Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and its Relation to Hinayana c6.s2.7

c6.s2.7

It is remarkable that this form of generalisation of the śūnyatā has been resorted to not only by the early Mahāyānists in the Prajñāpāramitās but also by the Mādhyamikas³ and the Yogācāras.⁴ An attempt has been made to show with the help of this passage that though śūnyatā seems to be the ultimate abstraction of all dharmas (things), it is actually the name which is given to the real svabhāva (nature) of things (dharmas or dravyas). It is dharmatā in the sense that it is neither apart from the dharma nor identical with it. If we say that it is apart from dharma, then the dharmas would be void, and if we say it is identical with dharma then the dharmas would be nitya (permanent). This conception of Śūnyatā is only foreshadowed, but does not appear in a developed form in Pāli literature in passages like—