大般涅槃經義記 7.138

7.138

三依前治中，不見眾生及所受用斷除見惑，於中初法，次喻，後合。法中，「不著眾生相」者以別分總，無生可著。「作種種」者唯見五陰差別法也。喻中，「畫師以眾雜彩作眾像」者喻諸菩薩觀察五陰成眾生也，「若男女」等喻彼六道眾生差別，「凡無智」等喻凡所有，「畫師子」等喻聖知無。合中，「菩薩亦如是」者合前畫師，「於法異相觀於一相」合以眾彩畫作眾像若男、女等，謂於五陰異法之相觀察成於一眾生相，凡夫無智生男女相略而不合。「終不生於眾生之相」合前畫師知無男女，先合後釋。

Third, relying on the former practice of remedy—not seeing sentient beings and what they experience and use—to sever and eradicate the delusions of view. In this, first is the dharma, next the analogy, and afterwards the application. In the dharma, 'not clinging to the mark of a sentient being' means distinguishing the parts to analyze the whole, so that there is no sentient being to cling to. 'Making various...' means seeing only the differentiated dharmas of the five aggregates. In the analogy, 'a painter using various colors to make various images' is an analogy for the bodhisattvas contemplating the five aggregates as constituting a sentient being; 'whether male or female' and so forth is an analogy for the differentiations among those sentient beings of the six paths; 'the foolish who have no wisdom' and so forth is an analogy for the condition of ordinary people; and 'the painter's son' and so forth is an analogy for the noble ones knowing their non-existence. In the application, 'bodhisattvas are also like this' applies the former painter; 'regarding the different marks of dharmas, they contemplate a single mark' applies the making of various images with various colors, whether male, female, and so forth—meaning that regarding the marks of the differentiated dharmas of the five aggregates, they contemplate them as constituting a single mark of a sentient being; that foolish ordinary people give rise to the marks of male and female is omitted without application. 'Ultimately they do not give rise to the mark of a sentient being' applies the painter knowing there is no male or female; first it applies it, and afterwards explains it.