[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt) › 41.9 # 宗鏡錄 41.9 English (machine translation) 41.9 - **Language:** English ### [41.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.41.9) Answer: "For those of intermediate and lower capacities, the path of learning is not absent. How could instructions for beginners be cut off today? Hence the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: 'Mastery of the source is for bodhisattvas; mastery of the teaching is for beginners.' The gates of auxiliary contemplation are profoundly beneficial. But if one solely turns one's back on oneself to follow texts, clinging to learning to achieve realization, one is waiting for a wooden statue to speak or expecting a barren woman to give birth to a child. Idly passing through dust-like kalpas, in the end there is no principle to be attained. Even if external learning were accomplished, none of it would be real. As it is said: 'Drawing the moon is not the real moon; painting a dragon misses the original dragon.' Now, if you want genuine realization, you only need to purify your mind and contemplate inwardly; then it will appear clearly and serenely, just like facing a bright mirror and seeing your own form. If you seek falsely through seeing and hearing, it is like scooping the moon out of water—when could you ever obtain it? Therefore Master Zhenjue's song says: 'Purifying the five eyes, attaining the five powers, / only through realization is it known, difficult to fathom. / Looking at the form in a mirror, seeing is not difficult; / catching the moon in water, how could one pluck it out?' Venerable Panshan said: 'The transcendental way is not transmitted by the thousand sages. Students labor their bodies like monkeys grasping at the moon.' Layman Pang's verse says: 'Practicing learning is not the true Way; / it merely exhausts spirit and body in vain. / Searching for the water's moon for a thousand lifetimes, / in the end it is wasted effort.'" - [Previous: 41.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.41.8) - [Next: 41.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.41.10) - [Up: 41](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.41) ## Linked texts (1) - [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.41.9) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.41.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.41.9) · Pramāṇa