金剛般若經旨贊 1.22

1.22

Sūtra: “Having thus liberated through extinction […] none who has attained liberation through extinction.” Commentary: This refers to the mind of constant benefit, answering the question on practice. “Having thus liberated through extinction” reiterates the preceding foremost mind. “Immeasurable,” and so on, reiterates the preceding vast mind. In terms of the three times, they are immeasurable; sought throughout the ten directions, they are boundless; in terms of categories, they are numberless. Hence it says “numberless, immeasurable, and boundless,” and so on. “In reality, none […]” explains and establishes the meaning of constancy. The intention of the two treatises states: Relying on the samādhi and wisdom associated with marklessness, one contemplates all phenomena as equal tathatā; birth-and-death and nirvāṇa are fundamentally not different, and sentient beings and all buddhas are by nature without distinction. Due to false conceptualization, bodhi becomes affliction; if one realizes and awakens, birth-and-death is itself nirvāṇa. From this perspective, ordinary and noble are of one suchness; sentient beings and my own body have truly no distinct essence. How could there be other sentient beings outside my own body? By attaining such great compassion of identical essence, another's bondage is my bondage, and another's liberation is my liberation. Because there is neither other nor self, weariness and exhaustion do not arise; hence one can constantly liberate all sentient beings. All of this is due to attaining the markless samādhi and wisdom and awakening to the markless principle. This is the bodhisattva's antidote to perverse practice, being far removed from attachment to “I can liberate”; it is also being far removed from the extreme of superimposition, not clinging to really existent sentient beings to be liberated; it is also called establishing the supreme-truth limit, because in the supreme truth there are no sentient beings to be liberated; it is also called profound practice, because in extensively liberating sentient beings, there is no mark of liberation; it is also called manifestation, because the two valid cognitions clearly manifest and one realizes the principle of tathatā without marks of liberation. Since it is the bodhisattva's mind of constant benefit, it is also called the immeasurable great joy. Since the markless samādhi and wisdom possess this capability, the bodhisattva should cultivate in this way the markless practice of associated samādhi and wisdom.