Śūnyatā (Emptiness)
The emptiness of inherent existence — all phenomena arise dependently and lack independent self-nature.
Śūnyatā does not mean 'nothingness' but the absence of inherent, independent existence. All phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions; nothing exists from its own side. This is not nihilism but the middle way between eternalism and nihilism. Realizing emptiness is liberating because it reveals that the suffering self we're trying to protect was never a solid thing to begin with. In film, emptiness is depicted in Everything Everywhere All at Once through the bagel — total nihilistic void that, properly understood, opens into compassion rather than despair.