The nature of all Tathagatas'is one; their substance is the same.


There is no such thing as true and false. They are one and the same. For the Tathagata, true and false are equally the essence of his nature. One cannot speak of true and false as separate things.

It is not correct to say that truth and falsehood exist externally, nor is it correct to say that truth and falsehood exist only in the mind. To understand this, you must first realize the emptiness of truth and falsehood. Then you must realize the negation of the emptiness of truth and falsehood. At this point, there are no more words. If you can still talk about it, then there is still an emptiness to be emptied.

You can approach emptiness from many angles. The poem mentions twenty types, but Yung-chia does not name them. Yung-chia probably derives these twenty types of emptiness from the eighteen emptinesses described in the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, which are:(1)internal emptiness;(2) external emptiness;(3)both internal and external emptiness; (4)emptiness of emptiness;(5)great emptiness;(6)ultimate emptiness;(7)emptiness of existence;(8)emptiness of non-existence; (9)limitless emptiness;(10)boundless emptiness; (11) emptiness of the undeniable;(12) emptiness of original nature;(13) emptiness of all elements of existence;(14) emptiness of form;(15) emptiness of the unobtainable;(16) emptiness of nothingness;(17) emptiness of self-nature;(18) emptiness of no self-nature.