True Liberation Is Not Empty Emptiness

Original text of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: 解脫者名不空空。空空者名無所有。無所有者。即是外道尼乾子等所計解脫。而是尼乾。實無解脫。故名空空。真解脫者。則不如是。故不空空。不空空者真解脫。真解脫者。即是如來。又解脫者。名曰不空。

Explanation: One who is liberated is called "not empty of emptiness" (不空空). One who is "empty of emptiness" is called one who possesses nothing. Possessing nothing is precisely the liberation conceived by the non-Buddhist Nirgrantha-Jñātaputra and others like him; yet in reality, the Nirgrantha has no liberation at all—this is why it is called "empty of emptiness." One who is truly liberated is not like this; therefore it is called "not empty of emptiness." One who is "not empty of emptiness" is truly liberated, and one who is truly liberated is the Tathāgata. Furthermore, liberation is also called "not empty."

In the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, this "not empty of emptiness" refers to the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. One who has thoroughly and ultimately realized the tathāgatagarbha is the greatest of the liberated. Why is this said? One who has ultimately and thoroughly realized the tathāgatagarbha knows that only the tathāgatagarbha is the true dharma-reality; apart from it, everything is unreal and illusory dharma, generated and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. In this way, the self-view and self-grasping, the view of dharmas and grasping at dharmas, are all broken through and extinguished, and one is liberated from the bondage of all worldly dharmas. This is the ultimate and thorough liberation, far surpassing the non-ultimate, temporary liberation of the Small Vehicle—higher than emptiness, higher than "empty of emptiness," and higher than the non-Buddhists.

One who has realized "empty of emptiness" has realized that all dharmas possess nothing. If one believes that nothing exists—not even the tathāgatagarbha, the true reality of the dharma-realm—this is the liberation spoken of by the non-Buddhists, which in fact is not liberation at all. One who is truly liberated does not hold such views; therefore one who is truly liberated is one who is "not empty of emptiness," and such a person is the Tathāgata. The Tathāgata has realized the true reality of all dharmas, and this is called "not empty."