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Datasets:
joyboseroy
/
emptiness-graph

Tasks:
Graph Machine Learning
Text Retrieval
Languages:
English
Sanskrit
Pāli
Size:
1K<n<10K
Tags:
knowledge-graph
buddhism
philosophy
emptiness
madhyamaka
prajnaparamita
License:
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metadata 
license: cc-by-4.0
language:
  - en
  - sa
  - pi
tags:
  - knowledge-graph
  - buddhism
  - philosophy
  - emptiness
  - madhyamaka
  - prajnaparamita
  - theravada
  - yogacara
  - nagarjuna
  - shantideva
  - computational-humanities
  - graph-dataset
pretty_name: Emptiness Graph
size_categories:
  - 1K<n<10K
task_categories:
  - graph-ml
  - text-retrieval
dataset_info:
  features:
    - name: id
      dtype: string
    - name: text
      dtype: string
    - name: text_id
      dtype: string
    - name: concepts_mentioned
      sequence: string
  splits:
    - name: passages
      num_examples: 1126
    - name: concepts
      num_examples: 25
    - name: edges
      num_examples: 38
    - name: corpus_manifest
      num_examples: 16
    - name: passage_edges
      num_examples: 416

Emptiness Graph

A typed philosophical knowledge graph of Buddhist emptiness teachings
spanning Theravada, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, and Yogacara

Medium Article: [https://medium.com/@joyboseroy/i-built-a-knowledge-graph-of-buddhist-emptiness-here-is-what-you-can-do-with-it-5feba6af81fe] License: CC BY 4.0

Code: https://gitlab.com/joyboseroy/emptiness-graph

What This Is

This is not a Buddhist chatbot dataset.

It is a structured philosophical graph encoding the conceptual architecture of sunyata (emptiness) across the major Buddhist traditions — from the Pali Canon's anatta through Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka, Shantideva's dialectics, Yogacara's three-natures, and the Prajnaparamita sutras.

The core insight:

Nagarjuna's arguments are essentially dependency analysis.
A thing exists because of other things.
Remove independent existence.
What remains is a network.

Emptiness (sunyata) is not a fact to be retrieved. It is a relational structure to be traversed. This graph makes that structure explicit and queryable.

Quick Start 

from datasets import load_dataset
import networkx as nx

# load all splits
ds = load_dataset("joyboseroy/emptiness-graph")

# build the philosophical graph
G = nx.MultiDiGraph()
for c in ds["concepts"]:
    G.add_node(c["id"], kind="concept", **c)
for t in ds["corpus_manifest"]:
    G.add_node(t["id"], kind="text", **t)
for e in ds["edges"]:
    G.add_edge(e["source"], e["target"], **e)

# what does the Heart Sutra refute?
for u, v, data in G.edges(data=True):
    if u == "heart_sutra" and data["relation"] in ("refutes", "deconstructs"):
        print(f"  {G.nodes[v]['label']} [{data['relation']}]")

# what implies sunyata, from which tradition?
for u, v, data in G.edges(data=True):
    if v == "sunyata" and data["relation"] in (
            "is_identical_to", "is_precursor_of"):
        print(f"  {G.nodes[u]['label']} --[{data['relation']}] ({data['tradition']})")

# find passages that mention a concept
passages   = list(ds["passages"])
pedges     = list(ds["passage_edges"])
pids = {e["source"] for e in pedges if e["target"] == "emptiness_of_emptiness"}
for p in passages:
    if p["id"] in pids:
        print(f"[{p['text_id']}] {p['text'][:200]}\n")

Dataset Splits

Split Records Description
concepts 25 Philosophical concept nodes with Sanskrit/Pali/Tibetan terms
edges 38 Hand-authored typed philosophical relations
corpus_manifest 16 Source text metadata, translators, ingestion status
passages 1,126 Text passages from 10 ingested sources
passage_edges 416 Passage to concept mention links

Two Layers

Layer 1 — Philosophical graph (hand-authored)
concepts, edges, corpus_manifest were written by hand one record at a time. Every edge has a notes field with philosophical commentary explaining why the relation exists. This is the primary scholarly contribution.

Layer 2 — Passage index (automated)
passages and passage_edges were produced by build_passage_index.py from 10 source text files. Texts were split into passages and matched against manually defined concept keyword lists.

Edge Relation Types (17)

Ontological: negates · presupposes · implies · is_identical_to · is_coextensive_with · depends_on · is_ground_of

Logical/Dialectical: refutes · extends · applies_method_of · deconstructs

Doctrinal: tensions_with · reframes_as · is_conventional_expression_of · is_ultimate_level_of · is_precursor_of

Practice: enables · is_obstacle_to · is_antidote_to

Concept Nodes (25)

svabhava · sunyata · anatta · anatta_of_persons · anatta_of_dharmas pratityasamutpada · two_truths · two_truths_theravada · prasanga dependent_designation · emptiness_of_emptiness · alayavijnana three_natures · tathagatagarbha · five_aggregates · twelve_nidanas dharmadhatu · nonduality · skillful_means · nihilism_extreme eternalism_extreme · abhidharma_realism · cittamatra · bodhichitta three_kayas

Sample Query Results 

Heart Sutra deconstructs / refutes:
  Five Aggregates      [deconstructs]
  Abhidharma Realism   [refutes]

What implies Sunyata:
  Pratityasamutpada  --[is_identical_to]  (madhyamaka)
  Anatta             --[is_precursor_of]  (mahayana)

Doctrinal tensions:
  Tathagatagarbha  <--> Sunyata
  Cittamatra       <--> Sunyata

Tradition comparison on Sunyata:
  Theravada   : Anatta            [is_precursor_of]
  Madhyamaka  : Pratityasamutpada [is_identical_to]
  Yogacara    : Three Natures     [reframes_as]
  Mahayana    : Bodhichitta       [enables]

Texts Ingested (10 of 16 planned)

Text Translator Passages
Anattalakkhana Sutta Bhikkhu Sujato 20
Milindapanha (Chariot Argument) T.W. Rhys Davids 23
Heart Sutra Nyingma Monlam / multiple 90
Diamond Sutra Public domain 30
Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita 84000 119
Vimalakirti Sutra Ch.9 Robert Thurman 41
Samdhinirmocana Sutra 84000 570
Mulamadhyamakakarika (Ch.1,18,22,23,24,26) Geshe Kelsang Wangmo 120
Sunyatasaptati Christian Lindtner 73
Bodhicharyavatara Ch.9 Padmakara Translation Group 40

All texts sourced from openly available web versions of public domain or openly licensed translations.

License

Content License
concepts, edges, corpus_manifest CC BY 4.0
passages, passage_edges CC BY-NC 4.0 (includes 84000 material)

Citation 

@dataset{bose2026emptiness,
  title   = {Emptiness Graph: A Typed Philosophical Knowledge Graph
             of Buddhist Sunyata},
  author  = {Bose, Joy},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/joyboseroy/emptiness-graph},
  note    = {Hand-authored concept graph and automated passage index
             spanning Theravada, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, and Yogacara}
}