金剛經纂要刊定記 3.79

3.79

In the Commentary, regarding "5. Non-loss": "meaning by..." and below clarifies the intention. "Free from increase and decrease": grasping at existence is increase; grasping at non-existence is decrease. Previously falling into these two, one would lose the Middle Way; now, being free from both, one attains non-loss. For example, in the sūtra, "is not Buddha-dharma" is the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya) which prevents the extreme of reification (samāropa); "is called Buddha-dharma" is the conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya) which prevents the extreme of deprecation (apavāda). The rest of the occurrences of "is not" and "is called" all follow this pattern. The treatise concludes at the very end: "Because the bodhisattva is free from these two extremes, with respect to those antidotes he never again incurs loss; hence it is called 'non-loss.'"