Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son
Chapter 2 The Fourteenth Dream Simile
Original text:复次大王。譬如有人。于睡梦中。自见其身。饮酒惛醉。不识善法。及诸恶行。功德过失。都不觉知。是人觉已。念梦中事。为实尔不。王言不也。佛言大王。于意云何。是人所梦。执为真实。是智者不。王言。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无饮酒者。况惛醉耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, here is another dream. Suppose there is a person who, in a dream while asleep, sees himself dead drunk after finishing his wine, discerning neither wholesome dharmas nor unwholesome dharmas, and not knowing what merit or fault his deeds carry. After this person wakes up, he keeps recollecting in his mind the events of the dream—are the events of the dream real? King Śuddhodana said: They are not real.
The Buddha said: Great King, what do you think? This person clings to the dream he has dreamed as truly existent and real—is such a person a wise one? King Śuddhodana said: This person has no wisdom, World-Honored One. Why is it said so? Because in the dream there is ultimately no drinker of wine, let alone the matter of being drunk. One should know that this person's constant recollection merely fatigues his own mind for nothing; there is nothing actual in it at all.
Original text:佛言大王。如是如是。愚痴寡闻。凡夫异生。意着诸法。起爱染心。造是痴业。身业三种。语业四种。意业三种。造作彼业。剎那迁谢。是业灭已。不依东方。南西北方。四维上下。中间而住。至命终时。见先所作。自分业报。心想中现。如人梦觉。念梦中事。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. The foolish and ill-informed ordinary sentient beings (pṛthagjana) who arise differently and cease differently have their minds attached to all dharmas and constantly give rise to minds of craving, attachment, and defilement, creating karmic actions of delusion such as these: in bodily karma they can create three kinds, in verbal karma four kinds, and in mental karma three kinds. When these various karmic actions are created, they vanish and perish instant after instant (kṣaṇa after kṣaṇa); after the karmic actions have perished, they do not abide anywhere—depending on east, south, west, or north, the four intermediate directions, up or down, or the middle. When the end of life approaches, one will see the karmic retribution brought forth by the karmic actions one previously created manifesting in the mind, just like a person who, after waking from a dream, still recollects the events of the dream.
Original text:大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。作业受报。皆不失坏。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。各受其报。同类心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the consciousness is the master of creating karma and receiving retribution, and the karmic conditions are what the consciousness mind grasps at and brings forth. With these two as causes, the initial consciousness of the next life appears; then the retributive results of the karma created in past lives will not vanish without cause—each must undergo its karmic retribution. When the karmic retribution manifests, these beings either enter the hells, or fall among the animals, or are born into the realm of Yama (the realm of ghosts and spirits), or take birth as asuras, humans, or devas, each receiving their retribution. In this way, the consciousness corresponding to those karmic actions appears and continues to flow and operate without interruption within the new five-aggregate body (pañca-skandha). When, at the end of life, the final consciousness perishes, it is called the aggregate of death; when, at the beginning of life, the initial consciousness arises, it is called the aggregate of birth.
Original text:大王。身识生时。无所从来。灭无所至。彼缘生时。无所从来。灭无所至。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所至。大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。何以故。自性空故。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it has no place it comes from—coming, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it has no place it goes to—ceasing, it ceases nowhere. When those conditions arise, they likewise come from nowhere and go nowhere; when those karmic actions arise, they likewise come from nowhere and go nowhere. Great King, there is not the slightest dharma that can pass from this world to another world. Why? Because the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is empty.
Original text:如是了知。初识初识空。自业自业空。身识身识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。轮回轮回空。涅槃涅槃。皆自性空。无有作者。亦无受者。若业若报。皆不可得。但唯名相。分别显示。
Explanation: One should know the body consciousness in this way, knowing that the self-nature of the body consciousness is empty; know in this way the karmic actions created by one's own consciousness mind, knowing that the self-nature of karmic actions is empty; know in this way the initial consciousness, knowing that the self-nature of the initial consciousness is empty; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty; one should also know that in the creating and transmigration of karmic actions there is neither a creator nor a receiver—all dharmas are merely displayed through discrimination of illusory marks and names.
Original text:大王。诸根如幻。境界如梦。一切诸法。自性空寂。此名空解脱门。空无空相。名无相解脱门。若无相者。则无希求。名无愿解脱门。若能了知。三解脱门。与空共行。菩提先道。广大如法界。究竟如虚空。于此譬喻。当如是知。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the six faculties are all conjured up as illusions, and all sense realms are like dreams; the self-nature of all dharmas is entirely empty and quiescent. This is called the door of liberation of emptiness (śūnyatā-vimokṣa-mukha). The door of liberation of emptiness likewise has no mark of emptiness; this is called the door of liberation of signlessness (animitta-vimokṣa-mukha). If all dharmas are without marks, then there is nothing further to wish for or seek; this is called the door of liberation of wishlessness (apraṇihita-vimokṣa-mukha). If one can ultimately know that these three doors of liberation all proceed together with emptiness and are all empty, then the great bodhi path of nirvāṇa is as vast as the dharma-realm of the tathāgatagarbha, and its ultimate nature is like empty space. Regarding such a simile, one should know it in this way.
