---
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](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-CC%20BY%204.0-lightgrey.svg)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/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

```python
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

```bibtex
@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}
}
```