金剛經纂要刊定記 1.29

1.29

Regarding "fundamentally empty": in the metaphor, it can be understood. In the Dharma, there are two meanings: first, fundamentally it is empty. The treatise says: "All dharmas have distinctions only based on delusional thoughts; if one is free from thoughts of the mind, then there are no characteristics of any objective spheres." Second, it is visibly empty in the present. Therefore, form and other dharmas are originally empty of themselves; deluded people, not knowing this, falsely grasp them as existing, yet although grasped as existing, they have never not been empty. Hence the *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā* states: "If dharmas were not empty, there would be neither path nor fruit." And again: "Because there is the principle of emptiness, all dharmas are able to be accomplished." Moreover, this single clause also resolves a doubt, fearing that people, hearing it said that the mind-nature is originally pure and further seeing the treatise say, "This mind subsumes mundane dharmas," and so forth, would then claim that it fundamentally possesses defilement and the like, so that it would be improper to speak of purity. Therefore, the lower clause explains that images and form are fundamentally empty. The meaning is that if form and the like were real, they would stain the pure mind; since form and the like are empty, on what basis could they stain the mind? Just as when a mirror manifests an unclean image, the unclean image is fundamentally empty, appearing to exist but truly absent, how could it defile it? Hence it says the mirror and mind are originally pure, and the image and form are fundamentally empty. The *Anuttarāśraya Sūtra* states: "Purity has two meanings: first, intrinsic purity, which is its universal characteristic; second, purity free from defilement, which is its particular characteristic." The *Ratnagotravibhāga* also has two meanings: first, intrinsic purity, referring to liberation through purity of nature; second, purity free from defilement, referring to liberation through the exhaustion of hindrances. The Wei translation of the *Vijñaptimātratā Treatise* states: "The mind has two kinds: first, the associated mind, namely all afflictions, sensation, perception, volition, and so forth; second, the unassociated mind, namely the supreme truth that is permanently abiding and unchanging, the intrinsically pure mind." What is clarified here is precisely the intrinsically pure and supreme-truth mind; therefore, it is said to be 'originally pure'.