The Six Sense Objects and Their Conditioned Shadows Are Like Images in a Mirror

The shadows cast by the six sense objects are like images in a mirror. Everything we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think, and do is a reflection in the mirror. When we look at the reflections in the mirror, no matter what feelings or thoughts we have about them, no matter how we try to manipulate or fabricate them, they are ultimately just reflections, not real things. We discriminate among those reflections in the mirror—this reflection is so good, that reflection is so evil—and we keep grasping and clutching at them ceaselessly, yet no matter what, we never truly grasp anything at all. It is all just reflections, with no real effect; it is all emptiness. It is like the reflection of a tree in a river: however much you admire it, it is not truly real after all; it is like the moon in the river: no matter how the monkeys scoop at it, in the end they never scoop up even a shred of it, because there is no real moon there at all.

It is the same with all the states we come into contact with: it seems as if we enjoy something within them, but in fact we enjoy nothing at all—we are merely dealing with shadows. The manas directs the six consciousnesses in ceaseless attention (manaskāra), ceaseless contact, ceaseless feeling, ceaseless perception, ceaseless grasping, yet in reality nothing is ever grasped—we are merely dealing with shadows, and we ourselves are one of those shadows. Illusory dharmas facing illusory dharmas—what reality is there to speak of? Yet we have no way to jump out of this, no way to know these true facts, because of meager merit (alpa-puṇya) and foolishness. The World-Honored One, out of compassion for sentient beings, taught and transformed them with all manner of words and parables: cultivate precepts, meditation (samādhi), and wisdom; remove the obstructions and coverings; recognize the facts clearly—there is truly not a single dharma in the world that can be obtained. Rest the mind and eliminate deluded thoughts, and one will then see the true reality. Only by relying on the Buddha's words and cultivating genuinely can sentient beings see the shadows clearly, return to their self-nature, and attain liberation.