出三藏記集 11.8

11.8

夫萬化非無宗。而宗之者無相。虛宗非無契。而契之者無心。故至人以無心之妙慧。而契彼無相之虛宗。內外並冥緣智俱寂。豈容名數於其間哉。但以悕玄之質趣必有由。非名無以領數。非數無以擬宗。故遂設名而名之。立數而辯之。然則名數之生。生於累者可以造極而非其極。苟曰非極復何常之有耶。是故如來始逮真覺。應物接麁啟之以有。後為大乘乃說空法。化適當時所悟不二。流至末葉象教之中。人根膚淺道識不明。遂廢魚守筌存指忘月。覩空教便謂罪福俱泯聞相說則謂之為真。是使有無交興生滅迭爭。斷常諸邊紛然競起。時有大士。厥號龍樹。爰託海宮逮無生忍。意在傍宗載隆遺教。故作論以折中。其立論意也。則無言不窮。無法不盡。然統其要歸則會通二諦。以真諦故無有。俗諦故無無。真故無有則雖無而有。俗故無無則雖有而無。雖有而無則不累於有。雖無而有則不滯於無。不滯於無則斷滅見息。不存於有則常等氷消。寂此諸邊。故名曰中。問答析微。所以為論。是作者之大意也。亦云中觀。直以觀辯於心論宣於口耳（羅什法師以秦弘始十一年於大寺出）。

Now, the myriad transformations are not without a source, yet that which sources them is without mark. The empty source is not without an accordance, yet that which accords with it is without mind. Therefore, the consummate person, by means of the wondrous wisdom of no-mind, accords with that empty source of no-mark. Inner and outer are both obscured; conditions and cognition are alike quiescent. How could names and numbers find room therein? Yet, as the substance of those who aspire to the profound must have a course whereby to proceed, without names there is no means to grasp the numbers, and without numbers there is no means to model the source. Thus names were established to name it, and numbers were instituted to discriminate it. This being so, the arising of names and numbers arises from entanglements whereby one may approach the utmost, yet they are not the utmost itself. If indeed they are not the utmost, what permanence could they possess? For this reason, when the Tathāgata first attained true awakening, responding to beings and receiving the coarse, he opened it to them with existence; later, for the sake of the Great Vehicle, he taught the dharmas of emptiness. The teachings suited the occasions, and what was realized was non-dual. Coming down to the final age within the semblance teaching, people's faculties became superficial and their understanding of the Way grew dim. They ultimately discarded the fish and kept the trap, preserved the finger and forgot the moon: beholding the teaching of emptiness, they immediately claimed that sin and merit are both extinguished; hearing the explanation of marks, they immediately took them to be real. This caused existence and non-existence to arise in conflict, and arising and ceasing to contend by turns, so that the various extremes of annihilation and permanence sprang up in turmoil. At that time there was a great being whose name was Nāgārjuna. Entrusting himself to the ocean palace, he attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. Intent on aiding the ancestral teaching and uplifting the bequeathed doctrine, he composed a treatise to determine the mean. As for his intention in establishing the treatise, there is no word it does not probe to the limit, and no dharma it does not exhaust. Yet gathering its essential import, it synthesizes the two truths: because of the ultimate truth, there is no existence; because of the conventional truth, there is no non-existence. Because it is ultimate, there is no existence—hence though non-existent, it exists; because it is conventional, there is no non-existence—hence though existent, it is non-existent. Though existent, it is non-existent, and thus not entangled in existence; though non-existent, it exists, and thus not stranded in non-existence. Not stranded in non-existence, views of annihilation cease; not abiding in existence, permanence and the like melt away like ice. Quieting these various extremes—therefore it is named "Middle". Analyzing the subtle through questions and answers—this is why it is called a "treatise". Such was the overarching intent of the author. It is also called "Madhyamaka-darśana" (Middle Contemplation), merely because contemplation is discerned in the mind, while treatise is proclaimed by the mouth. (Master Kumārajīva produced it at the Great Monastery in the eleventh year of the Hongshi era of the Qin).