大般涅槃經集解 67.10

67.10

Sengliang notes: When exponents of eternalism say there is fruit within the cause, their faults differ. One holds that there is curd within milk, subtle and imperceptible, like fruit in a vessel, yet the fruit is distinct from the vessel. The second holds that milk is curd and curd is milk, both changing with time, their substance eternally one; hence it says their names are earlier and later, but their reality has no difference. Daohui's Record states: If the five flavors existed at the same time, who would establish the sequence of milk first, then curd, up to ghee? Zhixiu says: One has never seen or heard of curd preceding milk. If they were necessarily simultaneous, by what condition would milk certainly not be later, and curd not be earlier? Hence we know that at the time of milk there is definitely no curd.