維摩義記 4.4

4.4

In the eighteenth [section], first, "Mingxiang (Prabhāvyūha) said" indicates the person to set up the individual statement. Below, what was said is clarified. The statement "The four elements are distinct and the space element is distinct" contrarily brings up two characteristics. Speaking of the four elements being distinct clarifies that existence is distinct from emptiness. Earth, water, fire, and wind are the four elements; these being distinct from emptiness is called distinct. Alternatively, the four great elements being individually distinct is called distinct. The space element being distinct clarifies that emptiness is distinct from existence; emptiness and existence being mutually distinct, they are therefore called "two." Below, these two are reversed to clarify non-duality. In this approach, the two phenomena sharing the same essence is called non-duality. First it explains, and then concludes. The statement "The nature of the four elements is itself the nature of space" directly explains non-duality. The four great elements have no nature, and the four great elements have no characteristics; therefore they are immediately empty. The statement "Just as the prior limit and the posterior limit are empty, so the middle limit is also empty" illustrates non-duality by analogy. The prior limit is saṃsāra, the posterior limit is nirvāṇa, and the middle is called the noble path; because the prior and posterior are empty, the middle limit is also empty; the four great elements are likewise. This explains non-duality. "If one can know the nature of the elements in this way" explains the meaning of entry. "This is..." below concludes.