大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 43.49

43.49

Regarding the Commentary's line "The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa [says] 'excluding the true characteristic of all phenomena,'" and so forth: the treatise has a simile saying: "For example, a rope can bind all things, but it only cannot bind a blaze of fire, because if it binds a blaze of fire, it is burned. Māra is also like this: he can take all phenomena as an cognitive object, but he only cannot take the true characteristic of all phenomena as an cognitive object; if he enters into the true characteristic, māra is then the true characteristic—what could he delude?" Therefore the treatise states: "The suchness of the māra realm and the suchness of the Buddha realm: the one suchness has no two suchnesses; both are the seal of the dharmadhātu. How could the seal of the dharmadhātu further destroy the seal of the dharmadhātu?" Further, fascicle eighty-two states: "When Māra sees a bodhisattva who understands prajñā, he is like a fisherman seeing a large fish enter deep, vast water, beyond the reach of hooks and nets; he then despairs and grieves, because [the bodhisattva] has departed from the net of the sixty-two views." Further, fascicle seventy-three states: "Māra assumes the form of a great śramaṇa endowed with heavy majesty and virtue, and at times tells the bodhisattva: 'The three gates of liberation of prajñā are the preaching of māra. They are merely emptiness. If you constantly practice this emptiness, whether you attain realization in it or not, how can this constitute the Buddha's Dharma? The Buddha's Dharma first practices giving, precept-keeping, and so forth, cultivating the merit of the thirty-two marks; only when sitting at the site of awakening do you then apply emptiness.' The bodhisattva may practice it, believe it, or doubt it, and depart from prajñā." In explanation: Relying on this, worldly māras are extremely numerous. Fascicle seventy-one also states: "Māra assumes the body of a spiritual friend and preaches the emptiness of prajñā; although he speaks the names of sin and merit, there is no underlying principle, or he says that emptiness can be grasped and that this is nirvāṇa." In explanation: In the previous fascicle seventy-three, Māra told him not to cultivate emptiness but to cultivate phenomenal practices; here, he preaches nihilistic emptiness to cause him to head toward [its] realization; therefore many people are deluded by it. If one attains the true characteristic of all phenomena, one neither abandons emptiness to cultivate phenomenal affairs, nor considers emptiness an obstruction to existence, nor takes emptiness as realization. Then, using the essential emptiness of prajñā to guide all practices, one cultivates without anything cultivated; thus Māra cannot cause the bodhisattva to be deluded or confused.