肇論新疏 3.374

3.374

The ninth of the ten expositions. 'Connecting' means being identical. 'Antiquity' means prior. The meaning is: the substance of nirvāṇa by nature originates from antiquity, without beginning and without end. Now, the intellect of the three vehicles is fundamentally the intellect that is identical to principle; if not realized, that is all, but once realized, it darkly connects. How could the intellect identical to principle realize the principle identical to intellect, yet still distinguish the difference of present and antiquity without connecting as identical? Therefore Master Sheng said: 'If we seek its significance, it is only that I first met with it, not that illumination now exists. Illumination not residing in the present is precisely none being prior and thus being great. Since it is called great, it is named constant.' Therefore below it says, 'Through principle one becomes a sage, and the sage is not different from principle,' expounding this to clarify that realization exhausting one's own nature is identical to one's own nature.