Dear all,
Since I got to hear about Wonhyo, he wasn't contradicting what Mipham Rinpoche explains here.
Whenever you study or contemplate the Dharma,
Rely not on the words, but on the meaning.
If the meaning is understood, then regardless of the speaker’s style,
There will be no conflict.
When you have understood what it was
The speaker intended to communicate,
If you then continue to think about each word and expression,
It is as if you’ve found your elephant but now go in search of its footprints.
If you misinterpret what is said and then think of more words,
You’ll never stop till you run out of thoughts,
But all the while you’re only straying further and further from the meaning.
Like children playing, you’ll only end up exhausted.
Even for a single word like “and” or “but”,
When taken out of context, there’s no end to what it might mean.
Yet if you understand what is meant,
Then with that the need for the word is finished.
When the finger points to the moon,
The childish will look at the finger itself.
And fools attached to mere language,
May think they’ve understood, but they will find it difficult.
http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Four_reliances
I feel this may give some guideline. There should be care not to cling to dharma words as this habit is said, is difficult to get rid of. We may think if we do not so, we are no buddhist, but masters only use them to guide, not to cling. We remain conditioned when we cling to words as without we lose our safe buddhist ground. They are like matches, very useful but of no further use when their job is done.
Wonhyo: The very nature of language
requires an "I" to be the subject of the sentence containing that phrase.
We think we use language but we do not. Language controls our way
of thinking.