法界次第初門 3.40

3.40

次九種禪而辯十八空者，前九種正為重顯禪波羅蜜深廣之階級；今十八空次成般若波羅蜜，智慧照了無得無著之妙絕也，故次而明之。此十八通言空者，無也。無此十八種有，故名為空。若菩薩始從初修自性禪，終至清淨淨禪，雖有大功德神通智慧之用，而禪定是門戶詮次階級之法，若不善以十八空慧照了遣蕩，或於所證諸禪三昧中，十八有法隨滯一有，則不得無礙解脫、縱任自在，故須修十八空，照了無住無著也。經論明空，開合名數不同，或以略故，合十八空但為十四空，或為十一空、或為七空，乃至三空、二空、一空；或以廣故，開十八空為二十空、二十五空，乃至無量空。今處中用十八空遣蕩諸有，罄無不盡，則諸波羅蜜禪定三昧萬行悉皆清淨也。

Explaining the eighteen modes of emptiness next after the nine kinds of dhyāna is because the former nine kinds serve precisely to illustrate further the stages of the profound and vast pāramitā of dhyāna; now the eighteen modes of emptiness sequentially accomplish the prajñāpāramitā, the wondrous excellence of wisdom illuminating and understanding without apprehension and without attachment, hence they are clarified next. In these eighteen, what is generally called 'emptiness' means 'non-existence.' Because these eighteen kinds of existence are non-existent, it is called 'emptiness.' If a bodhisattva, beginning from the initial practice of self-nature dhyāna through to the pure and pristine dhyāna, although having the functions of great merit, superknowledges, and wisdom, yet dhyāna-concentration is a teaching of portals, gradations, and stages; if one does not skillfully illuminate and disperse them with the wisdom of the eighteen modes of emptiness, one might, within the various dhyānas and samādhis realized, become stuck in any one among the eighteen existent dharmas, and then would not attain unhindered liberation and unrestrained autonomy. Therefore, one must cultivate the eighteen modes of emptiness, illuminating and understanding without abiding and without attachment. When sūtras and treatises explain emptiness, their expansion, contraction, names, and numbers differ: sometimes for brevity, the eighteen modes of emptiness are combined into only fourteen, or into eleven, or into seven, down to three, two, or one; sometimes for breadth, the eighteen modes of emptiness are expanded into twenty, twenty-five, down to immeasurable modes of emptiness. Here, using the eighteen modes of emptiness in a middle manner to dispel all forms of existence completely, with none remaining, all pāramitās, dhyāna-concentrations, samādhis, and ten thousand practices are entirely purified.