金剛般若論會釋 2.67

2.67

In explaining the confirmation that there is no grasper (grāhaka): here the intended question is, why is that practice ineffable? Because the Dharmakāya Tathāgata is none other than tathatā; since the essence of tathatā is pure and free of defilement, like pure gold, for this reason the teachings mostly use pure gold as an analogy for tathatā, because its nature is pure. Vasubandhu says: If there were no bodhi, there would be no Buddhas, Tathāgatas. There is such a slander, claiming that there are completely no Buddhas; therefore tathatā is spoken of. His meaning is: since there is no practice capable of realizing, the bodhi that is realized is also non-existent; if there were no essence capable of realizing bodhi, then there would be no Buddhas. Now it is stated that the Buddhas have tathatā as their nature; since tathatā is devoid of the nature of a grasper, the practice capable of realizing is also devoid of intrinsic nature, and bodhi is likewise—it is not that bodhi is non-existent. Furthermore, 'bodhi' means that which is realized, awakening to awakening; when instructing others, because the grasped (grāhya) does not exist, the grasper also does not exist. Since the grasper of bodhi does not exist, there should be no Buddhas; yet the Buddhas simply take tathatā as their nature. Since tathatā lacks a grasper, it is said that the grasper of the Buddhas is entirely without real substance, not that the nature of awakening realized as bodhi is non-existent. Vasubandhu explains the meaning of 'real tathatā,' saying: 'Real' means not inverted; this excludes the two grasped selves of person and phenomena, because those are inverted. 'Tathatā' means unvarying and unchanging: 'unvarying' excludes untainted conditioned phenomena, because they arise and cease—this explains the meaning of *tathā* ('thusness'); 'unchanging' excludes tainted conditioned phenomena, because when the antidote path is attained, they undergo transformation—this explains the meaning of *real*. It is simply called 'tathatā,' as the treatise explains.