Lecture Notes on The Sutra of the Compendium of Father and Son (164)

The Three Gates of Liberation

Original Text: Your Majesty should know that the sense faculties are like illusions, and all phenomena are like dreams. All dharmas are empty and tranquil. This is called the Gate of Liberation of Emptiness. Emptiness itself is without the characteristic of emptiness; this is called the Gate of Liberation of Signlessness. If there are no characteristics, then there are no aspirations or desires; this is called the Gate of Liberation of Wishlessness. These three dharmas coexist with emptiness, paving the path to Nirvana. Practice should be undertaken accordingly. To seek Nirvana, one must first understand that all dharmas are the true Dharma Realm—the one true Dharma Realm of Alaya Consciousness—pervading the ten directions and the bounds of space. Only then can one realize Nirvana. These analogies should be understood as such.

Explanation: Your Majesty should understand that the six sense faculties—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are illusory. The objects perceived by the eyes, the sounds heard by the ears, and all phenomena perceived by the six sense faculties are like events in a dream—unreal. What more is there to pursue? All dharmas are empty and tranquil; nothing exists that is not empty, nothing exists that is not extinguished. There is nothing at all. This is the Gate of Liberation of Emptiness. Realizing the emptiness of all dharmas and understanding this emptiness is liberation.