起信論疏筆削記 18.23

18.23

列釋中，疏　諸佛所師者，約人顯根本也，謂佛因地本於真如起於信解，又依真如軌則修行，又乃證極真如方得成佛，故《華嚴》云：以諸如來尊重法故，以如說行出生諸佛故。約此義邊，故云真如是佛師也。故經云：諸佛所師，所謂法也，以法常故諸佛亦常。既是佛師，故名根本。眾行下，約法顯根本，謂一切行門皆從真起，故《圓覺》云：無上法王有大陀羅尼門，名為圓覺，乃至流出諸波羅蜜，教授菩薩等。所以前標直心為二利行本，是知非真流之行無以契真，何有契真之行不從真起？此乃為信等諸行之根本也。

In listing and explaining: [Commentary:] "The teacher of all Buddhas" reveals the fundamental basis in terms of the person. That is, on the causal ground, Buddhas base themselves on tathatā to give rise to faith and understanding, cultivate practice relying on the principles of tathatā, and attain buddhahood only upon ultimately realizing tathatā. Therefore the Avataṃsaka states: "Because all Tathāgatas revere the Dharma, and because practicing as taught gives birth to all Buddhas." In terms of this meaning, tathatā is said to be the teacher of the Buddhas. Thus a sūtra says: "That which is the teacher of all Buddhas is what is called the Dharma; because the Dharma is eternal, all Buddhas are also eternal." Since it is the teacher of the Buddhas, it is called the fundamental basis. "The manifold practices..." and below reveals the fundamental basis in terms of the Dharma, meaning that all gates of practice arise from the real. Therefore the Yuanjue jing says: "The unexcelled Dharma King has a great dhāraṇī gate called perfect enlightenment, from which flow forth all pāramitās, instructing bodhisattvas," and so forth. This is why the straightforward mind was previously indicated as the root of the practices benefiting oneself and others. One knows that practices not flowing from the real cannot accord with the real; how could any practice that accords with the real not arise from the real? This is therefore the fundamental basis of practices such as faith.