大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 59.28

59.28

Regarding the commentary's statement, "In the second simile below...": the commentary's text has two parts. First, it directly explains the simile. Later, from "The nature of gold is inherently present..." onward, it resolves objections and establishes the explanation. Within that, there are two parts: first, a question; later, from "There are two kinds of faith and so forth..." onward, it explains. The explanation opens into two gates: faith prior to the stages is not compared to gold, whereas faith that realizes tathatā is compared to gold. In the tathāgatagarbha, being obscured by defilements, it is like being inside ore; with the initial purification at the first stage, it has already emerged from the ore; within the stages and at the fulfillment of the stages, all are entering into the fire.