高僧傳 6.84

6.84

Later, Zhao also composed the Treatises on Emptiness of the Non-Absolute (Buzhenkong lun), on Things Do Not Shift (Wu buqian lun), and others, as well as commentaries on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa and prefaces to various sūtras and treatises, all of which circulated in the world. After Kumārajīva passed away, mourning his eternal departure and longing for him with ever greater intensity, Zhao composed the Treatise on the Namelessness of Nirvāṇa (Niepan wuming lun). Its text says: "The sūtras speak of nirvāṇa with remainder and without remainder. Nirvāṇa, in the language of Qin, is 'unconditioned' (wuwei), and is also called 'extinction and deliverance' (miedu). 'Unconditioned' takes its sense from empty nothingness and quietude, being subtly transcendent over the conditioned. 'Extinction and deliverance' refers to the eternal extinction of the great affliction and crossing beyond the four currents. This is that to which images in a mirror return, the profound dwelling where designations are severed. As for speaking of 'with remainder' and 'without remainder,' these are merely different designations for emerging or withdrawing, provisional names adapted to things. Let me attempt to speak of it: As a way, nirvāṇa is silent, void, and vast, and cannot be grasped by form or name; subtle, wondrous, and markless, it cannot be known with an intentional mind. Transcending all existence, it ascends obscurely; measuring Great Emptiness, it endures forever. Following it, one cannot find its tracks; greeting it, one cannot gaze upon its head. The six destinies cannot encompass its birth, and the forces of change have nothing by which to alter its body. Dim and indistinct, it is as if present, as if gone. The five eyes cannot behold its form, the two hearings cannot perceive its sound. Dark and obscure, who can see it? Who can understand it? Pervasive and all-embracing, there is nowhere it is not present, yet it alone trails beyond existence and non-existence. Thus, he who speaks of it loses its reality; he who [claims to] know it reverts to folly; he who takes it as existent violates its nature; he who takes it as non-existent harms its body. For this reason, Śākyamuni sealed his chamber in Magadha, and Vimalakīrti closed his mouth in Vaiśālī. Subhūti proclaimed that there is no preaching so as to manifest the Way, and Śakra and Brahmā ceased listening and rained down flowers. In all these cases, principle guided the spirit, and so their mouths remained sealed in silence. How could one say they had no eloquence? They were eloquent about that which cannot be spoken. A sūtra says: 'True liberation is separated from words and numbers. In quiescent extinction it is eternally secure, without end and without beginning, neither dark nor bright, neither cold nor hot, clear as empty space, without name and without realization.' A treatise says: 'Nirvāṇa is neither existent nor non-existent. The path of language is cut off; the place of mental activity is extinguished.' When we examine the composition of the sūtras and treatises, how could they be mere fabrications? There indeed is that by which it is not existent, and so it cannot be apprehended as existent; there is that by which it is not non-existent, and so it cannot be apprehended as non-existent. Why is this? If one traces it to the realm of existence, the five skandhas are eternally extinguished; if one infers it to the realm of non-existence, the subtle spirit is inexhaustible. Because the subtle spirit is inexhaustible, it embraces the One in tranquil clarity; because the five skandhas are eternally extinguished, the ten thousand burdens are entirely cast off. Because the ten thousand burdens are entirely cast off, it merges in unity with the Way; because it embraces the One in tranquil clarity, it is divine yet without contrivance. Because it is divine yet without contrivance, ultimate efficacy is ever present; because it merges in unity with the Way, it is empty yet unchanging. Being empty yet unchanging, it cannot be deemed existent; ultimate efficacy being ever present, it cannot be deemed non-existent. Thus, existence and non-existence are cut off within, and appellations sink away without; it is that which sight and hearing do not reach, and that where the four formless absorptions are dim and benighted. Tranquil and serene, placid and grand, here the nine streams converge, and here all the sages meet in obscurity. This is indeed the realm of the subtle and indistinct, the homeland of the Great Mystery. Yet to attempt to post signs of existence and non-existence over its domains and speak of its divine way—is that not far wide of the mark?" Thereafter followed the "Ten Expositions and Nine Refutations," totaling several thousand words, which are too extensive to record here.