弘明集 3.20

3.20

答曰。崩城隕霜貫日入昂。不明來生之譬。非今論所宜引也。又見水火之禁異其能生七寶之鄉。猶觀大冶銷金冀其能自陶鑄終不可知也。又曰。有諦無諦。此唱居然甚安。自古千變萬化之有俄然皆已空矣。當其盛有之時。豈不常有必空之實。愚者不知其理唯見其有。答曰。如論云。當其盛有之時。已有必空之實。然則即物常空。空物為一矣。令空有未殊而賢愚異稱何哉。昔之所謂道者。於形為無形。於事為無事。恬漠冲粹養智怡神。豈獨愛欲未除宿緣是畏。唯見其有豈復是過。以此嗤齊侯。猶五十步笑百步耳。又云。舟壑潛謝。佛經所謂現在不住。誠能明之則物我常虛。

I reply: The city wall collapsing, frost falling, piercing the sun, and entering the Pleiades are not analogies that clarify future lives; they should not be cited in the present discourse. Furthermore, seeing the restraint of water and fire and marveling at the ability to be born in a realm of the seven treasures is like watching a great foundry melt metal and hoping it can cast itself—it can never be known. Furthermore, you say: 'The truth of existence and the truth of non-existence: this proclamation is distinctly at peace [with reason]. From antiquity, the existences of thousandfold transformations have, in an instant, all become void. At the time of their flourishing existence, did they not always contain the reality of inevitable voidness? The foolish do not understand this principle and only see existence.' I reply: As your discourse says, at the time of their flourishing existence, they already had the reality of inevitable voidness. In that case, things are constantly empty just as they are; the empty and things are one. Now, if emptiness and existence are not different, why should the worthy and the foolish be designated differently? What was called the Dao in the past was formless regarding form, and effortless regarding affairs; placid, vacant, harmonious, and pure, it nourished wisdom and gladdened the spirit. How could it be that only when love and desire are not yet removed, past karma is feared? How could merely seeing existence be an error? To sneer at the Marquis of Qi with this is just like retreating fifty paces and laughing at those who retreated a hundred paces. Furthermore, you say: 'The hidden departing of the boat in the ravine is what the Buddhist sūtras call "the present does not abide." If one can truly understand this, then things and self are constantly empty.'