弘明集 10.23

10.23

I am honoured by your message and have prostrated to read the imperial edict replying to his ministers regarding the Treatise on the Extinction of the Spirit. Reading it repeatedly, I was instantly awakened from benighted fetters. The conscious spirit is dark and silent, and its principle is difficult to fathom; how could an ordinary, foolish person like myself explore it? Taking it from within my own bodily frame close at hand, I still use it daily without knowing it; how much less can I fathom what is obscure and dark, where principle reverts to doubt and confusion! Looking up to the sacred scriptures, they explicitly state that it is not non-existent; one should merely take refuge in its existence through the ancestral teachings. To discuss existence by approaching existence still fails to exhaust the nature; if one then discusses non-existence based on non-existence, this is indeed far off the mark. Were it not for spiritual understanding standing uniquely aloof and dynamic insight being peerless, who could wondrously fathom the words of non-interruption and deeply realize the purport of continuity? Furthermore, drawing two similes as proofs, one clearly sees the spirit's presence. Seeking it through the three times, the principle of non-extinction becomes ever more evident. It may truly be described as: 'The more one bores into it, the harder it becomes; the more one looks up at it, the higher it seems.' This will cause the dust of numerous perplexities to disperse and the hosts of the confused to return to the path. Reciting it reverently without wearying, my dancing for joy knows no bounds. Disciple Yuan Ang bows with folded hands.