After the Formless Tribulation was overcome, peace and tranquility returned to Jeta Grove. A beam of light descended, and Youtan Poluo appeared before Yu with Shikaku and Tobi.
Lotuses of every color bloomed around Yu, setting off the faint Ever-Still Light behind his head.
Youtan Poluo asked meaningfully, "How do you feel?"
Yu described the ineffable wonder. "I thought overcoming attachment would turn me into someone else, but in fact, I'm still me. I've simply gained a measure of composure and transcendence..."
This was precisely what ordinary people disliked. They believed that being free of attachment meant standing in opposition to attachment, unaware that an exceedingly hard-to-detect layer of attachment lurked behind that very freedom. That was the "dharma obstacle"!
To transcend attachment, transcend nonattachment, and transcend all dualistic oppositions was the "emptiness" taught by the Buddha.
The wonders of emptiness and the affinities of emptiness led practitioners to become attached to so-called "emptiness," and thus they fell into "attachment to emptiness." To be empty without clinging to emptiness was ultimate emptiness.
Thus, when faced with the same matter, one should neither cling to doing it nor cling to not doing it... But should one do it or not? Once you transcended both, your true heart would give you the answer. You would still do what needed doing, but your motives and starting point would no longer be desire, profit, or even the convictions people praised... Instead, they would be something that would not fade with the passage of time and space.
That was "emptiness wisdom"!
Youtan Poluo continued, "Basara also passed the Formless Tribulation, so why could you shake him with just a few words? I imagine you have an answer to that question now."
Yu looked thoughtful. "He said he had dispelled the notions of self, person, sentient