All empty compounded things. (SA273)

Thus have I heard.

At one time the Buddha was staying at Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍika’s park at Śrāvastī. …

The Buddha said to the monks: “… Monks, just as two hands coming together produce sound, so, conditioned by eye and visible forms arises eye consciousness, and these three things together are contact. From contact arise feeling, perception, and volition.

“All these phenomena are not-self, impermanent; they are without a permanent self, not eternal, not stable, changing. Why is this so?

“Monks, these have the nature of birth, ageing, death, ceasing, and rebirth. Monks, all compounded things are as an illusion, a flame, ceasing in an instant; being not real they come (arise) and go (cease).

“Therefore, monks, with regard to all empty compounded things you should know, rejoice in, and be mindful of (awake to) this:

“All empty compounded things are empty of any permanent, eternal, lasting, unchanging nature; they are empty of self and of belonging to self”. …

“So also for the ear, nose, tongue, body, … conditioned by mind and its mind-object arises mental consciousness, and these three together are contact. From contact arise feeling, perception, and volition. All these dharmas (phenomena) are not self, impermanent, and empty of self or of belonging to self. …

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.