中觀論疏 2.3

2.3

「不生亦不滅」下，第二重牒八不解釋。前已略出三種方言，但八不既是眾經大意、此論宗旨，略釋難明，廣敷乃現。以去仁壽三年三月二日，江南學士智泰來至皇朝請述所聞，遂為其委釋開為十門：一大意門、二尋本門、三得失門、四正宗門、五淺深門、六同異門、七攝法門、八次第門、九料簡門、十新通門。

Beginning with "neither arising nor ceasing", the second part takes up the eight negations again to explain them. Previously, the three vernacular translations were already briefly presented. However, since the eight negations are the great purport of the many sūtras and the central tenet of this treatise, a brief explanation makes them difficult to understand; only an extensive exposition can reveal them. On the second day of the third month in the third year of Renshou, the scholar Zhigai from south of the Yangtze came to the imperial capital and requested to hear an exposition [of this teaching]. I then provided a detailed explanation for him, opening it into ten sections: 1. the section on the general meaning; 2. the section on tracing the origin; 3. the section on benefits and defects; 4. the section on the central tenet; 5. the section on the shallow and the profound; 6. the section on similarities and differences; 7. the section on subsuming dharmas; 8. the section on the sequential order; 9. the section on critical evaluation; 10. the section on new comprehensions.