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(Used in Japanese version of five elements)
空 is a single character that means empty, void, hollow, vacant, vacuum, blank, nonexistent, vacuity, voidness, emptiness, non-existence, immateriality, unreality, the false or illusory nature of all existence, and being unreal.
In the Buddhist context, this relates to the doctrine that all phenomena and the ego have no reality but are composed of a certain number of skandhas or elements, which disintegrate. The void, the sky, space. The universal, the absolute, complete abstraction without relativity. The doctrine further explains that all things are compounds, or unstable organisms, possessing no self-essence, i.e. are dependent, or caused, come into existence only to perish. The underlying reality, the principle of eternal relativity, or non-infinity, i.e. śūnya, permeates all phenomena making possible their evolution.
From Sanskrit and/or Pali, this is the translation to Chinese and Japanese of the title śūnya or śūnyatā.
In Japanese, when pronounced as “ron” (sounds like “roan”) this can be a given name. It should be noted that this Kanji has about 5 different possible pronunciations in Japanese: kuu, kara, sora, ron, and uro. 空 is also an element in the Japanese version of the five elements.
空無 is “nothingness” in a Buddhist context.
The first character means empty but can also mean air or sky (air and sky have no form).
The second character means have not, no, none, not, or to lack.
Together these characters reinforce each other into a word that means “absolute nothingness.”
I know this is a term used in Buddhism, but I have not yet figured out the context in which it is used. I suppose it can be the fact that Buddhists believe that the world is a non-real illusion, or perhaps it's about visualizing yourself as “nothing” and therefore leaving behind your desire and worldliness.
Buddhist concepts and titles often have this element of ambiguity or, rather, “mystery.” Therefore, such ideas can have different meanings to different people, and that's okay. If you don't get it right in this lifetime, there will be plenty more lifetimes to master it (whatever “it” is, and if “it” really exists at all).
Soothill defines this as “Unreality, or immateriality, of things, which is defined as nothing existing of independent or self-contained nature.”
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your unreality search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
空 see styles |
kòng kong4 k`ung kung kuu / ku くう |
More info & calligraphy: Sky / Ether / Void / Emptiness / Unreality(1) empty air; sky; (2) {Buddh} shunyata (the lack of an immutable intrinsic nature within any phenomenon); emptiness; (3) (abbreviation) (See 空軍) air force; (noun or adjectival noun) (4) fruitlessness; meaninglessness; (noun or adjectival noun) (5) (See 五大・1) void (one of the five elements); (can be adjective with の) (6) {math} empty (e.g. set); (female given name) Ron śūnya, empty, void, hollow, vacant, nonexistent. śūnyatā, 舜若多, vacuity, voidness, emptiness, non-existence, immateriality, perhaps spirituality, unreality, the false or illusory nature of all existence, the seeming 假 being unreal. The doctrine that all phenomena and the ego have no reality, but are composed of a certain number of skandhas or elements, which disintegrate. The void, the sky, space. The universal, the absolute, complete abstraction without relativity. There are classifications into 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16, and 18 categories. The doctrine is that all things are compounds, or unstable organisms, possessing no self-essence, i.e. are dependent, or caused, come into existence only to perish. The underlying reality, the principle of eternal relativity, or non-infinity, i.e. śūnya, permeates all phenomena making possible their evolution. From this doctrine the Yogācārya school developed the idea of the permanent reality, which is Essence of Mind, the unknowable noumenon behind all phenomena, the entity void of ideas and phenomena, neither matter nor mind, but the root of both. |
空無 空无 see styles |
kōng wú kong1 wu2 k`ung wu kung wu kūmu |
More info & calligraphy: Nothingness |
般若 see styles |
bō rě bo1 re3 po je hannya はんにゃ |
More info & calligraphy: Great Wisdom(1) {Buddh} prajna (wisdom required to attain enlightenment); (2) {noh} (See 般若面・1) hannya; mask of a grinning, horned demoness (represents a woman's rage and jealousy); (3) (abbreviation) (See 般若面・2) dreadful face (esp. of a woman driven mad by jealousy); terrifying facial expression; (surname) Hanniya (般賴若) Prajñā is also the name of a monk from Kabul, A.D. 810, styled 三藏法師; tr. four works and author of an alphabet.; prajñā, 'to know, understand'; 'Wisdom. ' M. W. Intp. 慧 wisdom; 智慧 understanding, or wisdom; 明 clear, intelligent, the sixth pāramitā. The Prajñā-pāramitā Sutra describes it as supreme, highest, incomparable, unequalled, unsurpassed. It is spoken of as the principal means, by its enlightenment, of attaining to nirvana, through its revelation of the unreality of all things. Other forms 般羅若; 般諄若; 鉢若; 鉢剌若; 鉢羅枳孃; 鉢腎禳; 波若, 波賴若; 波羅孃; 班若. |
大 see styles |
dài dai4 tai dai だい |
see 大夫[dai4 fu5] (pref,adj-na,n) (1) large; big; great; huge; vast; major; important; serious; severe; (prefix) (2) great; prominent; eminent; distinguished; (suffix) (3) -sized; as big as; the size of; (suffix noun) (4) (abbreviation) (See 大学・1) university; (5) large (e.g. serving size); large option; (6) (abbreviation) (See 大の月) long month (i.e. having 31 days); (given name) Yutaka Maha. 摩訶; 麼賀. Great, large, big; all pervading, all-embracing; numerous 多; surpassing ; mysterious 妙; beyond comprehension 不可思議; omnipresent 體無不在. The elements, or essential things, i.e. (a) 三大 The three all-pervasive qualities of the 眞如 q.v. : its 體, 相 , 用 substance, form, and functions, v. 起信論 . (b) 四大 The four tanmātra or elements, earth, water, fire, air (or wind) of the 倶舍論. (c)五大 The five, i.e. the last four and space 空, v. 大日經. (d) 六大 The six elements, earth, water, fire, wind, space (or ether), mind 識. Hīnayāna, emphasizing impersonality 人空, considers these six as the elements of all sentient beings; Mahāyāna, emphasizing the unreality of all things 法空, counts them as elements, but fluid in a flowing stream of life, with mind 識 dominant; the esoteric sect emphasizing nonproduction, or non-creation, regards them as universal and as the Absolute in differentiation. (e) 七大 The 楞嚴經 adds 見 perception, to the six above named to cover the perceptions of the six organs 根. |
幻 see styles |
huàn huan4 huan maboroshi まぼろし |
fantasy (noun - becomes adjective with の) (1) phantom; vision; illusion; apparition; (noun - becomes adjective with の) (2) something fleeting; short-lived dream; (noun - becomes adjective with の) (3) fabled item; mythical thing; very rare thing; (surname) Maboroshi māyā. Illusion, hallucination, a conjurer's trick, jugglery, i. e. one of the ten illustrations of unreality. |
三宗 see styles |
sān zōng san1 zong1 san tsung mimune みむね |
(surname) Mimune The three Schools of 法相宗, 破相宗 , and 法性宗 q.v., representing the ideas of 空, 假, and 不空假, i.e. unreality, temporary reality, and neither; or absolute, relative, and neither. |
九道 see styles |
jiǔ dào jiu3 dao4 chiu tao kudō |
idem 九有情居.; The nine truths, or postulates: impermanence; suffering; voidness (or unreality of things); no permanent ego, or soul; love of existence or possessions, resulting in suffering; the opposite (or fear of being without them), also resulting in suffering; the cutting off of suffering and its cause; nirvāṇa with remainder still to be worked out; complete nirvāṇa. |
二見 二见 see styles |
èr jiàn er4 jian4 erh chien futami ふたみ |
(can be adjective with の) forked (road, river); (place-name, surname) Futami Two (wrong) views: (1) Looking on people grudgingly with regard to almsgiving and preaching the Buddha-truth. (2) (a) 有見 Holding to the real existence of (material) things; (b) 無見 holding to their entire unreality. (3) (a) 斷見 Holding to the view of total annihilation; (b) 常見 to that of permanence or immortality. |
偏眞 see styles |
piān zhēn pian1 zhen1 p`ien chen pien chen henshin |
偏空, 單空The Hīnayāna doctrine of unreality, a one-sided dogma in contrast with the transcendental reality of Mahāyāna. |
六喩 see styles |
liù yù liu4 yu4 liu yü rokuyu ろくゆ |
(personal name) Rokuyu The six illustrations of unreality Diamond Sutra: a dream, a phantasm, a bubble, a shadow, dew, and lightning. Also 六如. |
十心 see styles |
shí xīn shi2 xin1 shih hsin jisshin |
The ten kinds of heart or mind; there are three groups. One is from the 止觀 4, minds ignorant and dark; affected by evil companions; not following the good; doing evil in thought, word, deed; spreading evil abroad; unceasingly wicked; secret sin; open crime; utterly shameless; denying cause and effect (retribution)―all such must remain in the flow 流 of reincarnation. The second group (from the same book) is the 逆流 the mind striving against the stream of perpetual reincarnation; it shows itself in devout faith, shame (for sin), fear (of wrong-doing), repentance and confession, reform, bodhi (i.e. the bodhisattva mind), doing good, maintaining the right law, thinking on all the Buddhas, meditation on the void (or, the unreality of sin). The third is the 眞言 group from the 大日經疏 3; the "seed" heart (i.e. the original good desire), the sprout (under Buddhist religious influence), the bud, leaf, flower, fruit, its serviceableness; the child-heart, the discriminating heart, the heart of settled judgment (or resolve). |
四執 四执 see styles |
sì zhí si4 zhi2 ssu chih shishū |
The four erroneous tenets; also 四邪; 四迷; 四術; there are two groups: I. The four of the 外道 outsiders, or non-Buddhists, i. e. of Brahminism, concerning the law of cause and effect: (1) 邪因邪果 heretical theory of causation, e. g. creation by Mahesvara; (2) 無因有果 or 自然, effect independent of cause, e. g. creation without a cause, or spontaneous generation; (3) 有因無果 cause without effect, e. g. no future life as the result of this. (4) 無因無果 neither cause nor effect, e. g. that rewards and punishments are independent of morals. II. The four erroneous tenets of 內外道 insiders and outsiders, Buddhist and Brahman, also styled 四宗 the four schools, as negated in the 中論 Mādhyamika śāstra: (1) outsiders, who do not accept either the 人 ren or 法 fa ideas of 空 kong; (2) insiders who hold the Abhidharma or Sarvāstivādāḥ tenet, which recognizes 人空 human impersonality, but not 法空 the unreality of things; (3) also those who hold the 成實 Satyasiddhi tenet which discriminates the two meanings of 空 kong but not clearly; and also (4) those in Mahāyāna who hold the tenet of the realists. |
妄緣 妄缘 see styles |
wàng yuán wang4 yuan2 wang yüan mōen |
The unreality of one's environment; also, the causes of erroneous ideas. |
愛恨 爱恨 see styles |
ài hèn ai4 hen4 ai hen aikon |
The falseness or unreality of desire. |
有教 see styles |
yǒu jiào you3 jiao4 yu chiao yuukyou / yukyo ゆうきょう |
(given name) Yūkyō The realistic school as opposed to the 空教 teaching of unreality; especially (1) the Hīnayāna teaching of the 倶舍宗 Abhidharmakośa school of Vasubandhu, opposed to the 成實宗 Satya-siddhi school of Harivarman; (2) the Mahāyāna 法相宗 Dharma-lakṣana school, also called the 唯識宗, founded in China by Xuanzang, opposed to the 三論宗 Mādhyamika school of Nāgārjuna. |
法空 see styles |
fǎ kōng fa3 kong1 fa k`ung fa kung hokkū |
The emptiness or unreality of things, everything being dependent on something else and having no individual existence apart from other things; hence the illusory nature of all things as being composed of elements and not possessing reality. |
火輪 火轮 see styles |
huǒ lún huo3 lun2 huo lun hiwa ひわ |
steamboat (old) (personal name) Hiwa alātacakra, a wheel of fire, produced by rapidly whirling a fire-brand, a symbol of the unreality of the visible, since such a wheel does not exist.; Whirling fire, e. g. fire whirled in a circle, the whole circle seeming to be on fire, emblem of illusion; a fire wheel. |
相空 see styles |
xiàng kōng xiang4 kong1 hsiang k`ung hsiang kung sōkū |
The unreality of form; the doctrine that phenomena have no reality in themselves, in contrast with that of Hīnayāna which only held that the ego had no reality. |
眞如 see styles |
zhēn rú zhen1 ru2 chen ju shinnyo しんにょ |
(surname) Shinnyo bhūtatathatā, 部多多他多. The眞 is intp. as 眞實 the real, 如 as 如常 thus always or eternally so; i.e. reality as contrasted with 虛妄 unreality, or appearance, and 不變不改 unchanging or immutable as contrasted with form and phenomena. It resembles the ocean in contrast with the waves. It is the eternal, impersonal, unchangeable reality behind all phenomena. bhūta is substance, that which exists; tathatā is suchness, thusness, i.e. such is its nature. The word is fundamental to Mahāyāna philosophy, implying the absolute, the ultimate source and character of all phenomena, it is the All. It is also called 自性淸淨心 self-existent pure Mind; 佛性 Buddha-nature; 法身 dharmakāya; 如來藏 tathāgata-garbha, or Buddha-treasury; 實相 reality; 法界 Dharma-realm; 法性Dharma-nature; 圓成實性 The complete and perfect real nature, or reality. There are categories of 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, and 12 in number: (1) The undifferentiated whole. (2) There are several antithetical classes, e.g. the unconditioned and the conditioned; the 空 void, static, abstract, noumenal, and the 不 空 not-void, dynamic, phenomenal; pure, and affected (or infected); undefiled (or innocent), i.e. that of Buddhas, defiled, that of all beings; in bonds and free; inexpressible, and expressible in words. (3) 無相 Formless; 無生 uncreated; 無性 without nature, i.e. without characteristics or qualities, absolute in itself. Also, as relative, i.e. good, bad, and indeterminate. (7, 10, 12) The 7 are given in the 唯識論 8; the 10 are in two classes, one of the 別教 cf. 唯識論 8; the other of the 圓教, cf. 菩提心義 4; the 12 are given in the Nirvana Sutra. |
空宗 see styles |
kōng zōng kong1 zong1 k`ung tsung kung tsung soramune そらむね |
(surname) Soramune The śūnya sects, i.e. those which make the unreality of the ego and things their fundamental tenet. |
空理 see styles |
kōng lǐ kong1 li3 k`ung li kung li kuuri / kuri くうり |
empty theory; impracticable theory; (female given name) Kuuri The śūnya principle, or law, i.e. the unreality of the ego and phenomena. |
空相 see styles |
kōng xiàng kong1 xiang4 k`ung hsiang kung hsiang kuusou / kuso くうそう |
{Buddh} the empty nature of all things Voidness, emptiness, space, the immaterial, that which cannot be expressed in terms of the material. The characteristic of all things is unreality, i.e. they are composed of elements which disintegrate. v. 空. |
空空 see styles |
kōng kōng kong1 kong1 k`ung k`ung kung kung kūkū くうくう |
empty; vacuous; nothing; vacant; in vain; all for nothing; air-to-air (missile) (noun or adjectival noun) empty; vacant; void Unreality of unreality. When all has been regarded as illusion, or unreal, the abstract idea of unreality itself must be destroyed. |
空經 空经 see styles |
kōng jīng kong1 jing1 k`ung ching kung ching kū kyō |
The sutras of unreality or immateriality, e.g. the Prajñāpāramitā. |
空門 空门 see styles |
kōng mén kong1 men2 k`ung men kung men sorakado そらかど |
(surname) Sorakado (1) The teaching which regards everything as unreal, or immaterial. (2) The school of unreality, one of the four divisions made by Tiantai (3) The teaching of immateriality, the door to nirvana, a general name for Buddhism; hence空門子 are Buddhist monks. |
聲聞 声闻 see styles |
shēng wén sheng1 wen2 sheng wen shōmon |
(Buddhism) disciple śrāvaka, a hearer, a term applied to the personal disciples of the Buddha, distinguished as mahā-śrāvaka; it is also applied to hearers, or disciples in general; but its general connotation relates it to Hīnayāna disciples who understand the four dogmas, rid themselves of the unreality of the phenomenal, and enter nirvana; it is the initial stage; cf. 舍. |
苦空 see styles |
kǔ kōng ku3 kong1 k`u k`ung ku kung kukū |
Misery and unreality, pain and emptiness. |
藏教 see styles |
zàng jiào zang4 jiao4 tsang chiao zōkyō |
The Piṭaka, i.e. Tripiṭaka school, one of the four divisions 藏通別圓 as classified by Tiantai; it is the Hīnayāna school of the śrāvaka and pratyeka-buddha type, based on the tripiṭaka and its four dogmas, with the bodhisattva doctrine as an unimportant side issue. It is also subdivided into four others, 有 the reality of things, 空 their unreality, both and neither. The bodhisattva of the Piṭaka school is defined as undergoing seven stages, beginning with the four dogmas and ending with complete enlightenment under the bodhi-tree. |
陰妄 阴妄 see styles |
yīn wàng yin1 wang4 yin wang onmō |
The skandha-illusion, or the unreality of the skandhas. |
體法 体法 see styles |
tǐ fǎ ti3 fa3 t`i fa ti fa |
The universality of substance and the unreality of dharmas or phenomena, the view of the 通教 as contrasted with that of the 藏教. |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Sky Ether Void Emptiness Unreality | 空 | kuu / kara / sora / ron ku / kara / sora / ron | kōng / kong1 / kong | k`ung / kung |
Nothingness | 空無 空无 | kuu mu / kuumu / ku mu | kōng wú / kong1 wu2 / kong wu / kongwu | k`ung wu / kungwu / kung wu |
The True and Complete Enlightenment | 眞覺 眞觉 | shinkaku | zhēn jué / zhen1 jue2 / zhen jue / zhenjue | chen chüeh / chenchüeh |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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