大般涅槃經集解 20.76

20.76

Tanxian states: From here down answers the question of how the bodhisattvas are able to see the difficult-to-see nature. Baoliang states: That 'the buddhadhātu is not a created dharma' means that the primary-cause buddhadhātu is not elicited by good or evil; how could it be manufactured? Therefore we know that the essence of conscious awareness fundamentally has this dharmatā as its source. If it lacked such an inherent quality, the fundamental function of conscious thought would change; but since its function is always thus, we should know it was not newly created. If conscious awareness were exclusively constructed through the causal conditions of karma and did not take this as its essence, how could it now be said that within the poisonous body there is the wondrous king of medicines, namely the buddhadhātu, which is not a created dharma? Thus we know that this is spoken with reference to the primary cause. If it were the nature of the fruit, then in principle it would naturally not exist within the poisonous body. Furthermore, the fruit should not be made to depend on the cause. If the fruit depended on the cause, the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra would have had to say that dependent on saṃsāra there is the tathāgatagarbha; yet it says, 'Dependent on the tathāgatagarbha there is saṃsāra—this is called a good exposition.' Is this not the very meaning of this text? That 'though the great ocean is salty, it also contains the supreme flavor' means that the subtle principle can be relied upon.