金剛經纂要刊定記 2.69

2.69

As for "the middle": Because it is conventional, it is not empty; because it is empty, it is not conventional. Being neither empty nor conventional, and being simultaneously empty and conventional, is called the meaning of the middle. Therefore the *Vimalakīrti* says: "The Dharma spoken is neither existent nor non-existent; / by causes and conditions all phenomena arise." Furthermore, as the *Madhyamaka-śāstra* comprehensively clarifies the four meanings including existence, saying: "Whatever phenomenon is produced by causes and conditions, / that I declare to be precisely śūnyatā; / it is also termed conventional designation, / and is also the meaning of the middle way." Thus the meanings of emptiness, existence, the middle, conventional designation, and so forth spoken in the teachings of the three vehicles do not go beyond cause and condition. Therefore it says that the Buddhist teachings universally take cause and condition as their central doctrine.