華嚴一乘法界圖 1.47

1.47

Question: How are afflictions severed? Answer: As the Daśabhūmivyākhyāna says: 'It is neither the beginning, nor the middle, nor the end, because the beginning, middle, and end are grasped. How are they severed? Like empty space; thus are they severed.' Prior to being severed, it is not called severed; once currently severed onward, it is called originally severed. Just as sleeping and waking in a dream are different, therefore establishing becoming and not becoming, severing and not severing, and so forth. In its true principle, the true characteristic of all dharmas neither increases nor decreases, and is originally unmoved. Therefore the sūtra says: 'In the dharma of a bodhisattva, not a single dharma is seen to decrease; in the pure dharma, not a single dharma is seen to increase'; this is that phenomenon. Someone says: scriptural passages like these are expounded in terms of being identical to principle, not in terms of being identical to phenomena. If according to the upāya teaching gates of the Three Vehicles, this meaning is appropriate. If relying on the true teaching gate of the One Vehicle, it does not exhaust the principle. Principle and phenomena are distinct yet one without discrimination; substance and function interpenetrate, constantly in the Middle Way; outside of phenomena themselves, where could one obtain principle?