肇論新疏 3.59

3.59

This paraphrases sūtras such as the Nirvāṇa and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. The fifth fascicle of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra extensively preaches the characteristics of true liberation. In the twenty-first fascicle, it also says that 'nirvāṇa is without any characteristics.' In the Akṣobhyabuddha Chapter of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, when explaining the contemplation of the dharmatā, the text is also largely identical; citing it in detail would be overly cumbersome. The broad meaning is that the essence of nirvāṇa is itself the dharmatā of all phenomena and ultimate emptiness, cut off from names and numbers, free from all dualities, its nature originally transcendent of itself, not a matter of expedient means. The treatise is the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.