大乘起信論廣釋卷第三．四．五 4.16

4.16

Treatise: "What are the two? [...] because they are non-conjoined." Commentary: This lists the names and briefly discriminates them. What is called "coarse" refers to the former three defilements, which have the coarse and manifest characteristics of mind and cetasikas; in the sūtras this is spoken of as the arising and ceasing of characteristics. "Conjoined with mind" explains the meaning of coarse: it means there are realms of objects and there are cetasikas conjoined with these three kinds of defiled mind; therefore these three defilements are called coarse. It does not mean that they are conjoined with the true mind, nor that cetasikas are conjoined with mind; for the new translation calls them "conjoined mind". What is called "subtle" refers to the latter three defilements, which lack the coarse and manifest characteristics of mind and cetasikas; their substance is subtle and flows constantly without interruption; in the sūtras this is spoken of as the arising and ceasing of the flux. "Not conjoined with mind" explains the meaning of subtle: it means there are no realms of objects and no cetasikas conjoined with those three kinds of defiled mind; therefore the latter three defilements are called subtle. It does not mean that they are not conjoined with the true mind; for the new translation calls them "non-conjoined mind". This is spoken of in the four-fascicle Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra; in the two versions of the seventy-fascicle and ten-fascicle sūtras, it says that consciousness has two kinds of cessation: first, cessation of characteristics; second, cessation of continuity. Arising and abiding are also like this. In the sūtras the names are brought forth without distinctively showing their characteristics; therefore, the author of the treatise now relies on the two meanings of conjoined and non-conjoined, and coarse and subtle, to reveal the characteristics of the two kinds of arising and ceasing.