Q9. What Is the Dhamma That Is Highest and Most Profound, That Transcends the World and Death in All Their Forms?

~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~

The Buddha called it suññatāppaṭisaṃyuttā which means ‘Dhamma connected with suññatā,’ or even ‘suññatā’ itself. Dhamma that is permeated with suññatā is Dhamma at its highest and most profound. It transcends the world, transcends death, and is none other than amata-dhamma (deathless dhamma).

What of the newer, later explanations of Dhamma?

The Buddha said, ‘Discourses of any kind, though produced by a poet or a scholar, though versified, poetical, splendid, and melodious in sound and syllable, are not in line with this teaching if they are not connected with suññatā.’ Please remember the important words ‘not connected with suññatā.’ Therefore, if a discourse isn’t concerned with suññatā , it must be the words of a later disciple, an innovation, a new understanding of Dhamma, and not the Tathāgata’s words. If the words of a disciple don’t treat of suññatā, they are an outside teaching (bāhiraka).

If we seek the original and highest Dhamma that is true to the Buddha, there’s no possible way other than through those accounts that refer to suññatā (emptiness).

(From “Buddha-Dhamma for Inquiring Minds”)

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Buddha-Dhamma for Students (title of original translation) was composed of two talks given by Ajahn Buddhadāsa in January 1966 to students at Thammasat University, Bangkok. It was translated from the Thai by Rod Bucknell, and revised in 2018 by Santikaro Upasaka. To read/download as free ebook (pdf).

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For all English retreat talks, visit Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu.

For more information and free ebooks, visit Suan Mokkh – The Garden of Liberation.

Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives E-24