The Great Emptiness

This is what I have heard:

Once the Buddha was staying in a village of the Kuru people, where they looked after cattle. At that time he instructed the bhikshus:

“Bhikshus, I shall teach you the Dharma, that is lovely in the beginning, lovely in the middle and lovely at the end, the Dharma whose meaning and significance are good, homogeneous, pure and ( beneficial for) the chaste and holy life. This is the teaching on the great emptiness. Bhikshus, listen carefully and contemplate it thoroughly.

“What is the teaching on the great emptiness. It is: because that is, this is; because this arises, that arises. That means: conditioned by ignorance are formations, conditioned by formations is consciousness…… (until) this whole mass of suffering comes about.

“Because there is the detail: conditioned by birth are old age and death, someone could ask, ‘Who is the one who grows old and dies? To whom do old age and death belong?’ That person might well reply, ‘I am the growing old and the dying and the growing old and dying is I.’

“There are people who say that the body is the soul, or that the soul and the body are two different things. Although the examples given are different, the content of the meaning of these questions is the same. If you say that the life and the body are one, that is not the view of those who, like you, practice the holy life. If you say that life and the body are two different things people who practice the holy life will also not agree. Those who practice the holy life should avoid these two extremes and take the middle path. The middle path is seeing things rightly as they are, it does not turn upside down the teachings of the highest, good and holy ones. It means that dependent on birth are old age and death. The same is true for becoming, grasping, craving, feelings, contact, the six sense organs and objects, the psyche-soma, consciousness, formations and ignorance.

“If that person continues to ask, ‘Who is the formations? To whom do the formations belong?’

That person may want to reply, ‘I am the formations, the formations are mine.’ Someone may see the body and the soul as one thing, but the practitioner of the holy life does not see it like that. Someone may see the soul and the body as two different things, but the practitioner of the holy life does not see it like that. These two extremes have to be abandoned so that you can go straight in the direction of the middle way. The highest, good and holy ones thanks to right view can see the truth as it is and do not turn upside down the teaching: ‘dependent on ignorance are formations’.

“Bhikshus, if you are able to abandon ignorance (avidya) and gain understanding (vidya) by leaving desire behind, then who is the one who grows old and dies? To whom do old age and death belong? Your understanding means that old age and death are ended. You know that the root of these things has been removed. Like someone whose head has been cut off, cannot come to life again in the future. If the Bhikshu is able to abandon ignorance and craving and give rise to understanding (vidya), then who is born and to whom does that birth belong? In the same way you should examine: Who is the formations and to whom do the formations belong ? Then formations will come to an end. You then know that the root of formations has been removed and like someone whose head has been cut off, they cannot come to life again in the future. If the Bhikshu is able to abandon ignorance and craving and give rise to understanding (vidya), he will see that with the ending of ignorance formations cease ……(until) this whole mass of suffering is ended. That is the teaching on the great emptiness.”

After the Buddha had given this teaching, the bhikshus who heard it were happy to put it into practice.

~Samyuktagama 297