弘明集 9.4

9.4

The spiritual path is dark and silent; Confucius indeed terminated speech concerning it. The wondrous principle of mental factors is what the Royal Scribe also did not expound. This was not because the sages' wisdom was incomplete, but because the immediate sentiments were difficult to instruct with profound speech. Therefore, when the profound and Confucian thinkers of former ages discussed it, they omitted past karma; and the eloquent debaters of later generations also had their arguments hindered regarding future lives. If one is not possessed of the utmost contemplation in the world, how could one comprehend it in detail? Thus, deluded people, hearing that the conscious spirit is uninterrupted, deem it entirely permanent; hearing that mental thoughts are not permanent, they deem it entirely severed. Saying it is severed, they are confused about its eternal nature; saying it is permanent, they are bewildered by its severed function. Bewildered by its severed function, they doubt the root on account of the function, asserting that in the root it can be extinguished; doubting the function on account of the root, they assert that in the function it never alters. None can investigate with refinement, mutually giving rise to partial attachments, thereby causing the naturally endowed awakened nature to drown in frivolous discourse.