大乘起信論略述 2.112

2.112

論。云何對治至外道經說　述曰。下顯對治。於中有二。初明無始。後顯無終。此初也。以如來藏無前際等者。正明無始有如來藏即有無明。所依藏性既無前際。能依生死何有始耶。無明相者。即生死也。若說已下顯始見。至如彼數論外道經說。從冥生覺。初作眾生。劫歸冥性。名得涅槃。從冥生覺。還有眾生。

[Treatise:] "How is this countered? [Because the Tathāgata-garbha has no prior limit... as taught in non-Buddhist treatises...]" [Commentary:] Below, the antidote is revealed. Within this there are two: first, clarifying that there is no beginning; second, revealing that there is no end. This is the first. "Because the Tathāgata-garbha has no prior limit...": this directly clarifies that as long as there is the Tathāgata-garbha beginninglessly, there is avidyā. Since the supported nature of the Garbha has no prior limit, how could saṃsāra, which relies upon it, have a beginning? The marks of avidyā are saṃsāra. "If one says..." down to reveals the view of a beginning: it is just as taught in the treatises of the Sāṃkhya non-Buddhists, where from the unmanifest (prakṛti) intellect (buddhi) arises to first become a sentient being, and across an eon it returns to the nature of the unmanifest, which is termed attaining nirvāṇa; then from the unmanifest, intellect arises again to become a sentient being.