SunyataFrom The Columbia Encyclopedia
One of the main tenets of Mahayana Buddhism, first presented by the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna-paramita) scriptures (1st cent. B.C. on) and later systematized by the Madhyamika school. Early Buddhist schools of Abhidharma, or scholastic metaphysics, analyzed reality into ultimate entities, or dharmas, arising and ceasing in irreducible moments in time.