This “I do not know” is not to be understood in the spirit of agnosticism, but in the sense of “God when understood is no God,” for _in se est et per se conceptur_. This way of describing Suchness by negative terms only, excluding all differences of name and form (_nâmarûpa_) to reach a higher kind of affirmation, seems to be the most appropriate one, inasmuch as the human understanding is limited in so many respects; but, nevertheless, it has caused much misinterpretation even among Buddhists themselves, not to mention those Christian Buddhist scholars of to-day, who sometimes appear almost wilfully to misconstrue the significance of the çûnyatâ philosophy. It was to avoid these unfortunate misinterpretations that the Mahâyânists frequently made the paradoxical assertion that absolute Suchness is empty and not empty, çûnya and açunya, being and non-being, sat and asat, one and many, this and that. _The “Thundrous Silence.”_ There yet remains another mode of explaining absolute Suchness, which though most practical and most effective for the religiously disposed minds, may prove very inadequate to a sceptical intellect. {106} It is the “thundrous silence” of Vimalakîrti in response to an inquiry concerning the nature of Suchness or the “Dharma of Non-duality,” as it is termed in the Sûtra.[52] Bodhisattva Vimalakîrti once asked a host of Bodhisattvas led by Mañjuçri, who came to visit him, to express their views as to how to enter into the Dharma of Non-duality. Some replied, “Birth and death are two, but the Dharma itself was never born and will never die. Those who understand this are said to enter into the Dharma of Non-duality.” Some said, “‘I’ and ‘mine’ are two. Because I think ‘I am’ there are things called ‘mine.’ But as there is no ‘I am’ where shall we look for things ‘mine’? By thus reflecting we enter into the Dharma of Non-duality.” Some replied, “Samsâra and Nirvâna are two. But when we understand the ultimate nature of Samsâra, Samsâra vanishes from our consciousness, and there is neither bondage nor release, neither birth nor death. By thus reflecting we enter into the Dharma of Non-duality”. Others said, “Ignorance and enlightenment are two. No ignorance, no enlightenment, and there is no dualism. Why? Because those who have entered a meditation in which there is no sense-impression, no cogitation, are free from ignorance as well as from enlightenment. This holds true with all the other dualistic categories. Those who enter thus into the thought of sameness are {107} said to enter into the Dharma of Non-duality.” Still others answered, “To long for Nirvâna and to shun worldliness are of dualism. Long not for Nirvâna, shun not worldliness, and we are free from dualism. Why? Because bondage and release are relative terms, and when there is no bondage from the beginning, who wishes to be released? No bondage, no release, and therefore no longing, no shunning: this is called the entering into the Dharma of Non-duality.”