大乘起信論義記 2.35

2.35

"Therefore" means that because what is grasped is originally empty and the true mind is unmoving, for this reason all phenomena are immediately tathatā. "Free from the marks of verbal expression" means they do not exist within spoken sounds. "Free from designations" means they do not exist within the explications of phrases and sentences. These two lines show that the path of speech is cut off, not an object of the wisdom acquired through listening. "Free from mental conditioning" means they are not conceptualizations of mental speech; the working of the mind is extinguished, not an object of the wisdom acquired through reflection. Up to this point, being free from falsehood and delusion is called "true" (tatha-); henceforth, being free from differentiated marks is called "suchness" (-tā). Furthermore, the following three lines explain one another in succession. They are free from the objects of worldly wisdom acquired through cultivation, and only right cognition is conjoined with them. "Ultimately equal" means that although it pervades defilement and purity, its nature is constantly non-dual. The reason it can be non-dual is that when in conditions, from beginning to end it does not change; hence it is said "without variation." The reason it can remain invariant within the conditioned is that unlike the conditioned, it is not destructible; this means it is not destroyed when in defilement, nor broken when in the path of remediation. "They are only the One Mind" concludes by returning to the substance of the Dharma. "Therefore called tathatā" establishes the name based on the meaning.