The Truly Liberated Are Not Empty

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" (aśūnya-śūnyatā); one who is "empty of emptiness" is called "possessing nothing." Possessing nothing is precisely the liberation conceived by the non-Buddhist Nirgrantha (Nirgrantha-jñātaputra) and others like them, yet the Nirgranthas in fact have no liberation, and therefore it is called "empty of emptiness." One who is truly liberated is not like this, and therefore is "not empty of emptiness." One who is "not empty of emptiness" is truly liberated, and one who is truly liberated is the Tathāgata. Furthermore, the liberated one is 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-mark; apart from it, everything consists of the illusory and unreal dharmas born from and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. In this way, the view of self and self-grasping, as well as the view of dharmas and dharma-grasping, 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 real mark of the dharma-realm—this is the liberation spoken of by the non-Buddhists, and in fact it is no 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 mark of all dharmas, and is therefore called "not empty."