二諦義 3.33

3.33

Next, explaining the sixth topic: the meaning of the two truths subsuming phenomena. Regarding this meaning, the two masters Kaishan and Zhuangyan explained it differently. Kaishan said: The two truths subsume phenomena exhaustively; from saṃsāra below up to the ultimate nirvāṇa above, whatever is reached by names and marks is entirely conventional truth. That these very names and marks in their essence are ungraspable is the ultimate truth. For this reason, the two truths subsume phenomena exhaustively. Furthermore, he explained that both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are empty and provisional, and therefore are conventional truth. Since they are empty and provisional, their very emptiness can be considered the ultimate truth. Therefore, all phenomena do not go beyond the two truths. He cited the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā, which says: 'The Buddha and his disciples know that outside the Dharma-nature there are no further phenomena.' The Dharma-nature is still the ultimate truth; since the Dharma-nature subsumes phenomena exhaustively, the ultimate truth subsumes phenomena exhaustively. He also cited the 'Chapter on Illusion-like Hearing' of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā, where Subhūti asks: 'If saṃsāra is like an illusion and like a dream, is nirvāṇa also like an illusion and like a dream?' The Buddha answered: 'Saṃsāra is like an illusion and like a dream, and nirvāṇa is also like an illusion and like a dream. Even if there were a phenomenon surpassing nirvāṇa, I would also say it is like an illusion and like a dream.' Since nirvāṇa is an illusion and a dream, nirvāṇa is empty and provisional; because it is empty and provisional, it is conventional truth; and that the empty and provisional is itself empty is the ultimate truth.