維摩經略疏垂裕記 9.73

9.73

Second, on contemplating the true truth of sentient beings based on the five similes such as the fifth element: Regarding "Deceased of fixed nature," Jingxi says: according to those various similes, whether empty, provisional, or middle, the provisional names are intact; hence it says "does not prevent." Regarding "Like the hair of a tortoise" and so forth: although illustrating hair and horns, unlike the Tripiṭaka [teaching] which only refutes self and person, it temporarily illustrates hair and horns. In reality, hair and horns must be seen at the locus of illusion as emptiness of emptiness; hence the emptiness of the middle below is also no other object. If one does not comprehend this, drifting along with the words, one loses the emptiness of the three truths; with what could one match the simile? Regarding "There is no such principle": the sūtras have fixed numbers; the elements are only four, up to the realms being only eighteen. If one speaks of a fifth or a nineteenth, it is like saying a tortoise has hair or a hare has horns, because these are definitively non-existent.