Void and Fullness in the Buddhist, Hindu and Christian Traditions: Śūnya – Pūrṇa – Plērōma

The volume opens with Bettina Bäumer’s prologue, which frames śūnya, pūrṇa, and plērōma as experiential symbols rather than merely conceptual categories. Raimon Panikkar’s opening address develops the symbolic and dialogical significance of these three words. Samdhong Rinpoche’s “Śūnya and Pūrṇa” and Ngawang Samten’s essay on emptiness examine Buddhist understandings of voidness as philosophical insight and spiritual realization. Deba Brata Sen Sharma and Makhan Lal Kokiloo explore fullness in Indian philosophy and Kashmir Śaivism, while Bettina Bäumer studies śūnya in the Vijñāna Bhairava. Paddy Meagher’s essay on the plērōma of God, Alois M. Haas’s study of the nothingness of God, and John R. Dupuche’s essays on light, darkness, silence, and the cry articulate Christian approaches to fullness, divine absence, and self-emptying. Other essays examine Buddhist Tantra, Sahaja practice, Vīraśaiva mysticism, communion of beings, Nietzsche’s encounter with Buddhism, and Gopinath Kaviraj’s reflections on pūrṇa. The concluding section, including the Dalai Lama’s speech and panel discussion, gathers these perspectives into a wider vision of interreligious dialogue, where different traditions do not merely compare doctrines but enter a shared space of contemplative listening, humility, and mutual transformation.