"Kasyapa, to one who has the true insight, things are empty, not
because one contemplates them as empty; they are empty by nature.
Things are signless, not because on contemplates them as signless;
they are signless in themselves. Things are unsought, not because
one contemplates them as unsought; they are unsought in themselves.
Things are devoid of origination, arising, entity, and self-nature;
they are impossible to grasp, not because one contemplates them as
such; they are so in themselves. This understanding is called the
true insight.
"Furthermore, Kasyapa, personal identity is empty, not becuase
on thinks there is no personal identity; it is empty in itself. It
was empty in the past; it will be empty in the future; and it is
empty at present. Therefore, one should rely on emptiness, not on
personal identity.
"However, if one thinks that he has realized and becomes
attached to emptiness, then he regresses in the pursuit of the
Buddha-Dharma. Thus, Kasyapa, it is better for one to take a view
of the self as massive as Mount Sumeru than to take a view of
emptiness and become arrogant. Why? Because all views can be
eliminated by emptiness, but if one gives rise to the view of
emptiness, there is no way to do away with it.
.............
"When a lamp is lit, the darkness completely vanishes. The
darkness goes nowhere, just as it comes from nowehere - it does not
go to or come from the east, the south, the west, the north, the
four intermediate directions, the zenith, or the nadir.
Furthermore, the lamplight does not think, "I can dispel darkness,"
though it is because of the light that the darkness vanished. Both
light and darkness are empty, inert, and impossible to grasp.
Similarly, Kasyapa, once true wisdom arises, ignorance ends. Both
wisdom and ignorance are empty, inert, and impossible to grasp.
- The Sutra of Assembled Treasures