萬善同歸集 1.31

1.31

答：「名字性空，皆唯實相，但從緣起，不落有無。《法句經》云：『佛告寶明菩薩：「汝且觀是諸佛名字，若是有，說食與人，應得充飢；若名字無者，定光如來不授我記，及於汝名如無授者，我不應得佛。當知字句其已久如，以我如故，備顯諸法，名字性空，不在有無。」』《華嚴經》云：『譬如諸法不分別自性，不分別音聲，而自性不捨，名字不滅；菩薩亦復如是，不捨於行，隨世所作，而於此二無執著。』是以不動實際，建立行門；不壞假名，圓通自性。」

Answer: "The nature of names is empty, and they are all solely dharmatā; they only arise from conditions and do not fall into existence or non-existence. The Dharmapada Sūtra says: 'The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Baoming: "Just observe the names of these Buddhas: if they exist, then speaking of food to a person should satisfy his hunger; if names do not exist, the Tathāgata Dīpaṃkara would not have conferred a prophecy upon me, and regarding your name, if none had been conferred, I should not have attained Buddhahood. You should know that words and phrases have already been such for a long time; because of my suchness, they fully manifest all dharmas. The nature of names is empty, not residing in existence or non-existence."' The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'Just as all dharmas do not discriminate their own natures, nor do they discriminate sounds, yet their own natures are not abandoned and their names are not extinguished; a bodhisattva is also like this: he does not abandon practices, conforms with what is done in the world, yet has no clinging to either of these.' Therefore, without moving from bhūta-koṭi, one establishes the gates of practice; without destroying nominal designations, one completely penetrates the self-nature."