起信論疏筆削記 10.23

10.23

Regarding 'if from the standpoint of...' and so forth: because the marks of consciousness are not the essence of the mind, by extinguishing ignorance one attains bodhi. Regarding 'when ignorance ceases...' below: concluding the meaning of destructibility. This directly demonstrates the preceding text: extinguishing the continuing mind reveals the dharmakāya. As the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra says: 'Water and milk are together in one place; the king of geese drinks it, and the milk is exhausted while the water remains.' As for equating the extinction of afflictions with wisdom: people of the world all say that one completely cuts off the bonds of affliction and only then realizes the true. They do not realize at all that the essence of affliction is originally the true—the non-enlightenment of total enlightenment. It is like mistaking east for west; whose fault is it? To wish to extinguish the mark of west and only then see the east is the height of foolishness.