大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 34.67

34.67

疏「心體離念非有念可無」者，雙會二宗釋第三句。以北宗宗於離念，南宗破云：離念則有念可離，無念即本自無之。離念如拂鏡，無念如本淨。今為會之。《起信》既云「心體離念」，亦本自離，非有念可離，亦同無念可無，即性淨也，非看竟方淨。若無看之看，亦猶無念念者，則念真如也。

Regarding the Commentary's "The mind-essence is free from thought, not that there is a thought to be eliminated," this reconciles the two lineages to explain the third line. Because the Northern lineage takes freedom from thought as its tenet, the Southern lineage refutes it, saying: "If one is free from thought, then there is a thought to be freed from; thoughtlessness is inherently non-existent from the beginning. Being free from thought is like wiping a mirror; thoughtlessness is like being originally pure." Now we reconcile them. Since the Awakening of Faith says "the mind-essence is free from thought," it is also originally free, not that there is a thought to be freed from; this also agrees with "there is no thought to be eliminated." This is nature-purity, not becoming pure only after observing. If there is observation without observing, it is like mindfulness of thoughtlessness, which is mindfulness of tathatā.