肇論 1.65

1.65

The Nameless One said: "The order of being and non-being indeed leaves no dharma uncovered and no principle ununified. But what it unifies is merely saṃvṛti-satya. The sūtra says: 'What is paramārtha-satya? It is the path of nirvāṇa. What is saṃvṛti-satya? It is the dharmas of being and non-being.' Why is this? Being is being relative to non-being; non-being is non-being relative to being. Being is called 'being' because of non-being; non-being is called 'non-being' because of being. Thus, being arises from non-being, and non-being arises from being; apart from being there is no non-being, and apart from non-being there is no being. Being and non-being give birth to each other. It is like high and low inclining toward each other: where there is high, there must be low; where there is low, there must be high. Thus, though being and non-being are distinct, neither has yet escaped being. This is the source from which words and images take form, and from which right and wrong arise. How could this be used to unify the profound culmination or measure the spiritual path! Therefore, when the treatise speaks of transcending being and non-being, it is truly because the order of being and non-being stops within the six sense objects; and since within the six sense objects is not the abode of nirvāṇa, it borrows the notion of 'transcendence' to dispel them. This is in the hope that those who seek the Path may faintly discern the profound journey, entrust their feelings to the realm beyond, grasp the meaning and forget the words, and realize its state of being neither being nor non-being. How could it mean that outside being and non-being there is separately an entity that can be designated? As for what the sūtra calls the 'three asaṃskṛtas,' it is because the myriad living beings are confused and entangled, giving rise to grievous suffering; and of grievous suffering, none comes before being. To cut off the designation of being, none comes before non-being; hence it borrows non-being to clarify that it is not being. To clarify that it is not being does not mean that it is non-being."