The Supreme Dharma Transcends Verbal expression and Can Only Be Intuitively Apprehended

Comprehension is the experiential realization of the mental faculty, while verbal explanation is the exposition using the language of consciousness. The supreme wondrous Dharma is the highest and most sublime teaching of tathāgatagarbha. This requires each individual to personally realize and verify it through direct experience; the verbal guidance and hints from others cannot substitute for one's own experiential realization. Such realization depends on numerous conditions and causes: the complete cultivation of precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom, along with the accumulation of merit and virtue. Furthermore, one must have already aroused deep, probing doubt and be able to investigate with unwavering focus. Only when the practice reaches the level of the mental faculty, and the effort is fully applied there, can one experientially realize the wondrous Dharma of tathāgatagarbha. Verbal explanations can only initially register in the conscious mind. If the work at the level of the mental faculty is insufficient, it cannot activate the mental faculty. Therefore, verbal explanation cannot replace the mental faculty's pondering and investigation, and ultimately cannot lead to direct personal realization.

When the depth of meditative concentration and investigative effort is still insufficient, one should concentrate solely on one's practice. Do not listen to others' interpretations, nor refer to Buddhist scriptures or others' theoretical knowledge, as this can obstruct direct experiential realization. Matters of spiritual practice are entirely one's own affair. Just as whoever eats gets full, whoever investigates the Buddha Dharma personally realizes it. Without investigation, there is no realization. Dharma heard from others is like something stolen—it does not belong to oneself. Samādhi states can only be initiated by oneself; wisdom arises from within one's own mind. Studying the Three Baskets and Twelve Divisions of scriptures will forever fall short of one's own awakening. Practitioners should be like great heroes: courageous in practice, personally exerting effort, and utterly rejecting all shortcuts and opportunistic methods.

That the supreme wondrous Dharma cannot be conveyed verbally carries another meaning: the subtle, profound Dharma of tathāgatagarbha cannot be expressed through language. However one tries to speak of it, what is spoken is not It. Without speech or indication, what is pointed to is still not It. No matter what, It does not emerge, manifest, speak, or act—It is unobtrusive, selfless, and without any specific mode or characteristic. How then to approach such a Dharma? Only through experiential realization, direct personal verification, and awakening can one behold Its true face. What is heard or seen is not It; no one can transmit It through teaching. Then why still seek others' guidance?