法界次第初門 1.73

1.73

Now, in elucidating the introductory gates to the dharmadhātu, the reason we begin first with nāma and rūpa is that, when discussing fundamentally the ultimate source of all dharmas, it is pure, beyond name, and free from characteristics; it is not even one, so how could there ever be two? Elucidating two where there is non-duality is because, when a practitioner initially receives a single period of delusive retribution, at the time of the kalala there are only the two dharmas of nāma and rūpa. One should know that nāma and rūpa are the root of all mundane and supramundane dharmas; they can produce all dharmas, universally encompass all dharmas, and are all dharmas. When the great sages distinctly explain all Dharma gates, they all distinguish them in terms of nāma and rūpa; not a single dharma falls outside of nāma and rūpa. Therefore, a verse in the Dazhidu lun states: