尼乾子問無我義經

At that time, the Nirgranthas, harboring divergent views in their minds and giving rise to doubt and perplexity, came seeking out the one who expounds the Mahāyāna. Having arrived, they paid homage and, reverently joining their palms, asked about the meaning of non-self in order to dispel their ignorance and delusion: "As the Buddha has taught, expound it for us. If it is said that this body has no Self, then that supreme Self likewise does not exist; for what reason, then, do there appear in the body these various activities—weeping, laughing, sporting, wrath, conceit, jealousy, and double-tongued speech? Whether it exists or does not exist cannot be clearly determined; we only pray that the venerable one would, for our sake, dispel this doubt."

The expounder of the Mahāyāna said to the Nirgranthas: "First of all, the supreme Self to which you cling is definitely false and illusory; on what grounds may it be called existent, and on what grounds may it be called non-existent—in both of these, nothing can be established. If you take hair, nails, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, fat, marrow, bladder, stomach, hands, feet—all the limbs and parts of the body—to be the supreme Self, then, searching within and without, what is there that can be seen?"

At that time, the Nirgranthas said to the wise one: "It is because I use the fleshly eye that I cannot see it; but another who possesses the divine eye would be able to see it."

The wise one said: "It is not by the divine eye either that it can be seen; for it is neither a manifest color nor a shape, and since its self-nature is empty, what is there that can be seen?"

The Nirgranthas said: "Then is it definitively non-existent?"

The wise one said: "If it were said to be non-existent, how then would it appear and be seen? Arising from causes and conditions, the characteristics of weeping and laughing—whether one says they exist or says they do not exist—both are deviant and false, and not the correct principle."

The Nirgranthas said: "If it can be said neither to exist nor not to exist, then how does this body manifestly have a place of abiding?"

The wise one said: "There is not the slightest characteristic of abiding to be seen."

The Nirgranthas said: "If there is no abiding, then is it the same as empty space?"

The wise one said: "It is as you have said; for it is like empty space."

The Nirgranthas said: "If so, then how are the characteristics of weeping and laughing to be removed?"

The wise one said: "Within this meaning there are two kinds: the first is the conventional, the second is the ultimate. Speaking in reliance on the conventional, there certainly are: self, other, the living being, the man, the pudgala, the agent, the experiencer, wealth and treasure, wife and children, kinsmen, friends and companions—and such distinctions as these. Speaking in reliance on the ultimate, there are certainly no self, other, living being, and so forth down to friends and companions; nor is there the slightest of these various distinctions.

If one speaks conventionally, then there certainly are arising and ceasing, and the fruits and retributions of good and evil; within the ultimate, there are certainly no arising and ceasing, and no fruits and retributions of good and evil. That Dharma of suchness is by its self-nature pure, without afflictions, without defilement, and also without awareness and cognition—from of old it is tranquil and still. This is called the suchness of self-nature." Stating this meaning again, he spoke in verse, saying:

Because they rely on the conventional,
They give rise to clinging everywhere to self and other,
Arousing discrimination and doubt,
And so undergo all manner of suffering and distress.

Neither rigid nor soft and supple,
Neither hot nor cold,
Without contact and without grasping and feeling—
This is the characteristic of the mind of bodhi;

Departing from the errors of the conditioned,
One realizes the supreme virtue of the true and constant.
Because of this liberation,
One is wholly without defilement and attachment.

At that time the heterodox ones,
Having heard this, gave rise to joy and delight,
Skillfully contemplated and dispelled their doubts,
And awakened to the wisdom of the Mahāyāna.