A monk asked Master Nanquan, “Is there also a Dharma that is not spoken to people?”

Nanquan said, “There is.”

The monk asked, “What is the Dharma that is not spoken to people?”

Nanquan said, “It is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing.”

[Wumen said:]

Confronted by this question, Nanquan had to bring out all the treasures of his house; he was quite put out.

[Verse:]

Repeated exhortation diminishes your virtue; wordlessness truly has merit. Though the blue sea may change, I will never explain it to you.