Form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form.
Form is only emptiness,
Emptiness only form.
The Heart Sutra
Śūnyatā literally means "openness" or “emptiness." Śūnyatā is basically understanding nonexistence. When you begin realizing nonexistence, then you can afford to be more compassionate, more giving. A problem is usually that we would like to hold on to our territory and fixate on that particular ground. Once we begin to fixate on that ground, we have no way to give. Understanding Śūnyatā means that we begin to realize that there is no ground to get, that we are ultimately free, nonaggressive, open. We realize that we are actually nonexistent ourselves. We are not--no, rather. Then we can give. We have lots to gain and nothing to lose at that point. It is very basic.
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche