起信論疏筆削記 15.4

15.4

3. "Skillful means":
[Commentary:] "Deep compassion": directly seeing sentient beings as parents and so forth does not compare to seeing them as identical to one's own body; only then is it supreme depth. "Deep wisdom": comprehending mind-only, knowing that sentient beings fundamentally have no self-nature, are originally without thought, and have from the beginning been in nirvāṇa without waiting to be extinguished. That Hīnayāna and provisional teachings cannot obliterate these marks is entirely because their wisdom is shallow; the bodhisattvas of the true teaching nowadays are the converse, hence it is called "deep". "Along with the above" refers to being along with deep compassion. "Non-inverted": sentient beings are fundamentally identical with oneself, and identical in that all are without mark; thus seeing different marks constitutes inversion, whereas now it is entirely the converse. "The reason for the long-enduring [mind]": also explains the reason for the vast and great [mind]; the commentary text was abbreviated. If one could not comprehend identity with one's own body and obliterate their marks, how could one thus universally deliver and eternally deliver? In inquiring about the reason, the intent is: for what reason can they be taken as one's own body, while also not apprehending marks of sentient beings? "Relying on the gate of tathatā and so forth": because within this gate it is revealed that all phenomena are identical with the true and identical with suchness, therefore their bodies and one's own body are equal and non-dual; how could one not pity them and wish to deliver them? Furthermore, since they are identical with the One True and all without mark, who is the delivering subject? Who is the delivered object? Therefore one does not apprehend their marks of sentient beings. However, carefully investigating the meaning of this passage: taking the two lines from "grasping all [sentient beings]" downward to connect backwards to the preceding section explains the reason for the vast and long-enduring, while from "and yet not apprehending" downward adduces the fundamental great wisdom. The inquiry and explanation below merely reveal the reason for not apprehending marks; upon detailed examination this can be seen.