釋摩訶衍論 3.34

3.34

The treatise says: The characteristic of alteration has two [aspects]. What are the two? The first is the characteristic of grasping; the second is the characteristic of reckoning names. Such two characteristics are strictly of the class of attachment to a person. By what meaning are these two characteristics named the characteristic of alteration? If one explains its characteristic of alteration in terms of grasping, it can take as cognitive objects all immeasurable distinct characteristics, and according to those various characteristics, the coarse discriminating consciousness can grasp them, differing from itself and becoming diverse; therefore it is named the characteristic of alteration. If one explains its characteristic of alteration in terms of names, it establishes names according to characteristics and gives rise to attachment based on those names; therefore it is named the characteristic of alteration. What is the literal meaning of the characteristic of cessation, and what are its characteristics? The verse says: