Sunyata

The doctrines informing us that virtue and purity, or the states of jnana or sunyata, can be achieved, in some interpretations, by detachment from the physical senses and the material world hold little appeal for me, whether classical, Christian, Hindu or Buddhist.

Martin and Co. also play an Easy Street Records in-store the day before the official release party, the latter also serving as a showcase for Martin’s label, Sunyata Records & Books.

In the middle of the space, Siebren Versteeg’s “Sunyata” — the Buddhist concept of emptiness or voidness — gives you a notion of chance in action: Resembling a glowing glass coffee table with a modernistic lamp, it is actually a large LCD monitor laid horizontal and outfitted with a webcam arcing over it.

The doctrine of “sunyata,” or “void,” is one of the most profound contributions of philosophy from India, said Sundar Sarukkai, professor of philosophy at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore.

Buddhist philosophical texts in the 3rd century have elaborate verses about emptiness — “sunyata,” in Sanskrit.