中觀論疏 7.44

7.44

"Furthermore, not apart from saṃsāra" below is the third section, a single verse that concludes that there is neither bondage nor liberation. Because saṃsāra is identical to nirvāṇa, there is no bondage; because nirvāṇa is identical to saṃsāra, there is no liberation; therefore it concludes both that there is neither bondage nor liberation. Three lines directly elucidate the Buddha's sūtras, and the next line reproves the opponent. The confused mostly claim that by severing bondage one attains liberation, and by eliminating saṃsāra one attains nirvāṇa, thereby giving rise to the two views of bondage and liberation, just as fools consider them to be two. Therefore, it is now clarified that by realizing that saṃsāra is identical to nirvāṇa, it counteracts the previous verse's failure to comprehend nirvāṇa, which conversely turned into saṃsāra. Hence the sūtra states: "Before attaining bodhi, bodhi becomes saṃsāra. If one attains bodhi, saṃsāra becomes bodhi." Question: How is saṃsāra identical to nirvāṇa? Answer: Realizing that saṃsāra is fundamentally devoid of the four extremes is precisely nirvāṇa, because nirvāṇa and saṃsāra are equally devoid of the four extremes. If discussed in terms of delusion and awakening: the noble ones awaken to saṃsāra as fundamentally devoid of the four extremes, and therefore saṃsāra is identical to nirvāṇa; ordinary persons claim that the cessation of the four extremes becomes non-cessation, and therefore nirvāṇa becomes saṃsāra.