華嚴一乘法界圖 1.41

1.41

Question: Are the dharmas of the five vehicles and so forth the expressing teaching, or are they the expressed meaning? Answer: All dharmas, both expressing and expressed, reside within words; their meaning is such that the characteristics of the expressed dharmas are all cut off. Because of the power of their fundamental vows of great compassion, and because the family dharmas of all Buddhas are inherently thus, all Buddha World-Honoured Ones establish verbal teachings and explain them for sentient beings. By this meaning, all dharmas subsumed by the net of teachings reside entirely in words. Therefore the sūtra states: 'All dharmas are mere names'; this is precisely its meaning.