摩訶止觀 1.115

1.115

夫一說眾解，是義難明，更約《論》偈重說之。若言「因緣所生法，我說即是空」者，既言「因緣所生」，那得即空？須析因緣盡，方乃會空，呼方空為即空。「亦名假名」者，有為虛弱，勢不獨立，假眾緣成；賴緣故假，非施權之假。「亦名中道義」者，離斷常名「中道」，非「佛性中道」。若作如此解者，雖三句皆空，尚不成即空，況復即假、即中？此生滅四諦義也。

Now, that one exposition yields multiple understandings is a meaning difficult to illuminate; let us restate it once again in terms of the verse from the Treatise. If one says, "Whatever dharma is born of causes and conditions, that I explain as empty," since it says "born of causes and conditions," how could it be immediately empty? One must analyze causes and conditions to the end, and only then harmonize with emptiness, calling this directional emptiness "immediate emptiness." Regarding "it is also called a provisional designation," conditioned things are flimsy and weak, lacking the power to stand independently, and are formed by relying on multiple conditions; they are provisional because they depend on conditions, not the provisional of deploying expedients. Regarding "it is also called the meaning of the middle way," being free from annihilationism and eternalism is called the "middle way," not the "middle way of Buddha-nature." If one understands it like this, although all three lines are empty, it does not even constitute immediate emptiness, let alone immediate provisionality or immediate middle. This is the meaning of the four truths of arising and cessation.