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Cūḷasuññatasutta (The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness)

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11M/3.1, the first discourse of the Majjhima Nikāya's Suññatavagga: āyasmā Ānanda asks the Bhagavā about his dwelling in emptiness, and the Bhagavā teaches the graded emptiness, from the apperception of the forest through the formless bases to the signless focus of the mind and the end of the defilements.

Original text: 11M/3.1 Cūḷasuññatasutta 496–508 in the World Tipitaka Edition

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

At Sāvatthī āyasmā Ānanda asks whether he heard the Bhagavā rightly: that he often dwells in suññatāvihāra (contemplation on emptiness). The Bhagavā confirms it and sets out a graded practice: attending to one apperception at a time, from the forest through earth and the four formless bases to the signless cetosamādhi (focus of the mind), a bhikkhu regards what is absent as empty and knows what remains as present, until the defilements end and only this body with its six sense bases remains. This is the pure, supreme, unsurpassed appearance of emptiness, in which Ānanda is to train.

Diagram

Section titled “Diagram”
flowchart TB
    subgraph G["The graded emptiness, one apperception at a time"]
        direction TB
        F["the forest"] --> E["earth"]
        E --> B1["the base of the infinity of space"]
        B1 --> B2["the base of the infinity of consciousness"]
        B2 --> B3["the base of nothingness"]
        B3 --> B4["the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception"]
        B4 --> N["the signless focus of the mind"]
    end
    Q["Ānanda's question"] --> C["the Bhagavā confirms his dwelling in emptiness"]
    C --> S["simile: the palace, empty of all but the Saṅgha"]
    S --> M["at each stage the absent is empty, the remaining is present"]
    M --> F
    N --> I["the signless focus seen as constructed and impermanent"]
    I --> L["the defilements end; the body with its six sense bases remains"]
    L --> R["the pure, supreme, unsurpassed appearance of emptiness"]

Text

Section titled “Text”

(176.)

496. Thus heard by me — At one time the Bhagavā was dwelling at Sāvatthī, in the Eastern Park, in the Palace of Migāra’s Mother. Then āyasmā Ānanda, having risen from seclusion in the evening, approached the Bhagavā; having approached, he bowed to the Bhagavā and sat down to one side. Seated to one side, āyasmā Ānanda said this to the Bhagavā:

497. “This one time, Bhante, the Bhagavā was dwelling among the Sakyans, [at] Nagaraka, a market town of the Sakyans. There, Bhante, I heard this in the Bhagavā’s presence, received it in his presence: ‘Ānanda, I now often dwell in suññatāvihāra (contemplation on emptiness).’ I hope, Bhante, that this was well heard by me, well grasped, well attended to, well understood?”

498. “Indeed, Ānanda, this was well heard by you, well grasped, well attended to, well understood. Formerly too, Ānanda, and now too, I often dwell in contemplation on emptiness. Just as, Ānanda, this Palace of Migāra’s Mother is empty of elephants, cattle, horses, and mares, empty of gold and silver, empty of gatherings of women and men, and there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the Saṅgha of bhikkhū; even so, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of the village, not attending to the apperception of people, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of the forest. His mind takes to the apperception of the forest, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the village, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of people, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the forest.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the village’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of people’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the forest.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(177.)

499. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of people, not attending to the apperception of the forest, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of earth. His mind takes to the apperception of earth, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. Just as, Ānanda, a stud bull’s hide well staked with a hundred pegs is free of folds; even so, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to all that is hills and dales, rivers hard to cross, places full of stumps and thorns and rugged mountains on this earth, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of earth. His mind takes to the apperception of earth, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of people, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the forest, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of earth.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of people’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the forest’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of earth.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(178.)

500. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of the forest, not attending to the apperception of earth, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of space. His mind takes to the apperception of the base of the infinity of space, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the forest, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of earth, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of space.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the forest’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of earth’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of space.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(179.)

501. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of earth, not attending to the apperception of the base of the infinity of space, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness. His mind takes to the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of earth, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of space, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of earth’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of the infinity of space’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(180.)

502. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of the base of the infinity of space, not attending to the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of nothingness. His mind takes to the apperception of the base of nothingness, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of space, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of nothingness.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of the infinity of space’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of nothingness.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(181.)

503. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness, not attending to the apperception of the base of nothingness, attends to the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception. His mind takes to the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of nothingness, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of the infinity of consciousness’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of nothingness’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely the oneness dependent on the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(182.)

504. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of the base of nothingness, not attending to the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception, attends to the oneness dependent on the signless cetosamādhi (focus of the mind). His mind takes to the signless focus of the mind, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of nothingness, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely that dependent on this very body with its six sense bases, with life as cause.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of nothingness’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely that dependent on this very body with its six sense bases, with life as cause.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure appearance of emptiness.

(183.)

505. And furthermore, Ānanda, a bhikkhu, not attending to the apperception of the base of nothingness, not attending to the apperception of the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception, attends to the oneness dependent on the signless cetosamādhi (focus of the mind). His mind takes to the signless focus of the mind, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it. He knows clearly thus: ‘This signless focus of the mind too is mentally constructed and volitionally generated’. He knows clearly: ‘But whatever is mentally constructed and volitionally generated, that is impermanent, subject to cessation.’ When he knows and sees thus, his mind is liberated from the defilement of sensual pleasure, his mind is liberated from the defilement of existence, his mind is liberated from the defilement of ignorance. In liberation there is the ñāṇa (knowledge): ‘liberated’. He knows clearly: ‘Birth (of suffering) is finished, the optimal life is lived, what had to be done is done, there is nothing further for this present state of existence.’ He knows clearly thus: ‘Whatever stresses there might be dependent on the defilement of sensual pleasure, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the defilement of existence, those are not present here; whatever stresses there might be dependent on the defilement of ignorance, those are not present here; and there is just this measure of stress, namely that dependent on this very body with its six sense bases, with life as cause.’ He knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the defilement of sensual pleasure’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the defilement of existence’; he knows clearly: ‘This field of apperception is empty of the defilement of ignorance’; and ‘there is just this that is not empty, namely that dependent on this very body with its six sense bases, with life as cause.’ Thus, whatever is not there, he regards it as empty of that; but whatever remains there, he knows clearly: ‘This is present, it exists.’ Thus too, Ānanda, this is for him a genuine, undeluded, pure, supreme, unsurpassed appearance of emptiness.

(184.)

506. Indeed, Ānanda, whatever wanderers or brahmins in the past attained and dwelled in the pure, supreme, unsurpassed suññataṃ (emptiness), all of them attained and dwelled in this same pure, supreme, unsurpassed emptiness. Indeed, Ānanda, whatever wanderers or brahmins in the future will attain and dwell in the pure, supreme, unsurpassed emptiness, all of them will attain and dwell in this same pure, supreme, unsurpassed emptiness. Indeed, Ānanda, whatever wanderers or brahmins at present attain and dwell in the pure, supreme, unsurpassed emptiness, all of them attain and dwell in this same pure, supreme, unsurpassed emptiness. Therefore, Ānanda, you should train yourselves thus: ‘We will attain and dwell in the pure, supreme, unsurpassed emptiness.’”

507. This the Bhagavā said. Delighted, āyasmā Ānanda rejoiced in the Bhagavā’s words.

508. The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness, the first, is finished.

Commentary

Section titled “Commentary”
  • The graded emptiness: one apperception is attended to at a time, from the forest to the signless cetosamādhi (focus of the mind); at each stage what is absent is “empty” and what remains is “present”, until the defilements end and this body with its six sense bases alone remains.
  • Renderings by the DPD: daratha “stress”, ekatta “oneness”, saññāgata “field of apperception”, suññatāvakkanti “appearance of emptiness” (elsewhere “descent” or “entry into emptiness”), abhisaṅkhata “mentally constructed”; paccaya “cause” in jīvitapaccayā and samādhi “focus” by the glossary.
  • The formless bases are named as on /majjhimanikaya/pasarasisutta/ and the liberation formula (505) as on https://buddhavacana.github.io/sutta/gradual/; 506–507 are the author’s lines quoted at https://buddhavacana.github.io/articles/devolution/, which reads the sutta as a proto-prajñāpāramitā text.
  • The Bhagavā’s one speech runs from 498 to 506, so the paragraphs between carry no closing quotation marks.

Parallels

Section titled “Parallels”

The Chinese parallel is MA 190 小空經, the fourth discourse of the Madhyama Āgama’s 雙品 (中阿含經 fascicle 49, CBETA T01, no. 26, pp. 736c–738a), read here in CBETA’s text; Anālayo’s comparative study of the discourse is the chapter on it in his Madhyama-āgama Studies (Anālayo, 2012, pp. 325–364). The two versions share the frame and the sequence: the Bhagavā in the Eastern Park, in the Palace of Migāra’s Mother (東園鹿子母堂, pp. 736c–737a); Ānanda rising from meditation in the late afternoon and recalling the saying heard among the Sakyans that the Bhagavā often dwells in emptiness (我多行空, p. 737a); the confirmation; the simile of the palace, empty of animals and goods but not of the Saṅgha of bhikkhū; the graded practice that drops one apperception for the next, from the village and people to the forest, earth, the formless bases and the signless focus of the mind (無想心定, p. 737c); the reflection that this focus is itself produced; the end of the three defilements with only this body with its six sense bases and life remaining (唯此我身六處、命存, p. 737c); the practitioners of the past, the future and the present who dwell in the same emptiness; and the instruction to train in it. The differences, checked in CBETA’s text:

  • The formless bases. The Chinese has three, 無量空處想, 無量識處想 and 無所有處想 (pp. 737b–c), and passes from nothingness straight to the signless 無想心定 (p. 737c); the Pāḷi has all four, the base of neither apperception nor non-apperception standing at 503. Anālayo notes that the Madhyama and the Tibetan versions alike mention only the first three formless attainments before the signless stage (Anālayo, 2012, p. 350), his note 43; the Pāḷi stands alone with four.
  • The signless stage. In the Chinese what remains at the signless stage is the signless focus itself (然有不空，唯一無想心定, p. 737c), and only after the reflection on its origin does the body with its six sense bases and life remain; in the Pāḷi the body with its six sense bases, with life as cause, already remains at 504, and 505 repeats the stage with the reflection. The Chinese reflection runs “my signless focus of the mind is produced by practice, produced by thought; whatever is produced by practice and thought, I do not delight in it, do not seek it, should not dwell in it” (本所行、本所思 … 我不樂彼，不求彼，不應住彼, p. 737c), where the Pāḷi has “mentally constructed and volitionally generated … impermanent, subject to cessation”.
  • The refrain. The Chinese closes each stage with “this is called practising the true, empty, non-inverted” (是謂行真實、空、不顛倒也, p. 737a and after), without the Pāḷi’s “pure” (parisuddhā) and without its “appearance” (avakkanti), and in the last sections adds “namely the destruction of the defilements, without defilements, unconditioned, liberation of mind” (謂漏盡、無漏、無為、心解脫, p. 737c) where the Pāḷi has “supreme, unsurpassed”. The Chinese also applies the empty and not-empty formula to the palace itself first, in the Buddha’s own person (若此中無者，以此故我見是空，若此有餘者，我見真實有, p. 737a), before turning to the bhikkhu, and keeps the bhikkhu’s knowledge in the first person throughout (我無是也).
  • The mind’s response. The Pāḷi’s “his mind takes to it, gains confidence, remains still and is resolved on it” (498 and after) has no counterpart; the Chinese says instead that the bhikkhu “should frequently attend to” the single apperception (當數念一無事想, p. 737a).
  • The earth stage. The Chinese adds snake nests, sand and stones to the uneven ground to be disregarded and a positive image, ground “level like a palm, pleasant to look at”, to be attended to (若見此地平正如掌，觀望處好，當數念彼, p. 737a), stated before and after the simile of the ox hide stretched with a hundred nails (牛皮，以百釘張, p. 737a); the Pāḷi has the hills and dales, rivers, stumps and thorns and rugged mountains alone.
  • Details of the frame. The Chinese Ānanda stands to one side (却住一面, p. 737a) where the Pāḷi’s sits; he asks whether he “well knew, well received, well retained” the saying (善知、善受，為善持, p. 737a), three terms to the Pāḷi’s four; the palace is empty of elephants, horses, cattle, sheep, wealth, grain and slaves (象、馬、牛、羊、財物、穀米、奴婢, p. 737a) against the Pāḷi’s elephants, cattle, horses and mares, gold and silver, and gatherings of women and men; the practitioners of the past, the future and the present are Tathāgatas, liberated ones, fully awakened (諸如來、無所著、等正覺, p. 737c), the Buddha himself the present one, where the Pāḷi has wanderers and brahmins; and at the close Ānanda and the bhikkhus rejoice (尊者阿難及諸比丘, p. 738a) where the Pāḷi has Ānanda alone.

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References

Section titled “References”
Anālayo, B. (2012). Madhyama-āgama Studies. Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation.

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