摩訶止觀 1.40

1.40

答：或得或不得。教是上聖被下之言，聖能顯祕兩說，凡人宣述秖可傳顯不能傳祕。聽者因何作觀？或得者，六根淨位，能以一妙音遍滿三千界，隨意悉能至，則能傳祕教。若修觀者，發所修顯法，不發不修者，發宿習人得論密觀。

Answer: In some respects one can, and in some respects one cannot. Teaching consists of the words bestowed by superior sages upon those below; a sage can deliver both manifest and secret expositions, but ordinary persons who preach and transmit [the teaching] can only convey the manifest and cannot convey the secret. On what basis would the listener cultivate contemplation? Regarding the case where one can: at the stage of the purification of the six sense faculties, one can pervade the three-thousandfold world with a single wondrous sound, reaching everywhere as intended; then one is able to convey the secret teaching. As for practitioners of contemplation, if they bring forth the manifest dharmas they have cultivated, but do not bring forth what they have not cultivated, then a person who brings forth past habituations is permitted to discuss secret contemplation.