Buddhism: Emptiness (Sunyata) - The Essence of Buddhism.
"Emptiness is described as the foundation that makes all things possible."
(The 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche has stated in the book: ‘Awakening the Sleeping Buddha’)

The feeling of expansiveness that comes when completely releasing the mind, referred to in Buddhist terminology as "emptiness," is arguably one of the most misunderstood terms in Buddhist philosophy. For Buddhists, this term is challenging enough, but Western readers face even more difficulties. The initial translators of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit and Tibetan into English interpreted emptiness as "voidness" or "nothingness," mistakenly likening emptiness to the concept that nothing exists at all. Nothing could be more off the mark compared to the truth that Buddha intended to convey.

While Buddha indeed taught that the essence of the mind - and indeed, of all phenomena - is emptiness, he did not mean that this essence is truly empty, like a void. He referred to it as "emptiness," and in Tibetan, the term is tongpa-nyi. Tongpa means "empty," but only in the sense that it is something beyond our sensory perception or conceptual articulation. A better translation might be "inconceivable" or "undefinable." Meanwhile, the word ‘nyi’ does not have a particular meaning in everyday language, but when used after another word, it implies "possibility" - meaning anything can arise, anything is possible. Therefore, when Buddhists speak of emptiness, they do not mean "nothingness" but rather an infinite potential that allows any event to manifest, change, or disappear.

This concept may find parallels in the strange and wonderful phenomena observed by physicists studying the workings of an atom. According to physicists I have spoken with, all subatomic phenomena emerge from a ground state often referred to as "the vacuum state," the state with the lowest energy in the subatomic universe. In this "vacuum state," particles continuously appear and disappear. Thus, although it may seem empty, this state is actually highly dynamic and full of potential to generate any matter. In this sense, the "vacuum state" shares some properties with the "emptiness of consciousness." Just as the vacuum is considered empty yet is the source of all particle forms, consciousness is also "empty" in that it defies all concrete description. Yet, from this undefinable and unknowable foundation, all thoughts, emotions, and sensations continually arise.

Because the nature of your mind is emptiness, you have the capacity to experience an unlimited variety of thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Even the misunderstandings about emptiness are merely phenomena that arise from emptiness!
Here is a simple example that might help you somewhat understand the nature of emptiness on an experiential level.

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