The Dharma Transmission Gāthā of the Sixteenth Patriarch Rāhulabhadra

Original text: In the Dharma, there is truly nothing to realize; neither grasping nor detachment exists. The Dharma transcends characteristics of existence and non-existence—how could it arise from within or without?

Explanation: The self-nature of true suchness neither cultivates nor realizes any Buddhist Dharma, for being free from ignorance, it requires no practice to attain liberation. Toward all dharmas of the three realms and even itself, it never grasps nor possesses any notion of detachment. The nature of true suchness is neither existent nor non-existent: to call it "existent" is inadequate, as it is formless, invisible, and intangible; to call it "non-existent" is equally inadequate, for it possesses genuine functions, truly gives birth to all dharmas, and contains immeasurable dharma seeds—thus it cannot be deemed non-existent. It is true reality; true reality means genuine existence. Only it is truly existent, while all else is empty and illusory. Since true suchness is formless and without characteristics, there is no "internal" or "external" to it. Internally void yet externally formless, it nonetheless embraces all dharmas. Without realizing it, no matter how exhaustively one contemplates or measures it, it remains utterly beyond comprehension.