弘明集 10.83

10.83

Jun bows in reverence. You have condescended to inform me. Showing me His Majesty's reply to his subject's examination of the treatise on the extinction of the spirit: I have heard that "dimly, as if seeing them" is a standard maxim of the ritual classics; now, "non-extinction" is the vast purport of the Dharma teaching. Yet the wondrous marks are empty and dark, and spiritual function is concentrated and quiescent. Were one not someone who embodies the Dao, how could one silently grasp its ancestral principle? If there were none who understood the subtle workings, there would be no way to mysteriously respond to its convergence. The sagacious monarch's traces penetrate the myriad workings of affairs; his mind wanders in the seven purifications. Pitying all living beings, warming and nurturing the myriad creatures, he washes away their hindrances and entanglements, exhorts them with liberating wisdom, removes their ignorance and delusions, and raises them to benevolence and longevity. Truly great is he who, as ruler, excels in the perfection of wisdom! Your disciple has served the Great Dharma for generations, receiving the Dao's instruction handed down in the family; yet my learning is shallow and my conduct loose, and the fetters of attachment still distress me. Having been able to partake of the sagacious teaching and participate in hearing this broad encouragement, through one sound one obtains understanding, and the myriad virtues may be attained together. My feeling of dancing for joy cannot be expressed in words. Your disciple Wang Jun bows in reverence.