起信論疏筆削記 7.26

7.26

Commentary: "Thought is immediately no-thought" and so forth means that when one knows that one thinks of all dharmas, there is fundamentally neither cognizing thought nor cognized thought; it does not mean extinguishing this to make it non-existent, because the essence of thought is fundamentally cut off, which is itself no-thought. Therefore the Yuanjue jing says: "Toward all deluded minds, one also does not extinguish them." "Not by extinguishing..." onwards explains both "thought being immediately no-thought" to transcend the two extremes. If one extinguishes thought to cut it off, one falls into the view of annihilationism; if one does not know that thought is immediately empty, one falls into the view of eternalism. Now, since one neither extinguishes it and yet knows it is immediately non-existent, one avoids these errors. This is to forget words while in speech, not to be completely silent; to have no-thought while in thought, not to be completely unthinking. Therefore the sūtra says: "Without departing from letters, liberation is spoken; the nature of letters being transcended is itself liberation." The text below says: "Because sentient beings are confused, they take the mind to be thought; the mind is truly unmoving. If they can contemplate and know that the mind has no thought, they will be able to accord and enter the gate of tathatā." "In a single..." concludes with the benefit. Merely in a single thought being no-thought, one has already transcended the two faults. The two faults already being absent, one accords with the Middle Way dharmatā, which does not run counter to tathatā. "Furthermore..." and so forth: the former directly addresses the dharma essence, speaking of thought being immediately no-thought; this means that at the time when thought arises, one uses contemplation to observe that the cognizing thought and cognized thought, whether already arisen or not yet arisen, are completely ungraspable; speech is also like this, hence it says "and so forth." "Although not yet free from thought": when contemplating in this way, coarse thoughts do not arise but subtle thoughts still remain, hence it says "not yet free." It is like merely putting out the fire while the fire-poker still remains. "Yet according with no-thought": because one constantly contemplates the absence of subject and object, contemplating in this way is precisely according with no-thought. As the text below says: "If there are sentient beings who can contemplate no-thought, they are heading toward the Buddha's wisdom." "As above..." and so forth: because what was spoken of previously was merely an expedient for entering the principle, the earlier commentary called it "answering with the expedient contemplation." "Then one is able to..." and so forth: because the former contemplation has matured, one can transcend this thought of subject and object and tally with the real principle of no-thought. Since the real is devoid of thoughts of subject and object, now that one is free from this, one can tally with the real. "Correct contemplation": this contemplation corresponds precisely with tathatā, like a box and its lid. Furthermore, "correct" means noble: the stage corresponds to entering the bhūmis and beyond, who are called noble beings who have entered the principle. The previous expedient corresponds to the stages prior to the bhūmis; "tallying and entering" has the meaning of realization: because one is free from the thought of subject and object, one realizes tathatā, which is called tallying and entering. Therefore the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi says: "When with respect to the cognized object, / Wisdom grasps nothing at all, / At that time one abides in consciousness-only, / Because one is free from the marks of the two graspers." However, what was said above provisionally refers to attaining a portion of undefiled correct wisdom, which is called entering through transcending thought; if speaking of ultimate transcendence, it is only the one person of wondrous enlightenment. "The sphere of action of wisdom": tathatā is the place traversed by correct wisdom, clarifying that it is not the sphere of action of inverted delusion. Therefore the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: "The profound, true dharmatā / Wondrous wisdom accords with and enters." "Furthermore..." and so forth: the former explanation refers to the absence of the cognized thought; the present explanation refers to the absence of the cognizing thought as well. The mind that contemplates thought—this mind is called knowing; if one preserves this thought of the absence of subject and object, one still does not enter, because the slightest intention of mind errs. Therefore the Yuanjue jing says: "Transcend the illusion of distancing, and also transcend that transcendence; when there is nothing left to transcend, all illusions are eliminated." Heze said: "When delusion arises, there is awareness; when delusion ceases, awareness ceases; when both awareness and delusion are extinguished, that is tathatā." Thus, the essence of tathatā is free from thought; stirring immediately runs counter to the real. If one can know that thought is no-thought and contemplate unceasingly, according like this, there is still a time of entry. May all practitioners diligently cultivate wondrous wisdom! However, according to the previous question and answer, both speech and thought were clarified, but in the subsequent answer on correct contemplation speech is not discussed, because the subtle illustrates the coarse. Mental thought is subtle and yet must be transcended; how could coarse and shallow speech remain?