宗鏡錄 80.27

80.27

答。非一非異。能契一乘之門。亦有亦無。不謗三因之性。如大涅槃經云。佛言。善男子。若有說言。一切眾生。定有佛性。常樂我淨。不作不生。煩惱因緣。故不可見。當知是人。謗佛法僧。若有說言。一切眾生。都無佛性。猶如兔角。從方便生。本無今有。已有還無。當知是人。謗佛法僧。若有說言。眾生非有如虛空。非無如兔角。何以故。虛空常故。兔角無故。是故得言。亦有亦無。有破兔角。無破虛空。如是說者。不謗三寶。

Answer: Being neither identical nor different, it can accord with the gate of the One Vehicle; being both existent and non-existent, it does not slander the nature of the three causes. As the *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra* states: “The Buddha said: ‘Good son, if anyone says that all sentient beings definitively possess the Buddha-nature—permanent, blissful, self, and pure, unmade and unarisen, and unseen only due to the conditions of kleśas—you should know that such a person slanders the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. If anyone says that all sentient beings completely lack the Buddha-nature, like a rabbit’s horns, that it arises from skillful means, originally non-existent and now existing, and once existing becoming non-existent again, you should know that such a person slanders the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. If anyone says that for sentient beings it is not existent like empty space and not non-existent like a rabbit’s horns—why? because empty space is permanent, and a rabbit’s horns are non-existent—therefore one can say it is both existent and non-existent: existence refutes the rabbit’s horns, and non-existence refutes empty space—one who speaks thus does not slander the Three Jewels.’”