Zen vs Quietism

If you've been following along with my read along of Huangbo's "Transmission of Mind" you may have noticed that for Huangbo, eliminating conceptual thought is a good thing, and a way to realize the absolute, which is nonconceptual. Yet other texts in the translated zen canon provide an apparent paradox.

In Dahui's letters from the swamp, collected in "Swampland Flowers," he quotes in letter 47 an "ancient worthy" (anyone know his source?) as saying

Fools remove objects but don't obliterate mind, the wise wipe out mind without removing objects.

He also, in the same letter, warns against people who

...try to freeze their minds and gather in their attention, taking things and returning them to emptiness, shutting their eyes, hiding their eyes; if a thought starts up, they immediately demolish it; as soon as the slightest conception arises, they immediately press it down.

...false teachers of silent illumination just consider wordlessness the ultimate principle

So how do we eliminate conceptual thought without falling into these errors?

Is this actually a paradox?

The best resolution I can find from Dahui is in the same letter when he says:

Just comprehend nothingness in the midst of things, unconcern amidst concerns: when seeing forms and hearing sounds, don't act blind and deaf.

He seems to be saying allow everything to be as it is, just view emptiness or nothingness in things, concepts, emotions, etc. Still, in this formulation we haven't "eliminated" concepts and things.

What do you think? Is this how to resolve the paradox? Are we dealing with translation issues here, or something else?