Various terms were used at different times to indicate the meaning of the second seal of the Law: in Sanskrit, anatman (devoid of self) in primitive Buddhist scriptures and shunyata (void, emptiness) in Mahayana texts; and in Chinese, by the Zen Buddhists, wu (not). But all of these terms mean the absence of any fixed self or permanent nature, not utter nonexistence. The second seal of the Law expresses the ultimate goal of Buddhism as the attainment of the state in which realization of the impermanence and transience of all things liberates human beings from attachments of all kinds and enables them to act free and unhindered in accordance with the Law.
Basic Buddhist Concepts