金剛經纂要刊定記 6.111

6.111

Next, inquiring into whether they generate faith or not, in order to explain. The sūtra says: "Why is this? Subhūti! As for sentient beings, sentient beings, the Tathāgata has explained that they are not sentient beings; they are named sentient beings." "Why is this?" is the inquiry: on what grounds does he say that they are not sentient beings, yet are named sentient beings? "Subhūti! As for sentient beings, sentient beings" is the repetition of the topic. As for speaking of them as sentient beings among non-sentient beings, the Tathāgata has explained that they are not sentient beings; they are named sentient beings. "Not sentient beings" means they are not foolish, lesser ordinary beings. "They are named sentient beings" concludes that the people who can believe possess the noble substance. The verse says: "What is expounded and the expounder are profound, / Yet there are not none who can have faith." The above sūtra text exists in the Wei translation but is absent in the Qin edition; since both treatises explain this passage, its subsequent insertion by later people is also without error, not to mention that it has the condition of karmic retribution in the unseen realm, so it should also be trusted.