[SallythePearl]

I wondered if anyone would like to comment on their understanding of this sutta.

Sure.

MN 121 is a very interesting & unique sutta in a number of ways:

1. MN 121 offers some interesting preliminary visualisations for entry into emptiness, namely, perception of the forest (wilderness) and then perception of the earth followed by perception of space. Per my subjective interpretation, one imagines or visualises one is in a quiet forest, then one visualises the body, the forest & the surrounds all as the element of earth and then one visualises the mind & awareness as space.

2. MN 121 uses a unique literal meaning of the term emptiness whereas all other other suttas define emptiness (sunnata) as empty of 'self' or anything belonging/pertaining to 'self'. MN 121 uses the terms 'emptiness' and 'non-emptiness'. Where all other suttas state all things are empty, MN 121 refers to empty and non-empty experiences. MN 121 negates the nothingness interpretation of emptiness because it states the supreme experience of emptiness is empty of sensuality, empty of becoming (self) and empty of ignorance but includes the non-emptiness of the body, life faculty and the six sense spheres (including consciousness).

3. As mentioned, MN 121 expands the definition of emptiness to include empty of sensuality, empty of becoming & empty of ignorance. In other words, the supreme emptiness is Nibbana, namely, empty or void of greed, hatred & delusion.

Kind regards

E