Emptiness and Quantum Theory

This essay is adapted from a talk given by Carol Russell on April 7, 2026


I once heard a teacher say that one way — a really effective way — to keep your practice alive, is to take risks. Take risks by getting outside your usual patterns, your usual ways of thinking. Maybe this means meditating longer than usual, or getting up earlier to practice. Maybe this means trying on new ideas. Playing your edge. 

The subject of quantum theory is definitely at my edge. 

What has really excited me about the subject of quantum theory is how much it resonates with the Buddhist teaching of emptiness. That has made the whole subject light up for me. The idea that a concept from over 2000 years ago is possibly being confirmed by the most current of scientific thinking is nothing short of astonishing.

So, I invite you into this very elementary – hopefully not misleading - exploration of the possible connection between quantum theory and emptiness.

Emptiness is a profoundly liberating teaching. It can be the most significant fact to realize about existence, both on a personal level and of all phenomena. It can also be perplexing. Perhaps because of our associations with the English word ‘emptiness,’ the common English translation of the word sunyata, we might think it means a bleak vacuity, meaninglessness, or a state of deficiency. Joseph Goldstein calls the word emptiness itself ‘unappealing.’ It doesn’t immediately invoke the sense of beauty, awe, and especially the unbinding of suffering that the experience of emptiness opens up for us.

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