[T]he hundred dharma realms and thousand suchlike characteristics are very numerous and interpenetrating, but through [examining] verses in the Sūtras and Sastras we can organize them so that they are easily understood.

The Mūlamadhyamakakārika verse [24:18] says, “All things which arise through conditioned co-arising I explain as emptiness. Again, it is a conventional designation. Again, it is the meaning of the middle way.”²³⁴ The appearance, nature [and so forth] of those of the six destinies [from hell to heaven] are the “things which arise through conditioned co-arising.” The appearance, nature [and so forth] of those of the two vehicles and the bodhisattva of the Shared Teaching are the referent for “I explain as emptiness.” The appearances, nature [and so forth] of the bodhisattva of the six pāramitā [i.e., the Tripiṭaka bodhisattva] and of the Distinct Teaching are the referent of “Again, it is a conventional designation.”²³⁵ The appearances, nature [and so forth] of the Buddha realm is the referent for “Again, it is the meaning of the middle way.”

The essentials, when organized [in this way in this verse], appear to be concise, but if the many teachings given previously are understood, they should be perceived as [fitting together] in this way.

234

From the Mūlamadhyamakakārika, T. 30, 33b11-12. return

235. Because they return to this world of conventional existence for the purpose of saving sentient beings.