death) and also śokaparidevaduḥkhadaurmanasyopāyāsa (sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and misery). Sentient beings always suffer throughout saṃsāra, until they free themselves from this suffering by attaining Nirvana . Then the absence of the first Nidāna—ignorance—leads to the absence of the others. Emptiness Main article: Śūnyatā Mahayana Buddhism received significant theoretical grounding from