Hui-Ching on the words that come from no words

In preparing a talk on the Heart Sutra, I came across this wonderful quote of Hui-Ching, a seventh century Chinese monk, which expresses the emptiness and wordless silence that is the source of all teachings.

“The purest emptiness has no image but is the source of all images. The subtlest reasoning has no words but is the origin of all words.  Thus, images come from no image, and words come from no word.  These words that are no words arise in response to beings, and these images that are no image appear according to the mind.  By means of words that are no words, bodhisattvas spread their teaching.  And by means of images that are no image, buddhas appear in the world.  This sutra is thus the jewel of all teachings.”

bows,

Stephen