成唯識論述記 1.6

1.6

Sentient beings (pṛthagjana) are blinded by ignorance, producing delusions and karma, and mistakenly grasping at a self; they sink without refuge in the ocean of saṃsāra. Therefore, after the Great Compassionate One first achieved Buddhahood, he turned the wheel of the Four Noble Truths at the Ṛṣipatana Deer Park and spoke the Āgamas to eliminate the grasp of a self, causing those of lesser capacity gradually to ascend to the holy stages. Hearing the Four Noble Truths, although they severed their delusion regarding a self, they mistakenly grasped phenomena as truly existent. To eliminate their grasp of the existence of phenomena, the World-Honoured One next spoke on Vulture Peak of the emptiness of all phenomena, namely the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtras and others, causing those of middling capacity to abandon the small and advance toward the great. Hearing the World-Honoured One's intentional teaching that negates existence to smash graspings, they then negated the two truths, claiming both their nature and characteristics to be empty, taking this as the unsurpassable principle. Because these two types of holy ones mutually grasped at existence and emptiness, delusions and errors arose in contention, failing to accord with the Middle Way.