Empty world (SA232)

Thus have I heard.

At one time the Buddha (bhagavant) was staying at Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍika’s park at Śrāvastī. Then, a bhikṣu named Samṛddhi came to where the Buddha was, saluted him by prostrating with his head to the ground and touching the feet of the Buddha, and sat down at one side. He then asked the Buddha:

“It is said ‘the world is empty’, but in what regard is it said that the world is empty?”

The Buddha said to Samṛddhi: “Eye is empty, empty of eternal and unchanging nature, empty of anything belonging to self. Why is this so? This is nature as it is.

“Material forms, visual consciousness, visual contact, the feelings unpleasant or pleasant or neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant that arise conditioned by visual contact are empty, empty of eternal and unchanging nature, empty of anything belonging to self. Why is this so? This is nature as it is.

“Ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are also thus.

“This is called ‘empty world’.”

When the Buddha had taught this discourse, bhikṣu Samṛddhi, having heard what the Buddha had said, was delighted, and put it into practice.

Translation by Choong Mun-keat (Wei-keat), 2004.

Originally published in Choong Mun-keat (Wei-keat), The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism, 1995, 1999. Used by permission of the translator.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.