大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 80.46

80.46

On the Commentary's passage from "Furthermore, subsuming the twelve" downward: second, forming pairs. Regarding "1. the pair of the characterizing and the characterized": characteristics are the characterized, and exhaustion is the characterizing. The essential entity of the characterized dharmas is precisely the conditioned, which does not go beyond defiled and pure. When it says "because they exist in mutual dependence," this explains and establishes the meaning of non-existence: the defiled exists in dependence on the pure, so there is no characteristic of defilement; the pure exists in dependence on the defiled, so there is no characteristic of purity. Therefore the sūtra says "the nature of non-characteristic." When it says "the nature of non-exhaustion": exhaustion is the characterizing; production, cessation, defilement, and purity are entirely conditioned. However, the four characteristics of production and cessation are briefly of two kinds: first, exhaustion in an instant, called thought-by-thought cessation, where because conditions cease, it reveals the nature of non-cessation; second, period-bound cessation, like the nature of the afflictions being exhausted, where through the approach of the emptiness of nature it reveals the meaning of non-cessation. "2. The pair of production and cessation": ordinary beings are conditionally produced, so they are fundamentally unproduced; fundamentally pure nirvāṇa is originally quiescent and ceased, so it does not cease again. This pair represents the purport of the Vimalakīrti. The former is in terms of eradicating delusion, while this is in terms of eradicating suffering. Because of eradicating delusion and suffering, bodhi arises; therefore it is now dismissed. When it says "in terms of the Buddha's bodhi not being newly produced," nature-pure bodhi is not newly acquired through cultivation, so how could there be cessation? "3. The pair of self and non-self": through conditions one refutes self, and through self one dismisses non-self. It says that since self cannot be obtained, how could non-self be obtained? This is precisely the non-dual Dharma approach. From "within the true characteristic of all dharmas" downward, through the approach of the true characteristic both are dismissed. The above two are passages from the Madhyamakaśāstra, which have been frequently cited before. "4. The pair of conditions and non-conditions": sentient beings are conditions; gathering conditions, they lack intrinsic nature, so there are no sentient beings. Non-sentient beings are non-conditions; since conditions cannot be obtained, how could non-conditions be obtained? This is refutation through mutual dependence. "5. The pair of the agent of realization and the object of realization": both agent and object are refuted together through the approach of causes and conditions. Hence the preceding sūtra says: "Knowing that the nature of bodhi arises from conditions, / one enters the profound dharmadhātu without contrariety." "6. The pair of combination and non-combination": empty space lacks an essence and does not combine with things; through causes and conditions it also reveals that there is no empty space. For one who realizes equal and perfect enlightenment, subject and object tally; also through the approach of causes and conditions it explains that there is no equal and perfect enlightenment; therefore a unitary combined characteristic is not a unitary combined characteristic.