宗鏡錄 13.2.4

13.2.4

They preach the Dharma according to what is fitting. / Those who do not practice and study / cannot comprehend this. / Since you have now understood / that all buddhas, the teachers of the world, / [act through] suitable expedient means, / you should have no more doubts. / Great joy arises in your minds: / you know that you yourselves will become buddhas."

Therefore we know that if one does not practice concentration and study wisdom, and furthermore does not understand the preachings adapted to what is fitting, falsely taking them as the real, one must not slavishly follow the text and consider that to be awakening to the Path. Directly like Sudhana ascending the tower or the dragon girl presenting the pearl, at precisely such a time one naturally sees it personally. One must restrain oneself to accomplish the task, forgetting weariness day and night. If one inquires about the journey without traveling, the home village becomes ever further away; it is like seeing a treasure without taking it, remaining subject to poverty. Therefore an ancient worthy said in verse:

"To study the Path, one must first meticulously know the citta;
The subtle within the subtle, its subtlety is hard to find.
Right in the midst of it, seek until you reach the place where there is nowhere to seek;
Only then will you believe that the ordinary mind is the Buddha mind."

Hence we know that right within a single thought-moment of the mind of birth and death, to be able to believe in the inconceivable affairs of all buddhas is extremely rare. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: "The Buddha asked: 'If someone could suspend Mount Sumeru with a thread of lotus root, would that be conceivable or not?' 'No, World-Honoured One.' 'Good son, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, in the span of a single thought-moment, can fully measure all of birth and death; therefore it is also called inconceivable.'"