西方合論 6.9

6.9

難曰：「佛及眾生，本無所有。如《淨名經》言：『菩薩觀于眾生，如呼聲響；如水聚沫；如芭蕉堅；如電久住；如無色界色；如焦穀芽；如得忍菩薩貪恚毀禁；如佛煩惱習；如夢所見已窹，菩薩觀眾生為若此。』是則眾生本空，菩薩種種發願利生，將無眼見空華邪？」

An objection asks: 'Buddhas and sentient beings fundamentally do not exist. As the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra says: "A bodhisattva contemplates sentient beings as an echo to a call; as foam gathered on water; as the solidity of a banana tree; as a flash of lightning lasting long; as form in the formless realm; as a sprout of scorched grain; as an unshakeable bodhisattva having greed, anger, or breaking the precepts; as a buddha's habit energies of affliction; as what was seen in a dream after awakening: a bodhisattva contemplates sentient beings like this." If so, sentient beings are fundamentally empty; are not the bodhisattva's various vows to benefit beings like eyes seeing flowers in the sky?'