"How could I have known my own nature was pure from the beginning? How could I have known it neither arose nor perished? How could I have known it was complete in itself? How could I have known it was unshaken? How could I have known it could give rise to all things?"
"Know that the foolish and the wise have no difference in Buddha-nature. Only delusion and awakening set them apart."
The old monk taught no moves. Instead, he recited a passage of Buddhist scripture, its words obscure and difficult to understand.
What did the three guards know of Buddhist texts? It sounded like a Heavenly Book in their ears; they could not grasp a word of it.
Madam Xu Xiyue had read Buddhist scriptures as she grew older. She recognized the passage as an essential teaching from the Diamond Sutra.
You had read Buddhist scriptures in the small courtyard and gained some understanding of the Buddhist School.
The old monk opened his eyes and asked slowly, "Young friend, what do you make of this scripture?"
After a moment's thought, you said, "Without knowing one's own heart, studying the Dharma is of no use."
"The Dharma is boundless, yet the Buddhist Sect seems far away in the Western Heaven, nowhere to be found."
The old monk smiled. "Young friend Xie Guan, you have a strong Buddha-nature indeed."
"People seek the Buddha without knowing that to recognize their own heart and see their own nature is to be called a great man, a teacher of heavenly beings, a Buddha."
"The Buddha is not in a temple, nor in the heavens. He is in the heart."
The three guards listened from the side, lost in a fog. Hidden Zen meanings seemed to lurk everywhere, all too profound for them to understand.