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Dictionary of Key Spiritual Terms


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empty

stong pa/ 

[var. stongs/ ]

Biblical: empty, void: sa ni stongs shing stong par yod de/  the earth was formless and empty (Gen. 1:2), phyug po stong par bton par mdzad/  he sent the rich away empty (Lk. 1:53), las dang bral ba'i dad pa ni stong pa yin/  faith without works is empty (Jas. 2:20).

Buddhist: 1) emptiness stong pa/  or stong pa nyid/  is the view that the world lacks separate, inherent existence, and is the fundamental Bst. view of reality (called rang stong /  ). Bsm. denies the substantial existence of all phenomena, including that of: a) man: phung po lnga po de dag la yang rang bzhin gyis stong par rnam par lta'o/  looking perfectly at the emptiness of inherent existence also of the five aggregates (HSU 166); b) the soul: (KBT defines stong pa/  as the absence of a permanent self abiding in the five aggregates (KBT 94); c) all observable phenomena: chos thams cad stong pa nyid de/  all phenomena are merely empty [of inherent existence] (HSU 167), rten cing 'brel par gang byung ba/,,/de nyid khyod ni stong par bzhed/  whatever arises dependently is exactly what you have explained as emptiness (LKT 8), gzugs stong pa'o/,,/stong pa nyid gzugs so/  form is emptiness, emptiness is form (HSU 167); d) and even emptiness itself stong pa nyid stong pa nyid/  the emptiness of emptiness (TRI 114); 2) pointless or futile: 'dod pa'i zhags thag rkang nas ma khrol na/,,lha chos byas song zer yang stong pa red/  if you can not untie the lasso of desire completely, even the so-called best religious practice is empty (KPU 9).