楞伽阿跋多羅寶經註解 4.9

4.9

The passage above clarifies that the phrasing regarding the Tathāgata does not fall into the catuṣkoṭi; fearing that those who have not understood might think that the Tathāgata's phrased meaning is also not a real nature, an analogy is drawn to reveal it. "Just as I have spoken...": the Buddha states that he constantly speaks of all dharmas being without self. "Without self" means lacking the nature of clinging to a self, not that they lack their own essential nature; hence it is said, "They have their own svabhāva and lack another's svabhāva." "Another" is spoken in contrast to oneself; it means that although the Tathāgata's phrasing is free from all propositions, it is not without the dharmakāya's permanently abiding svabhāva. Hence it is again illustrated through a metaphor: just as an ox has only the nature of an ox and lacks the nature of a horse, and a horse has only the nature of a horse and lacks the nature of an ox, it is said to be "neither existent nor nonexistent." This means that each has its own svabhāva and lacks the other's svabhāva. The *Ru Lengqie* states: "All dharmas are also like this: they have no svalakṣaṇa, yet what is nonexistent is precisely existent." This means they not only have svabhāva, but also have svalakṣaṇa. "Fools who lack selflessness": "lacking selflessness" refers to śrāvakas, meaning that this cannot be known by ordinary beings or followers of the lesser vehicle; their failure to know is due to being obscured by the discrimination of vikalpa. "In this way all dharmas are empty...": just as all dharmas are without self, and by this analogy all dharmas are empty, yet the nature of the Tathāgata is not empty; all dharmas are unarisen, yet the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is arisen; all dharmas lack svabhāva, yet the Tathāgata has a permanently abiding nature; hence it is said, "You should know it thus."