大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 9.20

9.20

Regarding the Commentary's statement "they are merely tathatā established in concordance with conditions": this is the third, conveying the meaning of concordance with conditions within the distinction between tathatā's concordance with conditions and its being unchanging. The Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra says: "The tathāgatagarbha, perfumed by beginningless evil habits, is called the storehouse consciousness." It also says: "The tathāgatagarbha experiences suffering and pleasure, arising and ceasing together with causes." Both clarify that it accords with conditions to establish all phenomena. The Awakening of Faith also says: "The intrinsically pure mind, stirred by the wind of ignorance, forms the defiled mind," and so on. That the Commentary says "merely" follows upon what precedes it, meaning that the sentient beings mentioned above are merely formed by tathatā according with conditions. Because of this establishment, the single nature is not lost; in contrast to the initial teaching above, which only spoke of it being immutable, it is therefore said to accord with conditions, not that this school lacks the sense of being unchanging. Because it is unchanging, it can for the first time accord with conditions; because it accords with conditions, it can truly be unchanging. How so? If it were to change its own essence, by what means could it accord with conditions? Just as, if there were no wet nature, how could it follow the wind and form waves? It is precisely by this meaning that the sūtras say tathatā accords with conditions. If it could not accord with conditions, its essence would not pervade conditions. Since it would be absent within conditions, how could it be unchanging? Therefore the two meanings reciprocally complete each other. Hence the Śrīmālā-sūtra says: "Undefiled yet defiled—this is difficult to understand; defiled yet undefiled—this is difficult to understand." These two pairs in this sūtra: the upper pair is unchanging concordance with conditions; the lower pair is according with conditions without losing one's own nature.