金剛經纂要刊定記 1.56

1.56

The 'root of the illness' is a metaphor for attachment to phenomena. Just as a person having an illness is made restless, and just as a tree having roots can produce branches and leaves: the intended meaning is that the two attachments are like an illness, preventing sentient beings from gaining peace and joy. If one takes attachment to phenomena as the illness, the illness is itself the root—a karmadhāraya compound. If one takes attachment to self as the illness, it is the root of that illness—a tatpuruṣa compound. Here, the illness applies to both attachments, and the root is a metaphor for attachment to phenomena, because the two entities—the supported and the supporting—are different. The self is the supporting, and phenomena are the supported; because the supporting arises from the supported, the supporting is not the root; the root is restricted solely to the supported. For this reason, if an ordinary worldling has attachment to self, they necessarily also have attachment to phenomena; if a follower of the two vehicles has attachment to phenomena, they do not necessarily possess attachment to self. Furthermore, if a follower of the two vehicles has no attachment to self, they do not necessarily lack attachment to phenomena; if a bodhisattva has no attachment to phenomena, they necessarily have no attachment to self. This is just like mistaking a tree stump before one can mistake it for a person.