Commentary on the Scripture of the Father and Son Assembly (102)

The Three Gates of Liberation

Original Text: Your Majesty should know that the sense faculties are like illusions, all phenomena are like dreams, and all dharmas are entirely empty and serene. This is called the Gate of Liberation of Emptiness. Emptiness itself is without the mark of emptiness; this is called the Gate of Liberation of Marklessness. If there are no marks, then there is no aspiration or seeking; this is called the Gate of Liberation of Wishlessness. These three dharmas coexist with emptiness and constitute the path leading to Nirvāṇa. One should practice accordingly.

Explanation: Your Majesty should understand that the six sense faculties—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are illusory. All perceived realms—forms seen by the eyes, sounds heard by the ears, and objects encountered by the six faculties—are like events in a dream, devoid of reality. What, then, should we pursue? All dharmas are entirely empty and serene; nothing exists that is not empty, nothing exists that is not extinguished—utter voidness. This is the Gate of Liberation of Emptiness. Realizing the emptiness of all dharmas liberates the mind.

"Emptiness without the mark of emptiness" is called the Gate of Liberation of Marklessness. The dharma of emptiness has no perceivable, expressible, or definable mark. Even emptiness itself is empty. This is the Gate of Liberation of Marklessness. Knowing that emptiness lacks any mark—that even emptiness itself does not exist—liberates the mind even further.

"If there are no marks, there is no aspiration or seeking." If not even marks exist, what could we seek? What aspiration could remain? There is nothing left to pursue. This is the Gate of Liberation of Wishlessness. Without aspiration or seeking, the mind is liberated to an even greater degree. Accomplishing these Three Gates of Liberation—Emptiness, Marklessness, and Wishlessness—is to become a sage.

The three dharmas—Emptiness, Marklessness, and Wishlessness—coexist with emptiness. They neither depart from emptiness nor possess the mark of emptiness, yet they remain inseparable, progressively deepening liberation. To enter Nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and unceasing, one must practice thus: continuously cultivate mental actions of emptiness, progressing until even emptiness itself is emptied, achieving thorough and complete voidness. If the mind still clings to emptiness, true emptiness has not yet been realized; one must relinquish even the notion of emptiness. On the path to Nirvāṇa, practice accordingly to attain it. Nirvāṇa is liberation; Nirvāṇa is the unborn and unceasing; Nirvāṇa is serene non-action; Nirvāṇa is ultimate freedom.