西方合論 6.9

6.9

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?'