觀音義疏 2.22

2.22

Answer: The true mark of the Great Vehicle ought not to have male or female, nor the absence of male and female; through skillful means, it speaks of existence and nonexistence by way of the four siddhāntas. The heavenly maiden said: "Liberation is not taught apart from letters; the nature of letters being transcendent is itself liberation." All of this is because letters possess past, future, and present; it does not mean that the true mark of bodhi is also like this. It is neither existent nor nonexistent, neither dual yet dual, showing that these two dharmas have never been separated from each other. For example, just as a single body has left and right hands, concentration and wisdom are also like this: concentration is quiet and wisdom illuminates; though divided into two, they do not depart from the dharma nature—to speak of concentration is to have wisdom, and to speak of wisdom is to have concentration. Just as a woman has a left hand, and just as a man has a right hand, concentration and wisdom are also like this. Unconditioned loving-kindness possesses the wisdom of correct contemplation yet takes its name from concentration; the wisdom of all species of the middle way possesses the concentration of great loving-kindness. It is designated by wisdom—how could it only be true in principle? The present text is also like this. The text says: "She will give birth to a son of blessed virtue and wisdom." These words inherently possess both dharma gates; why bother doubting the designation of "son"? The text says: "She will give birth to a daughter who is upright and handsome, possessing marks." Being upright and handsome without ugliness or depravity represents the correct contemplation of the middle way, free from the ugliness of the two extremes—this is the meaning of wisdom. Auspicious marks are the thirty-two marks planted by a mind of loving-kindness—this represents the meaning of concentration. Although possessing both, she is called a daughter. Therefore we know that if this text is interpreted as two, male and female, it represents concentration and wisdom being not dual yet dual; if interpreted as non-dual, it represents concentration and wisdom being dual yet not dual. In principle, it is truly neither dual nor non-dual; in responding to capacities, it is dual or non-dual. This is the scriptural meaning of representing the two dharma gates.