大般涅槃經集解 63.67

63.67

案僧亮曰：謂正因性也。斷緣因善根，非斷正因也。由正因力故，久善還生。非三世者，釋不斷義也。正因是相續常，常故無去來也。如敗子者，既以不善無記為正因，二法力弱，現在世中必不生善，以敗子為譬也。

Sengliang comments: This refers to the nature of the direct cause. What is severed is the good roots of conditioning causes, not the direct cause. By the power of the direct cause, after a long time good will arise again. 'Not of the three times' explains the meaning of not being severed. The direct cause is continuous permanence; being permanent, it has no past or future. 'Like a spoiled seed': since unwholesome and indeterminate states are taken as the direct cause, and these two dharmas are weak in power, they definitely do not produce good in the present lifetime; hence the simile of the spoiled seed.