大乘起信論義記 2.178

2.178

Below, it explains the meaning of emptiness. Inverted minds and false sense objects fundamentally do not correspond; therefore, it says 'far removed,' and so forth. It does not mean they exist but do not appear; rather, simply because false phenomena do not exist in principle, there is nothing that can be manifested. It is like a mirror which is not incapable of reflecting, but simply because the hare's horns do not exist, there is nothing that can be manifested. 'Not of cognitive illumination' has two meanings: 1. False thoughts, when viewed in relation to true cognition, lack the efficacy of cognitive illumination because emotional clingings run contrary to principle; just as a mirror is not identical with external objects because those external objects have no illuminating function, which precisely reveals that within the mirror there is no substance of external objects. 2. Innate enlightenment, when viewed in relation to false phenomena, also lacks the function of cognitive illumination because the false is fundamentally non-existent; just as a clean eye looking at flowers in the sky lacks the efficacy of illuminating perception, it is also like a mirror looking at a hare's horns.