Commentary on the Pitṛputra Samāgama Sūtra, Part 168

Seeing Through the Illusory Nature of All Phenomena and Turning Toward the Path of Liberation

Original Text: The Buddha said to the King: "Great King, it is like a person who, in a dream, embraces and entertains himself with many jewel-like maidens. After this person awakens, he ceaselessly recalls the wonderful tactile sensations experienced in the dream. Were those sensations real?" The King replied: "No, they were not."

Explanation: The Buddha said: "Great King, suppose a person, in a dream, entertains himself with many beautiful women. After this person awakens, he continues to recall the wonderful tactile sensations he experienced in the dream. Did those events truly exist?" King Śuddhodana replied: "They were not real."

After this person awakens from the dream, he still regards the events of the dream as real, remaining immersed in the dream, constantly recalling it, clinging to it with greed and unwilling to let go. This person lacks wisdom. He does not realize that the dream is not real, not truly existent, and that he should not be deludedly attached to unreal false appearances, pursuing illusory sensations and feelings. He should not be so confused and inverted, mistaking the false for the real. The sensations experienced in the dream are all illusory. How much more so are the feelings arising from recalling the dream after awakening! Do the things recalled in the mind still exist? They no longer exist; otherwise, it would not be called recollection. For example, if I recall that the food I just ate was very fragrant, the food has already been eaten, and the fragrance no longer exists now. No matter how much I reminisce, it has no actual effect and is utterly without benefit. What has vanished will not return. Moreover, a dream is even more illusory than a past real experience. Recalling it only reveals the mind's greedy attachment and unwillingness to let go—a useless immersion in illusory imaginings that pointlessly wastes precious time and energy.

Furthermore, when we recall words spoken by someone, are those words still sounding in our ears during recollection? There are no sounds in our ears. Sounds that have passed, words that were spoken, do not exist in the present and serve no purpose. If we then cling relentlessly to those sounds, dwelling on them with persistent attachment, that is adding illusion upon illusion. The very moment the sound existed was illusory; how much more so when it has already vanished—utterly unreal. If past objects of the six sense faculties (six dusts) are said to still have an effect, it is actually just the false discriminations, thoughts, and imaginings produced by the mind. The mind then generates false sensations and clinging emotions again, but in reality, they no longer have any effect. What has passed is past; clinging to it only needlessly increases afflictions. Sentient beings, in their daily lives, feel that their perceptions of the myriad phenomena of the six dusts are very real. But are those sensations truly real? None are real; they are like flowers in the sky or illusions.

Since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have been like this—life after life pursuing things that are fundamentally unreal and illusory, mistaking the illusory world of the five aggregates as real, ceaselessly generating deluded thoughts, and needlessly increasing their suffering. The Buddhas, seeing the foolishness and distress of sentient beings, give rise to compassion. They manifest in the world to proclaim the truth, guiding the multitudes of the deluded, enabling them to leave the decaying house of ignorance and turn toward the great path of liberation.