金剛般若論會釋 3.41

3.41

Vasubandhu's treatise: from here below is the second subsection, refuting doubts. The doubt says: 'If great bodhi is not attained depending on merit, then these bodhisattvas will lose their merit as well as their fruition.' To refute this doubt, this text exists. The verse says: / 'They do not lose the cause of virtue, / Nor its excellent fruition; / Attaining the superior endurance, they do not lose them, / Because they attain the immaculate fruition. / To show the characteristic of superior merit, / Therefore a simile is spoken; / This merit has no retribution; / Thus they receive it and do not grasp it.' / Herein, the first two lines explain the passage on not speaking of annihilation; since one does not speak of annihilation regarding dharmas, this reveals that neither cause nor fruit are produced. The subsequent two lines explain knowing selflessness and achieving endurance; the subsequent two lines explain the repeated simile; the subsequent two lines explain not receiving merit. They should be matched according to this; the explanation in the treatise seems mistaken.