淨名玄論 6.16

6.16

Examining the Essential Tenet. Question: Why is this meaning explained? Answer: It is to establish the above meaning of success and failure. The reason why the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have success in possessing being and non-being is that being and non-being have a root. The reason why essential being and non-being are not established is that they lack a root. Question: In the second gate of being and non-being, it states, "All phenomena of apprehension are sought through the five propositions and cannot be found, and only then is the present being and non-being of causes and conditions distinguished." How does this differ from the present explanation that being and non-being arise due to non-being and non-non-being? Answer: This is an old doctrine of our mountain lineage (Sheshan). Later scholars did not recognize it and liked to confuse them with each other. The former explanation that the five propositions cannot be found is merely the meaning of 'there being that which is negated'. What is explained here, that the five propositions cannot be found, is the meaning of 'being devoid of anything existent'; hence they are not the same. Question: Since both explain that the five propositions cannot be found, how is one 'there being that which is negated' and the other 'being devoid of anything existent'? Answer: One may observe it with a careful mind. The former explanation that the five propositions cannot be found means there are no phenomena outside of principle. What is explained here, that the five propositions cannot be found, refers to the correct path; therefore, the former primarily negates what is existent, whereas the present is the being and non-being of that which is devoid of anything existent. Therefore they differ. Question: Is there a sequence between these two? Answer: One must first refute and wash away all phenomena outside of principle, demonstrating that the five propositions cannot be found, and only then can one distinguish the two truths of causes and conditions; through the two truths one is first able to express the correct path of nonduality. In terms of those who awaken and enter, there is such a sequence. If one considers it from the perspective of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas: explaining that the correct path is fundamentally neither being nor non-being, they speak of being and non-being for the sake of sentient beings, and only then are there the two truths. And these two truths cut off the five propositions of essential being and non-being, so next is explained being and non-being devoid of inherent nature. This is based on the sequence of manifesting function. Therefore, one must recognize our mountain lineage's essentials in distinguishing success and failure, which are also the heart and marrow of the sūtras and treatises.