肇論新疏 2.150

2.150

The Dapin states this, and it is also the general meaning of all sūtras: never has any single phenomenon been seen to be produced from non-conditions. "Without" means "non-." Just as water and earth are conditions for growing grain, while fire and stone are not. Now ultimate truth is like empty space, and having-knowledge is like the sprout and seed: empty space does not produce sprouts, because space is not a condition. Conditioning upon the true does not produce knowing, because the true is not a condition. The Madhyamakaśāstra states: "Not produced from non-conditions." "Without" may also be taken as non-existence in the sense of existence and non-existence, meaning one only sees all phenomena arising in reliance on conditions, and there has never been a single phenomenon produced without conditions. Now, because ultimate truth is devoid of conditioned nature, it also cannot produce the knowing of prajñā. The first fascicle of the Madhyamakaśāstra states: "As expounded by all Buddhas, the true and wondrous Dharma—in this unconditioned phenomenon, how could there be an objective condition?"