御注金剛般若波羅蜜經宣演 2.79

2.79

Sūtra: "Why is this? 'Tathāgata' means the suchness of all dharmas."
Exposition: Second: tathatā cannot be spoken. The treatise says: "Furthermore, why can that dharma not be spoken? As the sūtra says: 'Subhūti, Tathāgata means tathatā'; because suchness is pure, he is called Tathāgata. Because suchness cannot be spoken, this statement is made. 'Pure' means that suchness is called true suchness (tathatā), just like true gold." Exposition: First, questioning the meaning: Why, at the time of receiving the prophecy, was there no dharma, yet it is said to be unspeakable? Answer: The intention is that the prophecy received of being a Tathāgata means that the Tathāgata is truly the dharmakāya; tathatā is pure and cannot be spoken, and therefore at that time there was no dharma to be attained, symbolizing that suchness is pure and free of defilement. Therefore, many teachings compare tathatā to true gold because of its intrinsic purity. That treatise says: "If there is no bodhi, there are no buddhas or tathāgatas; there is such a slander, claiming that there are absolutely no buddhas. To sever this doubt, the sūtra says and so on. 'Real' means the sense of non-perversion; 'tathatā' means non-different and unchanging." Exposition: According to that questioning: Why is bodhi without any real dharma? If there is no bodhi, the Buddha also does not exist. The intention is: since there is no practice capable of realizing, is the realized bodhi also absent? The sūtra answers that because of freedom from the grasping of marks it is called non-existent; one cannot reject it as non-existent according to literal words. Why is this? "Real" means non-perverted, which excludes the grasped two selves of persons and dharmas, because they are perverted. "Tathatā": "non-different" excludes uncontaminated saṃskṛta dharmas, because they arise and cease—this is the meaning of "thusness" (ru); "unchanging" excludes contaminated saṃskṛta dharmas, because they can be countered and eradicated—this is the meaning of "true" (zhen). This sūtra says "the suchness of all dharmas" because the nature of tathatā pervades everything, and hence it is called "the suchness of all dharmas." "Meaning" (yi) means principle. This treatise clarifies that suchness cannot be spoken; that treatise clarifies that suchness is non-perverted and unchanging, and not utterly non-existent. Each explains one meaning.