SN 28.7The Dimension of Nothingness
Pāli / Sanskrit:Ākiñcaññāyatanasutta
Sāriputta goes to Mirkwood for meditation, and afterwards Ānanda asks why his face is so radiant. Sāriputta replies that he was practicing the dimension of nothingness without any thought of self.
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
– Chapter 28: Linked Discourses with Sāriputta
28.7. The Dimension of Nothingness
Vi-n 1-6.On one occasion Venerable Sāriputta was staying at Sāvatthi .
… Venerable Ānanda saw him … in what meditation were you dwelling?
Vi-n 7-8.—Here, friend, having completely transcended the dimension of infinite consciousness, thinking: “There is nothing,” I entered and dwelled in the dimension of nothingness … or ” … emerged from the dimension of nothingness”.
This collection was translated into Vietnamese by Venerable Thích Minh Châu and published by Vạn Hạnh Monastery in the early 1980s. Later, as part of the translation and publication program for the Vietnamese Tripiṭaka, the collection was republished in 1993 as volumes 12 through 16.
Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh .
The “…” is an abbreviation carried over from the Pāli original itself, called peyyāla. The early canon was memorized and recited, so passages repeated verbatim from a preceding discourse were commonly contracted to an elision mark rather than written out in full. Venerable Thích Minh Châu's translation preserves this convention. Some texts therefore look short — but that is the canonical form, not missing content or a truncated translation. The elided passages can be read in full in the preceding discourses of the same chapter.
The version you're viewing was faithfully rendered by Inti AI in keeping with the tradition. Switch to the other language tab to read a human translation.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.