The Sanskrit term Ṣoḍaśaśūnyatā can be transliterated into English as Sodasasunyata or Shodashashunyata, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: MDPI Books: The Ocean of Heroes

Ṣoḍaśaśūnyatā (षोडशशून्यता) refers to the “sixteen emptinesses”, according to the 10th-century Ḍākārṇava-tantra: one of the last Tibetan Tantric scriptures belonging to the Buddhist Saṃvara tradition consisting of 51 chapters.—Accordingly, while explaining the mind-circle: “[...] However, devoid of its intrinsic nature, the circle is selfless. Having discerned exactly [the gatekeeping females] outside the grounds in all layers, [he, who] follows the sequence, [should provide] four seats and twelve [seats] to the gatekeeping females of all [layers]. Should the sixteen [gatekeepers] thus [taught] be discerned as the [Sixteen] Emptinesses (ṣoḍaśaśūnyatā), [he is] wise [evaṃ ṣoḍaśa vijñeyā śūnyatāśca vicakṣaṇaḥ]. [...]”.

Source: Rigpa Shedra: Wiki

Ṣoḍaśaśūnyatā (षोडशशून्यता) refers to the “sixteen kinds of emptiness” (in Tibetan: སྟོང་ཉིད་བཅུ་དྲུག་, stong nyid bcu drug), according to Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara:

1. emptiness of the outer (bahirdhāśūnyatā, Tibetan: phyi stong pa nyid),
2. emptiness of the inner (adhyātmaśūnyatā, Tibetan: nang stong pa nyid),
3. emptiness of the outer and inner (adhyātmabahirdhāśūnyatā, Tibetan: phyi nang stong pa nyid),
4. great emptiness (mahāśūnyatā, Tibetan: chen po stong pa nyid),
5. emptiness of the beginningless and endless (anavarāgraśūnyatā, Tibetan: thog ma dang mtha' ma med pa'i stong pa nyid),
6. emptiness of the conditioned (saṃskṛtaśūnyatā, Tibetan: 'dus byas stong pa nyid),
7. emptiness of the unconditioned (asaṃskṛtaśūnyatā, Tibetan: 'dus ma byas stong pa nyid ),
8. emptiness of emptiness (śūnyatāśūnyatā, Tibetan: stong pa nyid stong pa nyid),
9. emptiness beyond extremes (atyantaśūnyatā, Tibetan: mtha' las 'das pa'i stong pa nyid),
10. natural emptiness (prakṛtiśūnyatā, Tibetan: rang bzhin stong pa nyid),
11. emptiness of the unobserved (anupalambhaśūnyatā, Tibetan: mtshan nyid med pa'i stong pa nyid),
12. ultimate emptiness (svabhāvaśūnyatā, Tibetan: ngo bo nyid stong pa nyid),
13. emptiness of the indispensable (anavakāraśūnyatā, Tibetan: dor ba med pa'i stong pa nyid),
14. emptiness of the essential nature of non-entities (abhāvasvabhāvaśūnyatā, Tibetan: dngos po med pa'i ngo bo nyid stong pa nyid),
15. emptiness of all phenomena (sarvadharmaśūnyatā, Tibetan: chos thams cad stong pa nyid),
16. emptiness of specific characteristics (svalakṣaṇaśūnyatā, Tibetan: mtshan nyid stong pa nyid).

context information

Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Shodasha, Shunyata.

Full-text: Hridayamantra.

Relevant text

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