須菩提 汝若作是念 如來不以具足相故 得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 須菩提 莫作是念 如來不以具足相故 得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 須菩提 汝若作是念 發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心者 說諸法斷滅 莫作是念 何以故 發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心者 於法不說斷滅相
xū pú tí rǔ ruò zuò shì niàn rú lái bù yǐ jù zú xiāng gù dé ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí xū pú tí mò zuò shì niàn rú lái bù yǐ jù zú xiāng gù dé ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí xū pú tí rǔ ruò zuò shì niàn fā ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí xīn zhě shuō zhū fǎ duàn miè mò zuò shì niàn hé yǐ gù fā ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí xīn zhě yú fǎ bù shuō duàn miè xiāng
Key Message
Emptiness is not nihilism. The teaching of no fixed essence does not mean that all is cut off and annihilated — conditioned arising, compassion, and the path continue to operate.
▸Section 27 functions as an important corrective safeguard.
Section 27 functions as an important corrective safeguard. Having insisted in the previous section that the Tathāgata cannot be seen through form or sound, the Buddha now anticipates a dangerous misreading: 'If the Tathāgata did not attain awakening through perfect marks — then perhaps awakening belongs to a formless void, and all dharmas are simply cut off and annihilated.' The Buddha warns against this conclusion on two fronts. First: do not suppose that the Tathāgata attained awakening because of the absence of perfect marks — neither the presence of marks nor the absence of marks is the determining factor. Second: do not suppose that one who arouses the mind of awakening teaches that all dharmas are cut off and destroyed (斷滅, duànmiè). One who has genuinely aroused the mind of awakening does not teach the mark of annihilation (斷滅相, duànmiè xiāng) with respect to dharmas. Emptiness is not nothingness. The absence of fixed inherent existence does not mean the absence of conditioned arising, of compassion, of merit, or of the path.