[INDOLOGY] Sunya

[Harsha Dehejia]

Dear Friends:

The fact that the Greeks were afraid of zero is interesting and it fits in with the comfort we had in India with Sunyata of Mahayana Buddhism.
As they said, "Emptiness is nothing but form, and form is nothing but emptiness."

As to which came first, sunya or sunyata, there is no debate. Sunyata was championed by Nagarjuna in the 1st century AD, while sunya came with Aryabhatta in the 5th century AD.

Finally, sunya is cognate with the word, "sunn" in the bhashas, which means a state of mental voidness.

Thanks to everyone.

Harsha
Prof. Harsha V. Dehejia
________________________________
From: Dean Michael Anderson <eastwestcultural at yahoo.com>
Sent: July 25, 2022 8:36 AM
To: Harsha Dehejia <harshadehejia at hotmail.com>; Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu>
Cc: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Sunya


Mathematician Charles Seife writes in Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea:

"Unfortunately, the Greeks and Romans hated zero so much that they clung to their own Egyptian-like notation rather than convert to the Babylonian system, even though the Babylonian system was easier to use. ...

"However, the Greeks so despised zero that they refused to admit it into their writings, even though they saw how useful it was. The reason: zero was dangerous.

"In earliest times did Ymir live: was nor sea nor land nor salty waves, neither earth was there nor upper heaven, but a gaping nothing, and green things nowhere."

—THE ELDER EDDA

"It is hard to imagine being afraid of a number. Yet zero was inexorably inked with the void—with nothing. There was a primal fear of void and chaos. There was also a fear of zero. Most ancient peoples believed that only emptiness and chaos were present before the universe came to be."


On Monday, July 25, 2022 at 06:12:08 PM GMT+5:45, Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu> wrote:


Might one say that sunyata may arise where sunya is well understood?

On Jul 25, 2022, at 4:08 AM, Harsha Dehejia via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

Friends:

Thank you for the many useful responses.

While it is clear that no definite scientific evidence is forthcoming to suggest that the mathematical concept of sunya arose from the Mahayana concept of sunyata, it is difficult to dismiss that the similarity of the two words is accidental.

Sunya can only rise in an ethos where the concept of sunyata is well understood.

Kind regards,

Harsha
Prof. Harsha V. Dehejia

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