金剛經纂要刊定記 1.57

1.57

Prajñā is wisdom; to manifest this Dharma, words were left behind to form the teaching: the teaching is literary [prajñā], and prajñā is contemplative and ultimate-reality, the two [kinds of] prajñā. Here, discussed in terms of the Buddha, both the Dharma and the teaching are comprehensively named prajñā. The intention here is: only when the Tathāgata wished to eradicate the root of the illness of sentient beings' grasping did he then expound the prajñā of the Emptiness School. Now, the teachings of the Mahāyāna are immeasurable and boundless; why is it that only prajñā is expounded here? It is because it directly shatters grasping and is the initial gateway to the Mahāyāna; if the two attachments are eliminated, the true nature reveals itself naturally, hence he expounded only this to remove their illness. Therefore the ancients said: 'The Avataṃsaka Sūtra is like the method for governing a country and medicine for nurturing one's nature; the teaching of prajñā is like a general quelling chaos and medicine for curing illness.' The two sūtras being so, the rest can be known by analogy.