Thoughts manifest themselves within emptiness and are reabsorbed into it like a face appears and disappears in a mirror; the face has never been in the mirror, and when it ceases to be reflected in it, it has not really ceased to exist. The mirror itself has never changed. So, before departing on the spiritual path, we remain in the so-called “impure” state of samsara, which is, in appearance, governed by ignorance. When we commit ourselves to that path, we cross a state where ignorance and wisdom are mixed. At the end, at the moment of Enlightenment, only pure wisdom exists. But all the way along this spiritual journey, although there is an appearance of transformation, the nature of the mind has never changed: it was not corrupted on entry onto the path, and it was not improved at the time of realization.
– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
舍利子, 色不异空, 空不异色, 色即是空, 空即是色,
受想行识, 亦复如是, 舍利子, 是诸法空相, 不生不灭, 不垢不净, 不增不减,
是故空中无色, 无受想行识, 无眼耳鼻舌身意, 无色声香味触法。