The Sixteen Kinds of Śūnyatā in the Prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārthasaṃgraha, the Prajñāpāramitāsaṃgrahakārikāvivaraṇa, and the Mādhyāntavibhāga

Abstract

The difference between the explanations of the sixteen categories of emptiness (sūnyatā) in the Prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārthasaṃgraha (PPS) and the Mādhyāntavibhāga (MAV) indicates a contradiction with the Prajñāpāramitāsaṃgrahakārikāvivaraṇa (PPSV), a commentary on the PPS. Due to the fact that the PPSV interprets the PPS in accordance with the MAV, previous studies explain that the contents of the sixteen kinds of emptiness in the PPS match the MAV. In this paper, however, by comparing the PPS and the MAV I assert that the order of illustrations is different, and that the PPS lacks a reference to a positive side of emptiness. Moreover, the significance of “emptiness of non-existence” (abhāva-śūnyatā) and the “emptiness of existence of non-existence” (abhāvasvabhāva-ś.) in the sixteen categories of emptiness is not emphasized in PPS. Furthermore, a careful comparison of the PPSV with the PPS and the MAV reveals an inconsistency of the PPSV; the explanation of the “emptiness of marks” (lakṣaṇa-ś.) in the PPSV, which is based on its interpretation of the MAV, can be regarded as an example of the inconsistency.