弘明集 13.23

13.23

Whatever is born must have passions; the heavenly course brings them inevitably. If not determined toward good, one must be in evil. Therefore, one who begins to practise the Dao must certainly have a reliance. That upon which one relies must depend upon existence; what existence relies on must depend on vexations. Therefore the scripture says: 'If one wishes to build palaces and chambers in empty space, in the end one cannot succeed. Taking hold of a Buddha land is not done in emptiness.' Thus the five perfections and four immeasurables can never be abandoned. One should only engage their functional application while discarding resentful intentions. In taking refuge in the Buddha, there is no understanding separate from the Buddha; in taking refuge in the precepts, there is no merit separate from the precepts. Then dhyāna and the truths merge with the five aggregates; secondary functions exhaust together with primal contemplation. Though the host of practices are displayed together, it is truly walking in emptiness within emptiness. Some may think that if it is empty, there is no practice, and if there is practice, it is not empty—since there is something possessed, does one not lose emptiness? Emptiness is an appellation for forgetting ideation, not a term for an empty house. Non-existence is truly non-existence, but preserving non-existence stagnates in confinement; existence is truly existence, but forgetting both brings profound liberation. Thus existence and non-existence depend upon the square inch of the mind, and have no ties to external things. Though vessels and images are displayed in functional affairs, when resonance ceases, principle is profound. How could it be that one must extinguish existence before having non-existence, or step down in loss to reach the end? Speaking from this, existence is certainly not stagnation; stagnating in existence goes against the source. Turning back the current to return to the root, according with the basis, one flows freely of oneself. Therefore the bodhisattva practises deeply, unifying it all with a single thread, realizing that the ten thousand forms are ever profound. Riding whatever he lodges in, he is mysteriously at ease, grasping that the coming principle is primarily empty, and always attains it in the same realization. Awakening to the non-reflection of the four colours, he accords with the fundamental limit and together they cease. Discerning the naturalness of the manifold contemplations, therefore though he walks, he leaves no tracks. The profound scriptures of the Vaipulya always obliterate the three times, yet never say that the present is existent. Thus the purport of walking in emptiness within emptiness can be seen here.