金剛般若經依天親菩薩論贊略釋秦本義記卷上 1.24

1.24

[Sūtra:] "Whether with perception, without perception, or neither with perception nor without perception:" The third refers to cognitive objects. Perception is the apprehending subject, and the object is the apprehended object; explaining the object in terms of perception is why it is called "subsumed under cognitive objects". "Whether with perception" refers to sentient beings from the Sphere of Nothingness on down, excluding the single heaven of non-perception, because all others have coarse perceptions that apprehend coarse cognitive objects. "Whether without perception" refers to the single heaven of non-perception within the fourth dhyāna, because they have no perceiving mind at all to apprehend cognitive objects. "Whether neither with perception nor without perception" refers to the single stage of the Peak of Existence; because it lacks coarse perception, it is called "neither with perception", [yet because subtle perception remains,] it is called "nor without perception". Here, the phrasing "whether neither with perception, whether nor without perception" has one superfluous character *ruo* ("whether"); if the lower *ruo* were retained, it would not refer to a single stage. These three also completely subsume all sentient beings.