新華嚴經論 1.9

1.9

Regarding the third, the Prajñā teaching taking expounding emptiness to reveal the real as its tradition: The Tathāgata initially expounded the two-vehicle teachings for humans, devas, and ordinary beings, who clung to principle and phenomena as both being real and could not leave behind obstructions. For their sake, he expounded the teaching of emptiness to break their attachments. In the Prajñā sūtras, eighteen kinds of dharmas are expounded: the worldly three jewels, the four truths, the three periods of time, and all else are empty; emptiness is also empty, as expounded at length in the sūtras. This empties out the karmas of ignorance and various obstructions; when ignorance is completely exhausted and obstructing karmas are all gone, the nirvāṇa of self-nature naturally becomes manifest; this is called the tradition of true existence and non-emptiness. Although it is true existence, the Dharma gates expounded still have much emergence and cessation, and therefore cannot yet be considered perfect. As for the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, it is fully endowed with the marks and signs of the true saṃbhogakāya; it can be empty and it can be real. Within this very text and within this very chapter, the ten bodhisattvas and others from top to bottom mutually thread together; the dharmas of emptiness and existence do not proceed in isolation. Furthermore, with Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī interpenetrating, principle and phenomena thoroughly penetrating and mutually reflecting each other, in the scripture of the entire work, chapter penetrates chapter and sentence interpenetrates sentence; within the single work, all forty chapters of the sūtra enter together into a single phrase. With the simultaneous unfolding of the one hundred thousand verses, when one is established, all are established; when one is undone, all are undone; all because nature is equal and time is equal. Because equality is like that described above, the expounding of the Dharma is also equal. Because they are equal in this way, attaining buddhahood at present is equal to all buddhas of the three periods of time attaining buddhahood, because there are no three periods of time, and because there is no time; this is not like this [Prajñā] teaching, where emergence and cessation occur at different times, and cause and effect are before and after.