維摩經略疏 7.23

7.23

"He further asked... 'therefore it is empty.'" This is the third round of question and answer. The reason he further asks, "What use is emptiness for being empty?" is: if phenomena are originally empty by themselves, why wait for cultivation to make them empty? If they are empty because of cultivating emptiness, then their original nature is not empty. Furthermore, if one contemplates the portioned [realm] entering emptiness from the provisional, emptiness is the true truth; why must it be emptied further? If it must be emptied further, one should know that it exists. Hence he asks what use emptiness is for being empty.