I am not sure if I would have another chance to improve it in the future. But here I think it is fair enough for people to read and study it, in order to try to understand the so called 'nothingness'.
There was a misconception that Nagarjuna, a Buddhist monk (He was not a philosopher), first used the word Sunyata (or other spelling variations). Actually Buddha mentioned of it in 2 Sutta (Sutras). This is one of the Sutta that mention the word.
I hope my translation would provide useful information to people interested in this concept around the World.
Enjoys.
-----------------------
Culla-suññatā-sutta
จูฬสุญญตสูตร
The
Small Sutra on Sunyata
Keywords:
sunyata, sunjata, shunyata, suññatā (Pali). Śūnyatā
(Sanskrit), nothingness, voidness, emptiness, ñāṇa, wisdom,
liberation, enlightenment, mind
คำหลัก
(Thai
keywords) : สุญญตา
ศูนยตา อากาสานัญจายตนะ
วิญญานัญจายตนะ อากิญจัญญายตนะ
เนวสัญญานาสัญญายตนะ เจโตสมาธิ
สุญญตสมาบัติ สุญญตวิหารธรรม
บุพพาราม สาวัตถี
พระสูตร สุตตันตปิฎก พระอานนท์
พระผู้มีพระภาค
Translated
into English from Thai language Suttapiṭaka, vol. 6, by Burachai
Sonthayanon, Ph.D.
document
version: 1.0 August 6, 2013, B.E. 2556
จาก
พระสุตตันตปิฎก ฉบับภาษาไทย
เล่ม ๖ มัชฌิมนิกาย อุปริปัณณาสก์
แปลเป็นภาษาอังกฤษโดย
บุรชัย สนธยานนท์
ร่างแปลที่ ๑
Notice:
This is a draft translation aiming to facilitate learning and
understanding of practical Buddhism among international people. If
you have comment or suggestion for
improvement / corrections, please write
to burachais@gmail.com
This
documents contains information from 2 stages of translation (i.e.
from Pali to Thai, then from Thai to English), therefore, it is
advisable that one should also look at original Pali texts of the
Buddhist Scripture (Tipitaka) for exact wording and alternative
interpretation.
Numbers
inside square brackets in front of many paragraphs indicated the
paragraph numbers in the a respective volume of the Thai Sutta
Tipitaka.
Explanations,
translation of Pali terms, alternative terms, my interpretation and
comments are given in parentheses.
[333]
Thus I (Ananda) have heard.
One
day, the Blessed One (Buddha, Bhagavā)
stayed at a 'castle' (pāsāda) built by the premier female layperson
supporter, Visakha Mikara-Mata (Viśākhā Migāramāta), at Bupparam
Vihara (Eastern monastery, which has a building built as a residence
for the Buddha called Migāramātupāsāda), in the perimeter of
Sāvatthī city (or Sravasti). That day, Ananda (his cousin and aide
monk) came out from seclusion in late afternoon, then went to see the
Buddha as his residence. After paying respect to the Great Teacher,
he sat at suitable place on one side. Once seated, he asked the
Buddha as followed.
“Respectable
Lord, at one time when the Buddha stayed at a Sakya's village called
Nagaraka, in the territory of Sakya (or Śākya). There, I heard your
saying that 'So far, I have mostly stayed with
suññatā-vihara-dhamma'.”
“My
Lord, is that what I heard well, received well, attended to it well,
and memorized it well?”
(suññatā-vihara-dhamma
= a condition when the mind is 'resided' with suññatā; suññatā
= voidness or emptiness)
[334] The
Buddha said, “Well, Ananda. Certainly, you have heard it well,
received accurately, well attended, well memorized. Look Ananda, both
in the past and at the present, I have stayed mostly with
suññatā-vihara-dhamma.”
“In
analogy to this castle of Visakha Mikara-Mata, which is vacant of
elephant, ox, horse, mule, free of gold and silver, void of gathering
of female and male laypeople, the only thing not absent from it is
the monks. Similarly, well Ananda, to a bhikkhu (monk), when he does
not think of home, not think of human beings, only perceive the
forest (which surrounding him), his mind would move, incline,
establish (separation of a sensed-object from the observe, mind), and
tend to hold forest in the memory (sañña). They thus clearly
realized that, in the perception / cognition of the forest, there is
neither anxiety attached like the case with the perception of home,
nor the perception of human beings. He clearly knows that what is not
vacant is only (a small) anxiety on the perception of forest. In this
manner, he can ponder and see the voidness of things that is absent
from the memory. And clearly he knows what is remained in the memory
as still present. Look Ananda, even that is the case, it is an access
to (a degree of) voidness, as a matter of fact, not mistaken, with (a
degree of) purity, of that bhikkhu.”
[335] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of human, does not pay attention to perception of forest,
only singly to the perception of earth,”
(earth
= paṭhavī, i.e. particulate materials that could be physically
sensed, but possibly in this context as an image object (clay slab)
for a Kasiṇa meditation, widely practiced by Buddhist monks)
“his
mind would move, incline, establish, and tend to think of paṭhavī
in the memory. In analogy to a piece of ox's skin, stretched by 100
poles (around it), would be free of wrinkles, as such. Look Ananda,
that is similar to the case of paṭhavī, although the earth has
different plane levels, contains rivers, streams, full of thorny
stubs, has mountains and rough terrains, all those, they just paid
attention singly to the perception of paṭhavī, his mind would
clearly realized that, in the perception of paṭhavī, there is no
anxiety attached like the case with the perception of human beings,
nor the perception of the forest. He clearly knows that what is not
vacant is only anxiety on the paṭhavī. In this manner, he can
ponder and see the voidness for the lack of perceptions of human
beings, lack of perception of forest in the memory. And he clearly
knows what remained in the memory is the perception of paṭhavī as
still present. Look Ananda, even that is the case, it is an access to
(a degree of) voidness, as a matter of fact, not mistaken, with
purity, of that bhikkhu.”
[336] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of paṭhavī, only singly to the perception of open-air
(ākāsānañcāyatana, the sphere of unbound space), his mind would
move, incline, establish, and tend to think of ākāsānañcāyatana
in the memory. They just paid attention singly to the perception of
ākāsānañcāyatana, his mind would clearly realized that, in the
perception of ākāsānañcāyatana, there is no anxiety attached
like the case with the perception of forest, nor the perception of
paṭhavī. Clearly know that what is not vacant is only anxiety on
the ākāsānañcāyatana. In this manner, he can ponder and see the
voidness for the lack of perceptions of forest, lack of perception of
paṭhavī in the memory. And clearly knows what remained in the
memory is the perception of ākāsānañcāyatana as still present.
In this manner, he considers the voidness of what is not in the
memory. Look Ananda, even that is the case, it is an access to
voidness, as a matter of fact, not mistaken, with purity, of that
bhikkhu.”
[337] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of paṭhavī, not paying attention to the open-air
(ākāsānañcāyatana), his mind pay attention onto to
viññāṇañcāyatana (the Realm of Infinity of Consciousness). His
mind would move, inclined, established, and tend to think of
viññāṇañcāyatana in the memory. His mind would clearly
realized that, in the perception of viññāṇañcāyatana, there is
no anxiety attached like the case with the perception of paṭhavī,
nor the perception of ākāsānañcāyatana. Clearly know that what
is not vacant is only anxiety on the viññāṇañcāyatana. In this
manner, he can ponder and see the voidness for the lack of
perceptions of paṭhavī, lack of perception of ākāsānañcāyatana
in the memory. And clearly knows what remained in the memory is the
perception of viññāṇañcāyatana as still present. In this
manner, he considers the voidness of what that is not in the memory.
Look Ananda, even that is the case, it is an access to voidness, as a
matter of fact, not mistaken, with purity, of that bhikkhu.”
[338] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of the open-air (ākāsānañcāyatana), not paying
attention to the infinity of consciousness (viññāṇañcāyatana)
, his mind pays attention onto to ākiñcaññāyatana (the Realm of
Nothingness). His mind would move, inclined, established, and tend to
think of ākiñcaññāyatana in the memory. His mind would clearly
realized that, in the perception of ākiñcaññāyatana, there is no
anxiety attached like the case with the perception of
ākāsānañcāyatana, nor the perception of viññāṇañcāyatana.
Clearly know that what is not vacant is only anxiety on the
ākiñcaññāyatana. In this manner, he can ponder and see the
voidness for the lack of perceptions of ākāsānañcāyatana, lack
of perception of viññāṇañcāyatana in the memory. And clearly
knows what remained in the memory is the perception of
ākiñcaññāyatana as still present. In this manner, he considers
the voidness of what that is not in the memory. Look Ananda, even
that is the case, it is an access to voidness, as a matter of fact,
not mistaken, with purity, of that bhikkhu.”
[339] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of the infinity of consciousness (viññāṇañcāyatana),
not attention to the ākiñcaññāyatana, his mind pays attention
onto to nevasaññānāsaññāyatana (the Realm of Perception nor
Non-perception). His mind would move, inclined, established, and tend
to think of nevasaññānāsaññāyatana in the memory. His mind
would clearly realized that, in the perception of
nevasaññānāsaññāyatana, there is no anxiety attached like the
case with the perception of viññāṇañcāyatana, nor the
perception of ākiñcaññāyatana. Clearly know that what is not
vacant is only anxiety on the ākiñcaññāyatana. In this manner,
they can ponder and see the voidness for the lack of perceptions of
viññāṇañcāyatana, lack of perception of ākiñcaññāyatana
in the memory. And clearly know what remained in the memory is the
perception of nevasaññānāsaññāyatana as still present. In this
manner, they consider the voidness of what that is not in the memory.
Look Ananda, even that is the case, it is an access to voidness, as a
matter of fact, not mistaken, with purity, of that bhikkhu”
[340] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of the the realm of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana),
not attention to the Realm of Perception nor Non-perception
(nevasaññānāsaññāyatana), his mind pays attention onto to
cetosamādhi (mental concentration) without any signifier (nimitta).
His mind would move, inclined, established, and tend to think of
cetosamādhi without any signifier in the memory. His mind would
clearly realized that, in this cetosamādhi, there is no anxiety
attached like the case with the perception of ākiñcaññāyatana,
nor the perception of nevasaññānāsaññāyatana. There was only
anxiety on the arisen of the 6 āyatana (6 āyatana = saḷāyatana =
perception channels, i.e. eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind) which
reside on this body, because of birth. He clearly knows that the
perception is free from ākiñcaññāyatana and of
nevasaññānāsaññāyatana. And clearly knows what is not void is
the arisen of the 6 āyatana (saḷāyatana) because of life. In this
manner, he considers the voidness with what is absent in the
cetosamādhi. and clearly knows what remained in the cetosamādhi as
still present. Look Ananda, even that is the case, it is an access to
voidness, as a matter of fact, not mistaken, with purity, of that
bhikkhu.”
[341] “Behold
Ananda, there is more. When bhikkhu does not pay attention to
perception of the the realm of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana),
not attention to the Realm of Perception nor Non-perception
(nevasaññānāsaññāyatana), his mind pays attention onto to
cetosamādhi (mental concentration) without any signifier (nimitta).
His mind would move, inclined, established, and tend to think of
cetosamādhi without any signifier. He clearly knows that even this
cetosamādhi without signifier can still be adjusted by factors, can
be influenced. That anything that can be adjusted, attracted, is
impermanent, must end as norm, When he knows this, (his) mind would
be free of kāmāsāva, bhavasāva, even avijjāsāva. When the mind
is liberated, there existed a wisdom (ñāṇa) that it has been
freed, realizing that (future) birth is no more, life of study as
monk (in Buddhist sense) is fulfilled, the act (study) that should be
done is finished, other acts for this purpose are no more. He thus
clearly knows that in this wisdom (ñāṇa) there is no anxiety that
depends on kāmāsāva, bhavasāva, avijjāsāva. There is only
anxiety that relies on arisen of the 6 ayayata, which relies on this
body, based on life as cause. He clearly knows that this sanna
(perception) is free from bhavasāva, and avijjāsāva. Clearly what
is not void is the birth of 6 ayayatna, that depends on this body,
based on life as cause. In this manner, he thus consider and see
voidness with what is absent in the cetosamādhi and clearly knows
that things left in the cetosamādhi is present. Look Ananda, even
that is the case, it is an access to voidness, as a matter of fact,
not mistaken, with purity, of that bhikkhu.”
[342] “Look
Ananda, any samaṇa (shramana) or brahmin of any groups in the past,
who had accessed the pure and best voidness meditative attainment
(suññatā samāpatti), which is incomparable of all, had accessed
to this pure and best voidness attainment. Any samaṇa or brahmin
of any groups in the future, who will access the pure and best
voidness attainment of all, will have accessed this pure and best
voidness attainment. Any samaṇa or brahmin of any groups at the
present time, who access the pure and best voidness attainment of
all, thus accessed this pure and best voidness attainment. Look
Ananda, as such, your group do study (and keep in mind) that we will
access the pure and best voidness meditative attainment.”
After
the Buddha has stated these wise words, Ananda was pleased with the
Buddha's teaching. (Ananda has memorized them along the way.)
End
of Culla-suññatā-sutta.
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