金剛經疏 1.26

1.26

The sūtra says: 'Subhūti, in the Dharma attained by the Tathāgata, this Dharma is neither real nor false.' This guards against error. Having previously brought forward speech to encourage faith, there might be fear that clinging to speech would cause one to miss the path. In order to guard against that, it is now remedied. 'This Dharma' refers directly to the Dharma of the Tathāgata's verbal teachings. This Dharma is what is penetrated by the Buddha's dharma-pratisaṃvid; it is what is spoken by the Buddha's nirukti-pratisaṃvid; because it corresponds with the Buddha, it is the Dharma attained by the Tathāgata. Now, the path resides in wordlessness; clinging to words means missing the path, which is why this Dharma is not real. However, words can point to the path, and apart from words one does not see the path; which is why this Dharma is not false. Because words can point to the path, the metaphor of pointing at the moon is made; and because the path resides in wordlessness, the parable of abandoning the raft is made. The verse says: