Commentary on the Buddha and His Sons Sutra (131)

All Phenomena Are Empty and Quiescent

The six sense faculties—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are like illusions, manifested by the Tathagatagarbha; this is called "like an illusion." Phenomena are like a dream. Phenomena refer to the visual forms perceived by the eyes, the sounds heard by the ears, the scents and odors smelled by the nose, the tastes of sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy experienced by the tongue, the bodily sensations such as fatigue, lightness, softness, comfort, hunger, fullness, and so on, and the dharma-objects apprehended by the mental faculty. These phenomena seem to exist, yet their existence is illusory and unreal, just like the phenomena experienced in a dream.

The Buddha consistently reveals to us a truth: all phenomena are empty and quiescent. This means that all phenomena are empty and tranquil. Why is this said? Because all phenomena arise dependently through the aggregation of various causes and conditions; they inherently lack self-nature and are not truly existent entities. Therefore, they are said to be empty and quiescent. From another perspective, all phenomena are manifestations projected by the alaya-vijnana (storehouse consciousness), governed by the alaya-vijnana, and are merely shadows of the alaya-vijnana. Their essence is the alaya-vijnana itself; there are no phenomena apart from it. Hence, it is said that all phenomena are empty and quiescent. The emptiness taught in the Lesser Vehicle and the emptiness (emptiness nature) taught in the Mahayana both point to this truth and reality.