說無垢稱經疏 2.136

2.136

Commentary: Below are four verses on the virtue of attaining the fruit and benefiting sentient beings. In this there are two parts: first, two verses on attaining the fruit; later, two verses on benefiting sentient beings. Under attaining the fruit there are two parts: first, one verse on the fruit of exhausting principle through what is taught; later, one verse on the fruit of exhausting truth through what is realized. This is the first text. Bhāviveka explains: "The Buddha taught that all phenomena are neither existent—'not existent' meaning empty—nor nonexistent. Dependent upon conventional truth, the characteristics of phenomena are not nonexistent; dependent upon ultimate truth, the characteristics of phenomena are not existent. As for 'all are established dependent upon causes and conditions': that which a phenomenon relies upon as a cause, that which a phenomenon relies upon as a condition—the cause is indeed the condition, hence they are called causes and conditions. Just as, for instance, the conditioned is established dependent upon the unconditioned, and the unconditioned phenomenon likewise depends upon the conditioned. The ultimate is established dependent upon the conventional, and the conventional is established dependent upon the ultimate; emptiness and existence are likewise so. That upon which there is reliance and dependence is called 'causes and conditions'. Taking cause and effect as the central thesis, that which is depended upon is the cause, and that which depends upon it is the fruit. Therefore, existence is conventional and emptiness is established in the ultimate. Because according to conventional truth there is a self that acts and experiences, whereas within ultimate truth there is no self and so forth at all, conventional truth is established as existent dependent upon the ultimate, and ultimate truth is established as empty dependent upon the conventional. Since the self and so forth were originally the false clinging of ordinary people, for the noble ones now they are established as empty in the ultimate. Although empty in the ultimate, this does not destroy conventional truth; therefore, good and evil karma, dependent upon conventional truth, are also not spoken of as nonexistent. 'Perish' (wang) is like 'nonexistent'. Or, this is spoken entirely dependent upon ultimate truth. The nature of emptiness is beyond words; what is there to be empty, what is there to be existent? Because existent and empty phenomena are all established dependent upon causes and conditions. In ultimate truth, originally there is no self and so forth; the nature of good and evil karma does not perish. Because ordinary people cling to existence and noble ones realize it to be empty, its nature is originally empty, not becoming empty only now. Saying 'also does not perish', 'not perishing' means not nonexistent. The intrinsic nature of form is empty; it is not that form becomes empty through cessation, nor does it become empty only now, hence it says 'not nonexistent'." Dharmapāla explains: "Dependent upon ultimate truth, the Buddha taught that all phenomena are neither existent nor nonexistent. 'Not existent' is emptiness, namely the imagined nature (parikalpita). 'Not nonexistent' is existence, namely the dependent (paratantra) and perfected (pariniṣpanna) natures. Why is this? Because all are established dependent upon causes and conditions. Emptiness and existence, phenomenon and principle, are established in mutual dependence; that which is depended upon is called the cause, and that which depends upon it is called the fruit, because the Buddha taught cause and effect as the central thesis. They cannot be solely empty, nor solely existent; they must be mutually dependent. The older reading 'produced' is incorrect in meaning. All nonexistent phenomena are not produced dependent upon causes and conditions; they are merely established through mutual dependence. 'Without self and so forth' reveals the not-existent phenomena; 'good and evil karma also do not perish' reveals the not-nonexistent phenomena, because the karmic conditions of saṃsāra are not nonexistent. This reveals the fruit of what is taught conforming to the principle of emptiness and existence."