Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (61)

The self-nature of the eye faculty is empty by nature

Original text: 大王。如是眼处。各各寻求。皆不可得。所以者何。地界空故。则地界清净。乃至风界空故。则风界清净。若诸法自性本空。则彼界何有清净。亦无忿诤。若净若诤。皆不可得。复有何色。而可见耶。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, such an eye base, when sought after from every aspect, cannot be found—it is utterly unobtainable. Why is it unobtainable? Because the earth element is empty, the earth element is pure; and even so, because the water element, fire element, and wind element are empty, the water element, fire element, and wind element are pure, with not a single dharma existing. If all dharmas are empty by self-nature, then there is no such thing as purity in those elements, nor any such thing as defilement, resentment, and dispute—the purity and defilement of all dharmas are both unobtainable. Then what form could be obtained? All material forms are unobtainable.

No matter how we seek the eye faculty, it is unobtainable; its nature is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and its appearance is bestowed by the tathāgatagarbha—it is illusory and transformed, and its appearance is unobtainable. As for the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind that compose the eye faculty, their appearance is empty, and their nature is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, which is also empty. Because it is empty, the four great elements are pure; because the four great elements are pure, the eye faculty is pure. Because the self-nature of the eye faculty is empty, there is also no appearance of purity or impurity; its appearance is utterly unobtainable, and its pure nature and defiled nature are also utterly unobtainable. The self-nature of the eye faculty is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha; it has no self-nature of its own and is also empty.

Seeking the earth nature within the eye base, it is unobtainable. The earth nature itself is empty, without form or appearance—a formless seed, utterly unobtainable; the eye faculty formed from it is also utterly unobtainable. Then the natures of the water element, fire element, and wind element are all empty, without form or appearance; the natures of the four great elements are unobtainable and empty, and the eye faculty formed from them is also empty and utterly unobtainable. Then, seeking the self-nature of the eye faculty, it cannot be found, because the eye faculty has no self-nature.

The Buddha said that all dharmas are empty by self-nature; therefore the eye faculty, as a dharma, is empty by self-nature from the very beginning—empty coming and empty going, possessing nothing. After the eye faculty arises, it will also cease and become nothing at all; it has neither a place of coming nor a place of going, and is itself empty. The earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element are all empty by nature, so the self-nature of the eye faculty formed from them is empty; there is also no such thing as the eye element being pure or impure—neither purity nor defilement exists, neither good nor bad exists, because it is itself empty; one cannot say whether it is pure or not, or whether there is dispute or not.