大般涅槃經義記 5.390

5.390

「以愛念」下釋第三句，向前問言「若得此地則應護念，何故斷命」，今明菩薩以愛念故斷其命根，非是惡心。文中初言「愛故斷命」是其總也，「譬如」下別。別中有二：一以輕奪重故非惡心，先喻、後合；二「常思」下舉益翻損。於中初言「菩薩思惟以何因緣能令眾生發起信」等是巧殺心，「諸婆羅門命終」已下是巧殺益，「以是義」下結己非殺。

From "Out of loving care..." onward explains the third clause. Earlier he asked: "If you had attained this ground, you should have protected and cared for them; why did you terminate their lives?" Now it explains that the bodhisattva severed their life-faculty out of loving care, not out of an evil mind. In the text, the initial statement "severing life out of love" is the general statement; from "Just as..." onward is the specific. Within the specific there are two: first, taking the light to remove the heavy, hence it is not an evil mind—first the simile, then the application; second, from "constantly contemplating..." onward, adducing benefit to overturn harm. Within this, the initial statement "The bodhisattva contemplates: by what causes and conditions can sentient beings be made to arouse faith..." and so forth is the mind of skillful killing; from "After those Brahmins' lives ended..." onward is the benefit of skillful killing; from "For this reason" onward concludes that he himself did not kill.