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 the one who expounds the Mahāyāna. Having arrived, they paid homage, reverently joined their palms, and inquired about the meaning of non-self in order to dispel their delusion: "As the Buddha has taught it, reveal it for our sake. If you say that this body has no Self, then that supreme Self likewise does not exist; for what reason, then, do there appear within the body the 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 beseech the venerable one to dispel our doubt for our sake."

The expositor of the Mahāyāna said to the Nirgranthas: "First of all, the supreme Self to which you cling is decidedly false and unreal; on what basis is it called existent, on what basis is it called non-existent — of these two, neither can be obtained. 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: "Because I use the fleshly eye, I cannot see it; another who possesses the divine eye would be able to see it."

The wise one said: "Neither can the divine eye see it; it is neither manifest color nor shape and form, and because its self-nature is empty, what is there that can be seen?"

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

The wise one said: "If it were said to be non-existent, then how does it appear? Arising from causes and conditions, the marks of weeping and laughing — to say either that they exist or that they do not exist, both are deviant and false, and not in accord with right principle."

The Nirgranthas said: "If neither existence nor non-existence can be asserted, then how does this body appear to have a place of abiding?"

The wise one said: "There is not the slightest sign to be seen of any mark that abides."

The Nirgranthas said: "If it does not abide anywhere, then is it like 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 marks of weeping and laughing to be removed?"

The wise one said: "Within this meaning, however, there are two kinds: the first is the conventional, the second is the ultimate. Speaking in dependence on the conventional, there assuredly are self, other, the living being, the man, the pudgala, the doer, the experiencer, wealth and treasure, wife and children, kinsfolk, friends and companions — distinctions such as these. Speaking in dependence on the ultimate, there assuredly are no self, other, living being, and so on down to friends and companions, nor is there the slightest mark of any distinctions.

If one speaks conventionally, there assuredly are arising and ceasing, and the fruits and retributions of good and evil; in the ultimate, there assuredly are no arising and ceasing, no fruits and retributions of good and evil. That Dharma of suchness is by its self-nature pure, without afflictions, without defilement, and without awakened cognition; from of old it is quiescent — this is called the suchness of self-nature." Restating this meaning, he spoke in verse, saying:

Because they rely upon the conventional,
There arises clinging everywhere to self and other,
Giving rise to discrimination and doubt,
And so they undergo the various sufferings and afflictions.

Departing from the faults of the conditioned,
He realizes the supreme virtue, true and eternal.
Because of this liberation,
He is in all things without defiling attachment.