[245] Bhikkhus, suppose a man needing heartwood, seeking heartwood, wandering in search of heartwood, taking a sharp axe, were to enter a forest. There he would see a large banana-tree trunk, straight, fresh, without a fruit-bud core. He would cut it down at the root; having cut it at the root, he would cut off the crown; having cut off the crown, he would unroll the leaf-sheaths. Unrolling the leaf-sheaths there, he would not find even sapwood, let alone heartwood. A man with good eyes would see it, would ponder it, would investigate it thoroughly; and as he sees it, ponders it, and investigates it thoroughly, it would appear to him as merely void, it would appear as merely hollow, it would appear as merely without substance. For what substance, bhikkhus, could there be in a banana-tree trunk?
So too, bhikkhus, whatever volitional formations (saṅkhārā) there are — past, future, or present … far or near — a bhikkhu sees them, ponders them, and investigates them thoroughly; and as he sees them, ponders them, and investigates them thoroughly, they appear as merely void, they appear as merely hollow, they appear as merely without substance. For what substance, bhikkhus, could there be in volitional formations?
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.