弘明集 12.62

12.62

I reply: The ruler's Dao fosters all life, so its principle is identical to Creation. Moulding and spreading the pneuma, its merit is vast indeed! Yet why has no one ever thanked the benevolence of what they received, or lodged gratitude in the root of principle? It is truly because the dark root is obscure and transcendent, not something that material forms can lift; its pervasive operation and principle are subtle—how could coarse traces repay it? Thus the Master said: 'They may be made to follow it, but cannot be made to understand it.' This is what it means.