Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (71)

All dharmas are inherently liberated

Liberation means not being bound. Since all dharmas themselves are utterly unattainable, they cannot bind anyone. It is sentient beings' own minds that take all dharmas as real and as self, clinging to them without cease; thus they voluntarily adhere to all dharmas and fail to attain liberation themselves—this has nothing to do with the dharmas. If one can realize that all dharmas are unattainable and no longer wishes to grasp at them, one attains liberation and is no longer bound by the various dharmas. Sentient beings are all tied up by the realms of the six sense objects and bound by their own five-aggregate bodies, with ropes looped one ring after another, locked fast, as if imprisoned in the jail of the three realms, unable to break free of the shackles and rush out of the prison. The root of the problem lies in sentient beings' own minds not clearly understanding the various dharmas—not knowing that dharmas are empty, illusory, and unreal. The dharmas do not bind anyone at all, so there is no need to cling to them. If sentient beings can recognize this principle, their minds will naturally be liberated from the illusory realms. The liberation of all dharmas will certainly manifest, and sentient beings are inherently liberated to begin with; it is only because they have lost sight of the truth that they bind themselves in vain. There is no sentient being who cannot be liberated, except those who remain deluded and infatuated.

All dharmas in the world are inherently empty and illusory; there is no need for us to empty them. All dharmas are inherently liberated; there is no need for us to liberate them. As long as we recognize the truth and reality, there is no dharma that is not empty, and no dharma that is not liberated. We cannot posit the various dharmas as existent; the ten dharma realms and the eighteen realms are likewise empty and illusory. Therefore there are no sentient beings, no sages, no six faculties, no realms of the six sense objects, and no six consciousnesses. Then there is no bondage whatsoever, and no one who is bound; both bondage and the bound are illusory appearances, utterly unattainable.