廬山蓮宗寶鑑 2.21

2.21

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.'"