, you might realize that whatever it is that you call "I" or "me" isn't easy to define at all. Is your "self" in your head? You may say "this is my hand" but who is the owner of that hand? Is it that thing we call a spirit? You were once a little kid who believed in Santa Claus. Is that you? If you had an operation or an accident which caused you to lose your memory, would you still be you? You might be able to answer a lot of these sorts of questions with confidence, but as you delve deeper and deeper into the question of where and what your 'self' is, it becomes less and less clear. In fact, what we think of as our 'self' doesn't exist at all. Its just a construct of our minds that makes us able to function in the conventional world. In fact, the true nature of reality is called "dependent origination". Without an observer, the observed doesn't exist, and without an object to be observed, the observer doesn't exist. That is what is meant by emptiness: the true nature of reality is that objects, including people, are empty of inherent existence. It's a very subtle distinction, which takes lots of meditation and practice to really understand.