Emptiness: Co-design that begins within you

The scope of this paper is to further the existing discourse of design theory and practice on a mat woven with design history, systems thinking, and ontological design. As a contrast to the Western paradigm where the approach with definition and complexification in thought has dominated in enquiry processes and knowledge production, a philosophical discussion pictures another map by introducing a concept of emptiness based on Zen Buddhism and Japanese aesthetic perspectives. After the journey through the theoretical and practice-based framework with a case study of a dry garden, the paper concludes that emptiness, a state of mental freedom to unlimit creativity, is facilitated through a non-disciplinary and reductive orientation, which incorporates a notion of ontological co-design through practice. In other words, changing the world starts by changing and designing the self who is within the world.