摩訶止觀 2.52

2.52

Answer: Your question is incorrect. If the past were permanently ceased, it would be ultimately unknowable; if the future has not arisen, it would be unknowable; if the present does not abide, it would be unknowable. How then could the sages know the mind across the three periods of time? Even ghosts and spirits know their own and others' [minds across] the three periods of time; how could a practitioner of the Buddha's Dharma give rise to views of annihilationism, or of turtle's fur and rabbit's horns? One should know that although the mind across the three periods of time has no fixed substantiality, it can still be known. Therefore a gāthā says: 'What the Buddhas teach / although empty, is not annihilated; / continuous, it is also not eternal; / offenses and blessings are not lost.' If one gives rise to [the view of] annihilation, it is like a blind person facing colors: one lacks the eye of correct contemplation in the Buddha's Dharma and attains nothing in emptiness. Once the practitioner knows that the mind has four marks, then whatever good or evil thoughts arise according to the mind, one reflects upon and contemplates them with wisdom that does not abide or cling.