The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness Cūḍa Suā±ā±ata Sutta (MN 121)

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ - - - Ð£ÐºÑÐ°ÑÐ½ÑÑÐºÐ° Submit Search - Home - Suttas - MN - MN 121 The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness ## Browse Suttas Go to Majjhima Nikṅya index MN index Show outline show outline ## Outline - (Top) - The Perception of Earth - The Infinitude of Space - The Infinitude of Consciousness - Nothingness - Neither Perception nor Non-perception - Theme-less Concentration - Release const prefersTocHidden = window.sessionStorage.getItem('user-prefers-toc-hidden') ?? window.localStorage.getItem('user-prefers-toc-hidden') ?? false; if (prefersTocHidden) { const tocToggleButton = document.getElementById("tocToggle"); const bookToc = document.getElementById("bookToc"); bookToc.classList.remove("show"); tocToggleButton.setAttribute("aria-expanded", false); tocToggleButton.querySelectorAll("[data-show-text]").forEach(el => { el.setAttribute("data-hide-text", el.innerText); el.innerText = el.getAttribute("data-show-text"); }); } ## The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness Cūḍa Suā±ā±ata SuttaÂ Â (MNÂ 121) I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sṅvatthī in the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migṅraâs mother. Then Ven. ṅnanda, emerging from his seclusion in the evening, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One: "On one occasion, when the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyans in a Sakyan town named Nagaraka, there—face-to-face with the Blessed One—I heard this, face-to-face I learned this: ), # Right single quote ('â', I now remain fully in a dwelling of emptiness.â Did I hear that correctly, learn it correctly, attend to it correctly, remember it correctly?" [The Buddha:] "Yes, ṅnanda, you heard that correctly, learned it correctly, attended to it correctly, remembered it correctly. Now, as well as before, I remain fully in a dwelling of emptiness. Just as this palace of Migṅraâs mother is empty of elephants, cattle, & mares, empty of gold & silver, empty of assemblies of women & men, and there is only this non-emptiness—the singleness based on the Saṃgha of monks; even so, ṅnanda, a monk—not attending to the perception (mental note) of village, not attending to the perception of human being—attends to the singleness based on the perception of wilderness. His mind leaps up, grows confident, stands fast, & grows resolute in its perception of wilderness. "He discerns that ), # Right single quote ('â', Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of village are not present. Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of human being are not present. There is only this modicum of disturbance: the singleness based on the perception of wilderness.â He discerns that ), # Right single quote ('â', This mode of perception is empty of the perception of village. This mode of perception is empty of the perception of human being. There is only this non-emptiness: the singleness based on the perception of wilderness.â Thus he regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as present: ), # Right single quote ('â', There is this.â And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with actuality, is undistorted in meaning, & pure. ## The Perception of Earth "Further, ṅnanda, the monk—not attending to the perception of human being, not attending to the perception of wilderness—attends to the singleness based on the perception of earth. His mind leaps up, grows confident, stands fast, & grows resolute in its perception of earth. Just as a bullâs hide is stretched free from wrinkles with a hundred stakes, even so—without attending to all the ridges & hollows, the river ravines, the tracts of stumps & thorns, the craggy irregularities of this earth—he attends to the singleness based on the perception of earth. His mind leaps up, grows confident, stands fast, & grows resolute in its perception of earth. "He discerns that ), # Right single quote ('â', Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of human being are not present. Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of wilderness are not present. There is only this modicum of disturbance: the singleness based on the perception of earth.â He discerns that ), # Right single quote ('â', This mode of perception is empty of the perception of human being. This mode of perception is empty of the perception of wilderness. There is only this non-emptiness: the singleness based on the perception of earth.â Thus he regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as present: ), # Right single quote ('â', There is this.â And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with actuality, is undistorted in meaning, & pure. ## The Infinitude of Space "Further, ṅnanda, the monk—not