宗鏡錄 100.45

100.45

[The Master] replied: "The liberated mind is originally present of itself. Look at it, and it is not seen; listen to it, and it is not heard; grasp at it, and it cannot be gotten. Sentient beings use it daily without knowing it—this is it. This is directly pointing [to it]: upon meeting the eye, the Dao is present; past and present it is ever so, common to ordinary beings and sages alike. Now, all that is recorded in this Mirror of the Source is what the Buddha taught. Even if there are compositions by bodhisattvas and expositions by Dharma masters, these too have penetrated the Buddha's intended meaning and accord with what the Buddha said. Because sentient beings in this realm all enter samādhi through the wisdom of hearing, one must use sound to perform the Buddha's work, revealing the correct meaning and shattering heterodox attachments. Without words, there is no communication. In this there are two meanings: First, in terms of the ultimate approach, it is truly ineffable. As the *Treatise on the Awakening of Faith* says: 'All dharmas from the beginningless past are free from the characteristics of verbal expression, free from the characteristics of names and letters, and free from the characteristics of mental conditioning.' It also says: 'Furthermore, regarding the ultimate freedom from deluded attachments, one should know that defiled dharmas and pure dharmas are all mutually relative and have no self-characteristics that can be spoken of. Therefore, all dharmas from the beginningless past are neither matter nor mind, neither wisdom nor consciousness, neither existent nor non-existent; their characteristics are ultimately ineffable. That there is verbal expression—one should know this is the Tathāgata's skillful means, provisionally employing speech to guide sentient beings. Those who grasp its import do so entirely to transcend thought and return to tathatā, because thinking of any dharma causes the mind to arise and perish, failing to enter real wisdom.' This is to guide all people who first generate the bodhi-mind, temporarily enabling them to benefit themselves, bring principle and practice to completion, return to real wisdom, and ultimately point the way back to the mirror of the source. Second, in terms of the approach of skillful means, it is the practice of benefiting others. Hence it is said that the Tathāgata, by skillful means, provisionally employs speech to guide sentient beings. Moreover, one must not unconditionally hold that uttering words is wrong and that giving rise to thoughts constitutes a fault. Why? Because right in words there are no words, and right in thoughts there are no thoughts. Thus one knows that word after word accords with the Dao, and thought after thought returns to the source. If viewed through the approach of differentiation, there are indeed two assertions; if viewed through the ultimate approach, words and thoughts are utterly severed."