六祖大師法寶壇經 1.111

1.111

"The unexcelled great nirvāṇa
Is completely bright, constantly quiescent and shining.
Ordinary fools call it death;
Non-Buddhists grasp it as annihilation.
Those of the two vehicles who seek it
Regard it as non-action.
These are all calculations of sentiment,
The root of the sixty-two views.
Falsely establishing empty, provisional names,
How could this be the true reality?
Only a person who surpasses measurement
Thoroughly penetrates without taking or rejecting.
Knowing the dharmas of the five aggregates
And the self within the aggregates,
The external manifestations of multiple forms,
Each and every sound and appearance,
Are equally like dreams and illusions,
Not giving rise to views of ordinary or sage,
Not forming an understanding of nirvāṇa;
The two extremes and the three periods are cut off.
Constantly responding to the functions of the sense faculties
Without giving rise to thoughts of functioning;
Discriminating all phenomena
Without giving rise to thoughts of discrimination.
When the kalpa-fire burns the ocean floor
And the winds buffet the mountains into crashing against one another,
The truly constant bliss of quiescent extinction—
Such is the characteristic of nirvāṇa.
I have now spoken with difficulty
To cause you to abandon heterodox views;
If you do not interpret it according to the words,
I will allow that you know a little."