大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 75.35

75.35

Under the Commentary's statement, "All the approaches above and below," is the fourth part, which applies the explanation by analogy to what precedes and follows. If one relies on Master Sengrui, his praises of the ten similes mostly elucidate the principle of emptiness. As the praise of the illusion simile says: "Illusion deludes the eyes of the foolish; / they glance about without cease, / toiling long in the worldly realm. / Fathering fathers and sons sons, / what is truly not self is taken as self, / arising from false conceptualization. / If one understands it to be like an illusion, / this mind will naturally cease." However, there are ten similes there: the water-moon and mirror-image are combined within "reflections," and there is also the simile of the gandharva city, which should be included under illusion. The praise of the gandharva city simile says: "Worldly phenomena are empty and expansive, / like that ghostly city; / spreading its shadow in the early dawn, / it manifests this metropolis. / The foolish rush toward it, / marching with the wind; / awakening only at the end of morning, / they cry out in utter destitution, losing their voices."