摩訶止觀 1.72

1.72

If one does not accord with the capacities, speaking so as to vex others, it will be of no benefit to them. If it is like the thunder and rain of great compassion, one can proceed from the subtle to the prominent. The treatise says: 'Because the true Dharma, the preacher, and the listening audience are difficult to obtain.' As such, birth-and-death is neither bounded nor boundless, and true reality is neither difficult nor easy, neither existent nor non-existent; this is called the 'true Dharma'. Being able to preach and listen in this way is called 'true preaching and listening'. Having the benefit of the three siddhāntas is called 'bounded'; the benefit of the supreme truth is called 'neither bounded nor boundless'. Therefore we know that conditioned arising is able to accomplish the great matter; this is the meaning of stimulus and response. However, while the four conformities, four siddhāntas, and five conditions differ in name, their significance is the same. The four conformities spoken of now are the responding benefits of great compassion; the siddhāntas are the pervasive bestowal of pity; they are merely differences between left and right. As for 'causes and conditions', whether it is 'caused by the sage and conditioned by the ordinary' or 'caused by the ordinary and conditioned by the sage', it is the mutual resonance of stimulus and response. One should know that when the phrasing and flavor of the three dharmas tally with each other, their meaning is identical.