在中國古代的經典翻譯裡面，對空這個字眼一直是一籌莫展的，華人的字典裡有道家講的 無為的{無}、虛無飄渺、就是沒有單獨的{空}字，早期剛從梵文(印度文)翻譯出來的華語{空}，讓當時俱備修行者兼知識份子輩份的華人，絞盡腦汁想知道它代表的意義，偏偏華人的弱項就是邏輯，空是一種修法也是辯論哲學，通過邏輯辯證才能懂的，空的代表論述中觀論簡稱中論(中文翻譯詞)，裡面有八種邏輯辯論，講的就是空的內容，以及它有無成立的可能。
Śūnyatā was a difficult concept for ancient Chinese when they tried to translate Buddhist Texts from India. In the dictionary for Chinese, there is a word "Wu" (Nothing) from the Taoist, which conjures a images of "nothingness" and "ephemeral." But there is not a single word that can stand for Śūnyatā . When the translation of Śūnyatā first appeared, many practitioners, who were also intellectuals at the time, racked their brains trying to figure out what it meant. Unfortunately, the weakness of the Chinese culture is logic. Śūnyatā is a method of Practice, but also a philosophy. In order to understand it, a person need to go through logical debates. The definitive text on Śūnyatā is Mūlamadhyamakakārikā which is often translated to Knowledge of the Middle Way, there are 8 logical debates in the text, all about Śūnyatā and whether it can be established.
中論是被翻譯了，但接下來對它的解釋變成是棘手的工作，討論半天也沒什麼結果，這時候道家的無字被拉進來，也或許是想用華人熟悉的字眼， 讓他們明白什麼是空?! 佛典傳入中國是東漢的時候，中論空法的翻譯是魏晉南北朝 時，印度高僧鳩摩羅什的作品，大量翻譯作品的出現是唐朝玄奘大師，從印度留學歸國以後的事情，這之前中國道家的說法、無為思想、書籍都已成熟，並且已在學術、文化方面、紮根。
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā was translated, but the troublesome works of explanation remained. There was no resolution for a while, and the word, "Nothing", from Taoist, was brought in. Perhaps they tried to use a word that was familiar to Chinese at the time to understand Śūnyatā. Buddhist Texts were introduced to China in Eastern Han Dynasty. Mūlamadhyamakakārikā was translated by an Indian monk named Kumārajīva during the Period of Disunity in China (225 to 589 AD).
Most of the translation on Buddist Texts was performed during Tang Dynasty after Master Xuanzang returned to China from India. By this time, Taoism was already very mature. The idea of Wu Wei[Note] and books from Taoism have already established deep roots in Chinese academic thoughts and culture.
半寄 Master Ban Ji
[Note] 無為 : Please refer to Wikipedia's entry on Wu Wei
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