金剛經纂要刊定記 6.159

6.159

Sweeping away traces. The sūtra's intent is: although the Buddha said "I", originally there is no self; those who grasp at there being a self are merely ordinary beings; although he spoke of ordinary beings, there are also no ordinary beings. It is like a dreaming person seeing a tiger: neither the tiger nor the dreaming person can be found. In phenomena it is also thus: because ordinary persons grasp at a self, it says "not a self"; fearing they might grasp at "ordinary persons", it says "not ordinary". It gradually removes grasping attachments, hence it is called "successively sweeping away traces". However, in the earlier direct answer to the question, in the eleventh and fourteenth, and together with this passage—across these four places earlier and later—all speak of delivering beings without deliverance; although the phrasing is identical, the intents differ. That is, the very first directs one to deliver beings free from self; the eleventh doubts that the deliverer is an "I"; the fourteenth doubts who delivers if there is no self; the twenty-first doubts that since the true realm is equal, it is not fitting to deliver beings. The similarities and differences are manifest.