In his book "Living Dhamma", Ajaahn Chah relates the story of Tuccho Pothila,
whom the Buddha addresses as "Venerable Empty Scripture" and thus gets him to
take up the practice in earnest.
(http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/chah/living.html#tuccho)

I assume that there must be a scriptural basis for this story. Does anybody
know what it is? And what are the Pali terms which are translated here as
"Venerable Empty Scripture"?

Lothar