仁王般若經疏 1.9

1.9

Question: What difference is there between the central theme and the substance? Answer: All dharmas are fundamentally quiescent and extinct; what central theme or what substance could there be? Now, wishing to display it for the sake of conditions, within that which is devoid of names and marks it is spoken of through provisional names and marks, and divided to make distinctions. In terms of the general gate, the central theme is also the substance, and the substance is also the central theme. Now in terms of the specific gate, the wheel rim illustrates the central theme, and the empty space within illustrates the substance; the central theme is like the guiding collar, and the substance is like the furs and mesh. The meaning is that if one shakes a fur robe by holding its collar, or lifts a net by raising its head-rope, the substance of the fur robe and the net—the furs and the mesh—will naturally spread out. Such is the meaning of the distinction between central theme and substance.