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In Buddhism and a few Hindu traditions, sunyata or shunyata (Sanskrit: emptyness [of mind]) is the absence of expectations or thoughts which might cloud one's perception of what is—an important step on the path to enlightenment.
In a larger sense, Sunyata is also conceived of as the ultimate nature of reality. In this sense, it is synonomous with the Buddhist conception of emptiness, meaning that phenomena lack a permanent identity or underlying "self," and that things exist because of 'dependent-arising' rather than any metaphysical workings hidden behind phenomenal existence. As is the case in many esoteric doctrines of Buddhist, Hindu, and similar Eastern mystical traditions, the 'dual-meaning' of Sunyata as it applies to emptiness of mind and emptiness of reality is seen as illustrative of the fundamental inseperability of microcosm and macrocosm.
