The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Fascicle Three: The Space Element Is False and Illusory

Original text:阿难。空性无形。因色显发。如室罗城。去河遥处。诸刹利种。及婆罗门。毗舍首陀。兼颇罗堕。旃陀罗等。新立安居。凿井求水。出土一尺。于中则有。一尺虚空。如是乃至。出土一丈。中间还得。一丈虚空。虚空浅深。随出多少。此空为当。因土所出。因凿所有。无因自生。

Explanation: Ānanda, emptiness has no form or shape; it is only revealed and discovered by means of material form. For example, in Śroṇāparanta City, in places far from the river, there were people of the kṣatriya caste, as well as brahmins, vaiśyas, śūdras, Bharadvājas, caṇḍālas, and so on. When they built new houses to settle down, they dug wells to seek water. When one foot of earth was dug out of the ground, there would be one foot of emptiness in the ground; when one zhang of earth was dug out, there would be one zhang of emptiness in the ground. The depth of the emptiness was determined by how much earth was removed. Did this emptiness appear because of the earth, exist because of the digging, or arise by itself without any cause?

Original text:阿难。若复此空。无因自生。未凿土前。何不无碍。唯见大地。迥无通达。若因土出。则土出时。应见空入。若土先出无空入者。云何虚空。因土而出。若无出入。则应空土。元无异因。无异则同。则土出时。空何不出。

Explanation: Ānanda, if this emptiness arose by itself without any cause, then before the earth was dug, why was there no such emptiness? One saw only the obstruction of the great earth, with no open emptiness to be seen. If this emptiness came into being because of the earth, then when the earth came out, one should see the emptiness enter. If the earth came out first and no emptiness entered, how can it be said that the emptiness appeared because of the earth? If there was neither going out nor coming in of earth and emptiness, then there should be no difference in the causes of their arising. If there is no difference, they are the same; coming out and entering together — then when the earth went out, why did the emptiness not go out?

Original text:若因凿出。则凿出空。应非出土。不因凿出。凿自出土。云何见空。汝更审谛。谛审谛观。凿从人手。随方运转。土因地移。如是虚空。因何所出。凿空虚实。不相为用。非和非合。不应虚空。无从自出。

Explanation: If the emptiness appeared because of the digging, then since the digging produced emptiness, it should not have produced earth; if the emptiness did not appear because of the digging, and the digging only dug out earth, why was the appearance of emptiness seen? Examine and observe again with careful attention, carefully examine and carefully observe: the digging implement moves according to the direction in which the human hand turns it, and the earth goes out because the ground is moved — from what, then, did this emptiness appear? The digging implement and the emptiness are one solid and one empty; they cannot be of use to each other, nor can they combine and merge together. It should not be that the emptiness arose by itself from nowhere.

Original text:若此虚空。性圆周遍。本不动摇。当知现前。地水火风。均名五大。性真圆融。皆如来藏。本无生灭。阿难。汝心昏迷。不悟四大。元如来藏。当观虚空。为出为入。为非出入。汝元不知。如来藏中。性觉真空。性空真觉。清净本然。周遍法界。随众生心。应所知量。

Explanation: If the nature of this emptiness is perfect and pervades the entire dharmadhātu, and is fundamentally unmoving and unshaking, then you should know that it and the presently present earth, water, fire, and wind are all alike called the five great elements; their natures are true and perfectly interfused without obstruction, and all are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, fundamentally without arising or ceasing. Ānanda, your mind is benighted and deluded, and you have not awakened to the fact that the four great elements are originally the tathāgatagarbha. You should observe whether emptiness has going out and coming in, or no going out and coming in. You fundamentally do not know that within the tathāgatagarbha, the nature of awakening is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true awakening — intrinsically pure, pervading the dharmadhātu, manifesting in accordance with the minds of sentient beings and according to the measure of what they should know.

Original text:阿难。如一井空。空生一井。十方虚空。亦复如是。圆满十方。宁有方所。循业发现。世间无知。惑为因缘。及自然性。皆是识心。分别计度。但有言说。都无实义。

Explanation: Ānanda, just as when one well is dug, emptiness arises in that one well, so it is with the emptiness of the ten directions: when wells are dug in the ten directions, the emptiness of the ten directions likewise manifests. Emptiness perfectly fills the ten directions without obstruction — how could it have any direction or location? It only manifests in accordance with the karma of sentient beings. Worldly people, lacking knowledge, deludedly take it to be produced by causes and conditions, or to exist naturally by itself; all of this is merely the discriminating calculation and measuring of sentient beings' deluded consciousness mind. Whatever words and statements there may be, none of them has any real meaning.