Commentary on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (102)

The Three Gates of Liberation

Original text: 大王当知。诸根如幻。境界如梦。一切诸法。皆悉空寂。此名空解脱门。空无空相。名无相解脱门。若无有相。即无愿求。名无愿解脱门。如是三法。与空共行。涅盘先道。当如是学。

Explanation: Great King, you should know that the six faculties are like illusions, and the various sense objects are like a dream. All dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent—this is called the gate of emptiness liberation. The dharmas are empty yet without the mark of emptiness; this is called the gate of signlessness liberation. If dharmas are without any sign, then there should be no wishing or seeking; this is called the gate of wishlessness liberation. These three dharmas—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—practicing in accord with emptiness, are the preliminary path to nirvāṇa. One should cultivate and study in this way.

The six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all illusory manifestations. The various objects the eyes see, the various objects the ears hear—the objects the six faculties engage with are like things in a dream, not real. What else should we pursue? All dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent; there is nothing that is not empty, nothing that is not quiescent and ceased—there is nothing at all. This is the gate of emptiness liberation. When one realizes that all dharmas are empty and knows they are empty, the mind is liberated.

Emptiness without the mark of emptiness is called the gate of signlessness liberation. For dharmas that are empty, there is no appearance that can be seen, spoken of, or pointed out—even emptiness itself is empty. This is the gate of signlessness liberation. Knowing that emptiness has no sign at all, that even emptiness does not exist, the mind is further liberated. If even the mark of emptiness does not exist, if there is not even emptiness itself, then what emptiness would one still be attached to?

If there is no sign, there is no wishing or seeking. If there is not even any sign, what else would we seek? What wishing or seeking remains? There is nothing more to seek at all—this is the gate of wishlessness liberation. Without wishing or seeking, the mind is even more liberated. When we have accomplished the three gates of liberation—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—we are noble ones.

The three dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness practice in accord with emptiness: they neither depart from emptiness, nor do they have the mark of emptiness; the three are also inseparable from one another, progressing layer by layer toward ultimate liberation. If we wish to enter nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and unceasing, we should cultivate in this way, continually generating mental processes of emptiness, becoming ever more empty, until even emptiness itself is empty—only then is the emptying clean and thorough. If there still remains an "emptiness" in the mind, then it is not truly empty; one should still extinguish the mind of emptiness. This is how one should cultivate and study on the path to nirvāṇa, and thereby realize nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is liberation; nirvāṇa is the unborn and unceasing; nirvāṇa is quiescent, unconditioned stillness; nirvāṇa is great freedom and ease.