仁王護國般若波羅蜜多經疏 2.516

2.516

Question: Are this existence and nonexistence, etc., mutually relative as one dharma earlier and later, or as two dharmas simultaneously? Answer: Existence and nonexistence are simultaneous, relative to a single dharma. For example, if one takes ten feet and contrasts it with fifteen feet, that very ten feet has the characteristic of being short; if contrasted with five feet, it does not have the characteristic of being short but has the characteristic of being long. Therefore, regarding that ten feet, both the characteristics of short and long are devoid of substance. One dharma earlier and later should be known by analogy with this. 'Like a second moon' concludes that it has no real substance. Because of an eye disease, one sees a second [moon]. If one opens one eye and presses the other, one sees one and thinks it is two; if one closes one and presses the other, or if the eye has no disease, there are no two [moons]. Because of a disease of the mind, one falsely perceives existence and nonexistence, one and different, beautiful and ugly, long and short, and so on; showing them enables one to contemplate that they are nonexistent, like the [second] moon. Hereafter, the sixth part explains the designation of conditioned assembly.