俱舍論疏 8.37

8.37

On the Śāstra's statement: "In that realm ... the analogy is as explained before": this explains the formless realm. First it explains "formless" (*ārūpya*), and afterwards it explains "formless realm". Matter (*rūpa*) is of two kinds: that spoken of as "subject to transformation and obstruction" applies to the eleven kinds of matter; that spoken of as "manifested" refers to the matter of the visible form base (*rūpāyatana*). Because the four skandhas of the formless realm are neither of these two, it is called "formless". It is not that it merely takes the absence of matter as its essence; if it took the absence of matter as its essence, then there would be no distinct entity, or it would be empty space and not the four skandhas. The remaining text can be understood.