Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas Do Not Perceive Paramārtha-śūnyatā

Original text from the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: The Middle Way is called Buddha-nature. For this reason, Buddha-nature is eternal and unchanging, without variation. Due to the obscuration of ignorance, sentient beings are unable to perceive it. Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas perceive the emptiness of all phenomena but not the non-emptiness. Moreover, they perceive the absence of self in all phenomena but fail to perceive the true self. For this reason, they fail to realize the ultimate emptiness. Because they fail to realize the ultimate emptiness, they do not practice the Middle Way. Without the Middle Way, they do not perceive Buddha-nature.

Explanation: The Middle Way is called Buddha-nature; therefore, it is said that Buddha-nature is eternal and unchanging. Due to the obscuration of ignorance covering the mind’s eye, sentient beings are unable to perceive Buddha-nature. The practice of Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas remains confined within the phenomenal realm and does not transcend it. Thus, they only perceive the emptiness of all phenomena within the phenomenal realm but fail to perceive the non-emptiness of Buddha-nature beyond the phenomenal realm. Furthermore, Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas perceive the absence of self in all phenomena within the phenomenal realm but fail to perceive the Buddha-nature self beyond the phenomenal realm. Consequently, they cannot realize the ultimate emptiness. Because they fail to realize the ultimate emptiness, they do not walk the Middle Way. Without the Middle Way, they do not perceive the Buddha-nature of the Middle Way.

The Middle Way nature of Buddha-nature can be referenced in the Middle Way nature of the Tathāgatagarbha as explained by the Buddha in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. Both Tathāgatagarbha and Buddha-nature are dharmas, truly existent, with their essence being non-empty while their nature is empty. Sentient beings, due to ignorance, cling to the phenomenal dharmas of the conventional realm and lack the wisdom to investigate the true dharmas behind the phenomenal realm, thus failing to realize Tathāgatagarbha and Buddha-nature.

Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas also possess the ignorance regarding Mahāyāna dharmas and similarly fail to investigate the true dharmas behind the phenomenal realm, thus unable to empirically realize Tathāgatagarbha and Buddha-nature. They perceive only the emptiness of the phenomenal realm but not the non-emptiness of the true dharmas behind it. They do not understand that it is precisely because of the ultimate non-emptiness of the true dharmas that the emptiness of the phenomenal realm can exist. Consequently, their practice leans toward emptiness and lacks the Middle Way. That true dharma is the fundamental essence of sentient beings, their original face—that is, the true self of sentient beings. From this true self arises the false self of the five-aggregate world, yet this false self is not the true self. Therefore, the emptiness realized by Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas is not ultimate and thus not the Middle Way; it is deviant, leaning toward pure emptiness, where emptiness and existence cannot be perfectly harmonized.