Emptiness

Emptiness is a key concept in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy.

The Buddhist notion of Emptiness is often misunderstood as nihilism. Unfortunately, 19th century Western philosophy has contributed much to this misconstruction. Fortunately, Western scholars have now acquired enough knowledge about Buddhism to realise that this view is far from accurate.

The only thing that nihilism and the Teaching of Emptiness can be said to have in common is a sceptical outset. While nihilism concludes that reality is unknowable, that nothing exists, that nothing meaningful can be communicated about the world, the Buddhist notion of Emptiness arrives at just the opposite, namely that ultimate reality is knowable, that there is a clear-cut ontological basis for phenomena, and that we can communicate and derive useful knowledge from it about the world.
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Emptiness must not be confused with nothingness. Emptiness is not non-existence and it is not non-reality.

Empty means a thing is devoid of inherent existence.