肇論新疏 3.182

3.182

'Mother of transformation' refers to the Dao, and also to qi. From 'in principle' downward, inferring according to principle, it matters not whether it is hidden or manifest. Between the two paths, things may be vast and grand, strange and unusual, deceptive and fraudulent, wondrous and monstrous—with many kinds of beauty and ugliness, and myriads of forms large and small—none of them is not existence. Since they exist by depending on non-existence, they must inevitably turn from existence into non-existence; thousands of forms and myriads of states all enter into non-existence. From 'that being so' downward directly clarifies universal subsumption. The phrase 'the vast, the strange' uses the text of the Zhuangzi. All of the above are discussed in Confucianism and Laozi; He Yan, Wang Bi, and various scholars each expounded on this, which was called 'pure conversation' (qingtan); these matters are recorded in the Comprehensive Mirror and other books. Therefore, the author of the treatise now poses a hypothetical question to dispel it.