Connected with emptiness, conformable to the dharma of conditioned genesis (SA293)

Thus have I heard.

Once the Buddha was staying in Kalandaka’s bamboo-grove at Rājagṛha.

Then, the World-Honoured One (the Buddha) said to certain monks: “I have transcended doubt, got away from uncertainty, dug out the thicket of evil views, and will no more turn back. Since the mind has nothing to which to attach, where could there be a self?

I teach monks dharma (the nature of phenomena); I teach monks the noble, the supramundane, connected with emptiness, conformable to the dharma of conditioned genesis. That is to say: Because this exists, that exists; because this arises, that arises.

“That is to say: Conditioned by ignorance, activities arise; conditioned by activities, consciousness arises; conditioned by consciousness, name and material form arise; conditioned by name and material form, the six sense-spheres arise; conditioned by the six sense-spheres, sensorial and mental contact arises; conditioned by contact, feeling arises; conditioned by feeling, craving arises; conditioned by craving, attachment arises; conditioned by attachment, becoming arises; conditioned by becoming, birth arises; conditioned by birth arises the suffering of aging, death, sorrow, and affliction. Thus is the origin of this whole mass of suffering. And in the same way is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.

“In this way, I teach dharma, but the monks still have doubt and uncertainty. They cannot at first gain the perception that is to be gained, obtain the perception that is to be obtained, achieve the perception that is to be achieved. Now having heard the dharma, their minds give rise to sorrow, regret, unawareness, and obstacle. Why is this so?

“Profound indeed is this, namely conditioned genesis; even more profound, more difficult to see (perceive) is this, namely the extinction of all attachment, the destruction of craving, the fading away of desire, cessation: nirvāṇa.

“These two dharmas are namely the compounded and the uncompounded. The compounded is arising, persisting, changing, passing away. The uncompounded is not arising, not persisting, not changing, not passing away.

“Monks, this is to say: All activities compounded things are suffering, and their cessation is nirvāṇa. When the causes are there, suffering arises; when the causes cease, the suffering ceases.

“All routes are cut off, the continuum ceases. The cessation of the continuum is called the ending of suffering.

“O monks! What is it that ceases? It is any remaining suffering. If this ceases, that is coolness, tranquillity, namely the extinction of all attachment, the destruction of craving, the fading away of desire, cessation: nirvāṇa.”

When the Buddha had taught this discourse, all the monks, having heard what Buddha said, were 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.