The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly edit, Abbot Thanissaro trans. (Cula-Suññata Sutta, MN 121)

Resting mind: Zen circle on watercolor (Kathy Morton Stanion/etsy.com)

  

Burmese monastic (Perakman/flickr)

Thus have I heard. The Buddha was staying at Savatthi in the Eastern Monastery in Migara's Mother's Terraced Abode. Emerging from seclusion, Ananda went to see the Blessed One...and said:
  

"Once when the Blessed One was staying among the Shakyans in a Shakyan town known as Nagaraka, there -- face-to-face with the Blessed One -- I heard this and learned this: 'I now remain fully dwelling in emptiness.' Did I hear and learn that correctly, attend to it and remember it correctly?"

 

[THE BUDDHA:] "Yes, Ananda, you heard and learned that correctly, attended to and remembered it correctly. Now, as before, I remain fully dwelling in emptiness. 

 

The Buddha in Shakya ("grey earth") territory

"Just as this Migara's Mother's Terraced Abode is [devoid] empty of elephants, cattle, horses, empty of gold and silver, empty of assemblies of women and men, and there is only this non-emptiness: the singleness [single sign] based on the monastic community here, just so, Ananda, a meditator -- not attending to the perception of village, not attending to the perception of human being -- attends instead to the singleness [single sign] based on the perception of wilderness. One's mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles, and indulges in its perception of wilderness.

  

"One knows, 'Whatever disturbances would exist based on the perception of village are not present. Whatever disturbances would exist based on the perception of human being are not present.... More