TATHATA

The Mahayana does, however, have another term for reality which is perhaps more indicative than Sunya, the void. This is the word Tathata, which we may translate as "suchness", "thusness", or "thatness". Similarly, the Buddhas are called Tathagatas- they who go, or come, "thus". The Sanskrit word Tat (our "that") is probably based on a child's first effort of speech, when it points at something and says, "Ta" or "Da". ...

When we say just "That" or "Thus", we are pointing to the realm of the nonverbal experience, to reality as we perceive it directly, for we are trying to indicate what we see or feel rather than what we think or say. Tathata therefore indicates the world just as it is, unscreened and undivided by the symbols and definitions of thought. It points to the concrete and actual as distinct from the abstract and conceptual.

( Η επεξήγηση των Βουδιστικών όρων είναι του Alan Watts από το βιβλίο "The Way of Zen")