If the veils obstructed the nature of reality, the nature of reality would break down; if the nature of reality obstructed veils, the veils would not arise. So we know that the veils are none other than the nature of reality; when the veils arise, the nature of reality arises, and when the veils cease, the nature of reality ceases. The Scripture on Absence of Conformations says, “Desire is the Path, and so are anger and folly. All Buddhist teachings are in these three things. If people seek enlightenment apart from desire, they are as far from it as the sky is from the earth. Desire is none other than enlightenment.” The Pure Name Scripture says, “While traveling on false paths one realizes the Path of Buddhas. All beings are the appearance of enlightenment, and it cannot be further attained; all beings are the appearance of nirvana, and it cannot be further extinguished.”

Chan-jan [i.e. Zhanran, the sixth patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school] says, “In (empty) space there is no light or dark, for light and dark are dependent on form (ripa) to obstruct each other. (In the same way), there is in the ‘space’ of the Dharma-nature fundamentally neither good nor evil. It is only in the passions of the ordinary person that good and evil obstruct each other … for they are the same in both substance and essence. One who comes to such an understanding is assuredly manifesting enlightenment. Hence he can bring (himself) to practice calming-and-contemplation (even) amid evil. Having realized that there is no (ultimate) evil in evil, he has seen its substance and its essence. Thus he knows that ultimately (‘in substance and in essence’) neither good nor evil exists at all.”

To seek the character of reality outside of ordinary things is like running from the space in one place to look for space elsewhere. The ordinary is the true; there is no need to abandon the ordinary and strive for the holy.

You should know your own mind contains all Buddha’s principles. […] You should know that all things are teachings of Buddha, because the Buddha is the cosmos. […] [T]he sense faculties are the repository of the eighty-four thousand teachings, and so are the data.

Seeing treasures or relatives in a dream, you are happy; when you think of them upon awakening, you do not know where they are. Think of Buddha in this way. Also, suppose there is a girl whose very name delights the heart, and at night one dreams of making love with her; after awakening, thinking of her, though she has not come to you and you have not gone to her, yet the pleasures were manifest. Think of Buddha in this way. Someone traveling in a wasteland, hungry and thirsty, dreams of getting fine food, then finds his belly empty upon awakening, and reflects that all things are like dreams. Think of Buddha in this way.

By the principle of nondwelling, by the principle of signlessness, abiding in transcendent wisdom, you do not see anything profane; what is there to abandon? You do not see anything holy; what is there to grasp? So it is also of samsara and nirvana, defilement and purity; not rejecting, not grasping, you just abide in reality. In this way, you see living beings as the true reality realm of Buddha. You see desire, anger, folly, and other afflictions as ever tranquil action. This is immutable practice, neither samsaric nor nirvanic, practicing the Buddha Way without abandoning views, without abandoning the uncreate. It is not practicing the Way, yet not not practicing the Way. This is called correct abiding in the reality realm of afflictions. As for seeing the weight of acts, none is more serious than the five sins, yet the five sins are none other than enlightenment; the five sins and enlightenment are nondual. There is no cognizer, no knower, no discriminator; the appearance of sins and the appearance of reality are both inconceivable and indestructible. Basically there is no fundamental essence. All conditions of action abide at the limit of reality, not coming or going, neither cause nor effect. This is called seeing action as identical to the impression of the reality realm. The impression of the reality realm cannot be destroyed or affected by the four demons. Why? Demons are none other than the impression of the reality realm; how can the impression of the reality realm destroy the impression of the reality realm? All things can be understood in this way.