On the raised platform, after the two monks completed the ritual, they looked at each other.
For this first debate, neither side had sent out any true expert. Their cultivation hovered around the Breath-Refining realm.
The Lotus Temple monk was named Qiongda. Wearing a yellow vestment, he suddenly clapped his hands, producing a resounding crack. "The inherent nature of all dharmas is empty, like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows!"
Lobsang of the Horse-Head Vajra Temple stamped his foot, as though a vajra pestle had struck the earth, and shouted, "If the inherent nature of all dharmas is empty, then dare I ask where you came from? If you were originally empty, why are you still standing here?"
Qiongda immediately replied, "A person, as a thing, is inherently empty. He is merely a provisional name established by the gathering of causes and conditions... If one forcibly calls him a 'dog,' then he is no more than a wild dog by the roadside. If one forcibly calls him a 'cow,' then he is livestock..."
Lobsang immediately struck a demon-subduing pose. "Then is Causality and retribution empty as well? Was what the Buddha said of Causality and its consequences also false?"
Qiongda's face went pale. He staggered back several steps, seemingly cowed by the force of Lobsang's presence. "Emptiness is not annihilating emptiness, but the emptiness of dependent origination. It is precisely because all dharmas lack inherent nature that they flow and transform according to causes and conditions, while Causality's retribution never errs in the slightest. If they possessed inherent nature, they would be fixed and unchanging. Doing good would not bring good fruit, nor would evil deeds incur evil retribution..."
Lobsang clapped and shouted, "Then is Buddha-nature empty as well? The Nirvana Sutra says, 'All sentient beings possess Buddha-nature.' If Buddha-nature is