仁王護國般若經疏 3.13

3.13

From "because prajñāpāramitā is empty" below is the second [part], clarifying that the wisdom capable of contemplating doubly illuminates both emptiness and existence. The text has two parts: first clarifying contemplation and illumination, next clarifying gain and loss. The first further has two parts: 1. illuminating emptiness, 2. illuminating existence. The first is signless; the latter has signs. "Signless" means that not only is there nothing illuminated, but there is also nothing capable of illuminating; it illuminates that which has nothing illuminated. In the *Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra*, this is named real prajñā. "Having signs" engages and distinguishes the ordinary and the noble throughout immeasurable doors of teaching; in the *Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra*, this is named conforming prajñā. Within the text on illuminating emptiness, there are further two divisions: first clarifying the characteristics of illumination, because within the wisdom of prajñā there is not the slightest real phenomenon, and thus it illuminates the emptiness of all phenomena. "Not seeing conditions" means that the twelve links of conditioned arising are empty. "Not seeing the truths" means that the phenomena of the four truths are empty. "Up to all phenomena are empty" means that the six great elements and other phenomena are empty. Speaking of "not seeing": because one contemplates all phenomena as empty, it is called "not seeing"; it does not mean that failure to illuminate is called "not seeing." Thus the sūtra says: "Neither seeing nor [non-]seeing is called all real phenomena," and so on. From "internal emptiness" below is the second [division], clarifying the delimitation of emptiness. Delimitations are of twelve kinds; the *Dà zhìdù lùn* has eighteen emptinesses. The treatise asks: "If few, there should be only one emptiness; if many, there should be immeasurable. Why are there eighteen?" Nāgārjuna replies: "If brief, the matter is not comprehensive; if expanded, the matter is cumbersome and difficult to comprehend. It is like taking medicine: if too little, the illness is not cured; if too much, the disease worsens. Expounding emptiness now is also like this: if spoken briefly, it cannot destroy wrong views; if spoken extensively, it borders on superfluous expansion. This sūtra treats illnesses according to the occasion; neither too much nor too little, there are only twelve." "Internal emptiness" means that within the six internal sense bases there is no spiritual self. "External emptiness" means that within the six external dusts there is no "mine." "Internal and external emptiness" means contemplating sense organs and sense objects together, lacking both self and "mine." "Emptiness of the conditioned" means that the conjunction of form and mind produces aggregates, elements, and sense bases, which are all nonexistent. "Emptiness of the unconditioned" is the emptiness of space, cessation through deliberation, and cessation without deliberation. "Emptiness of the beginningless": non-Buddhists take the primal darkness as the beginning; destroying this view is called the emptiness of the beginningless. "Emptiness of nature": all phenomena are originally nonexistent, but the deluded impute existence, even clinging to the claim that the Tathāgata-nature and the like are definitely existent; to destroy this view, it is called the emptiness of nature. Thus the sūtra says: "The eye is empty, without self and without 'mine.' Why is that? Because its nature is naturally so. Up to the mind, it is also like this." The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* also says: "Contemplate the eye as unborn and without self-nature; consciousness is empty, quiescent, and nonexistent." "Emptiness of the ultimate truth": originally conventional truth is empty, and conventional truth does not exist; this is also empty. "Emptiness of prajñāpāramitā": the *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra* says, "The great emptiness is the emptiness of prajñā"; the *Dà zhìdù lùn* says, "The ten directions all being empty is called great emptiness." "Emptiness of cause": the six pāramitās and the like are empty. "Emptiness of fruition": bodhi and nirvāṇa are empty. "Emptiness of emptiness": the *Dà zhìdù lùn* says, "Using the various emptinesses to destroy internal and external phenomena, and then using this emptiness to destroy the various emptinesses, is called the emptiness of emptiness. Furthermore, using emptiness to destroy existence, those who grasp existence speak of emptiness; if they cling to emptiness as correct, one must use this emptiness of emptiness to destroy it." From "merely because of the aggregation of phenomena, there is existence" below is the second [part], clarifying the illumination of existence. The text has three parts: first clarifying existence through the gate of the three designations, as explained above. From "because of the aggregation of causes, there is existence" below is the second, clarifying existence through the gate of the four truths. The aggregation of causes is the cause of birth and death, which is the truth of origin. The aggregation of fruition is the fruit of birth and death, which is the truth of suffering. The ten practices are the truth of the path; from the ten faiths up to the ten stages, each has ten kinds of practice gates. The buddha-fruit is nirvāṇa, which is the truth of cessation. "Up to all existence in the six destinies": the third clarifies existence with reference to the six destinies, the twenty-five realms of existence, and so forth.