廬山蓮宗寶鑑 2.21

2.21

空觀念佛三昧者，即祖師序云「思專想寂志一不撓、氣虛神朗無幽不徹。入斯定者昧然忘知，塵累頓消、滯情融朗。非天下至妙，孰能與於此哉？」智者大師以空觀而蕩一切法，故云一空一切空，無假無中而不空，入此觀者是審實真諦也。今欲令行人反妄歸真，故謂之從假入空觀。蓋假者是入空之詮，先觀一切法是假，乃至四大五蘊、六根六塵六識、盡十方世界山河大地皆無一物，了知虛妄而得會真，故名二諦觀。修此者先要攝心靜坐，將世間一切虛妄不實境界盡情掃蕩俱不住著，惟觀於空。故《般若經》云「內空、外空、內外空、空、空空亦不可得。」如是頓入如來寶明空海、性覺真空，即如來藏空性圓明靈光遍照法界性故，如摩尼珠隨意出生、如大溟海深廣含攝。平等性智名佛知見，可謂諸行無常一切空，即是如來大圓覺。

Regarding the emptiness-contemplation buddhānusmṛti-samādhi, as the ancestral master's preface states: "When thought is concentrated and reflection is quiescent, the resolve is unified and unswerving; the qi is void, the spirit is lucid, and there is no subtlety that is not penetrated. One who enters this absorption unconsciously forgets knowing; worldly burdens are suddenly dispelled, and stagnant sentiments melt into lucidity. Were it not the most wondrous under heaven, who could participate in this?" Great Master Zhizhe swept away all phenomena through the contemplation of emptiness, hence he said that when one is empty, all are empty, and there is neither provisional nor middle that is not empty; one who enters this contemplation investigates and verifies the real truth. Now, wishing to make practitioners turn away from delusion and return to truth, it is called the contemplation of entering emptiness from the provisional. For the provisional is the vehicle for entering emptiness: first contemplate all phenomena as provisional, up to the four elements, five aggregates, six sense faculties, six sense objects, six consciousnesses, and the mountains, rivers, and great earth throughout the ten directions of the world as completely lacking a single thing. Comprehending that they are false and unreal, one is able to unite with the real; hence it is called the contemplation of the two truths. One who cultivates this must first gather the mind and sit quietly, thoroughly sweeping away all false and unreal worldly spheres without abiding or clinging to anything, contemplating only emptiness. Therefore the Prajñā-sūtra says: "Internal emptiness, external emptiness, internal-external emptiness, emptiness, and even the emptiness of emptiness cannot be attained." In this way one suddenly enters the Tathāgata's ocean of precious, luminous emptiness, the true emptiness of nature's awakening, because the empty nature of the Tathāgatagarbha is perfectly luminous and its numinous light universally illuminates the nature of the dharmadhātu. Like a maṇi jewel, it produces things at will; like the vast ocean, it deeply and broadly encompasses all. The wisdom of equality is called the vision and knowledge of the Buddha. It may be called: 'All conditioned things are impermanent and entirely empty—this is the Tathāgata's Great Perfect Enlightenment.'"