Discourse on the Pitāputra-samāgama Sūtra (175)

There is originally no trouble in the world; it is the ignorant who create it for themselves.

Waking from a dream, yet continually recalling it and lingering in it—one should know that such a person only exhausts themselves to no avail, merely allowing the mind to consume energy fruitlessly, achieving nothing. Consciousness craves illusory experiences, offering only temporary psychological comfort while yielding no real benefit. Obsession with non-existent people and matters—such perceptions and sensations are utterly delusional. Since beginningless time, sentient beings have clung to unreal people, events, and phenomena, tormenting themselves. Originally, there is nothing amiss externally; it is merely our consciousness indulging in fantasy and delusion. There is originally no trouble in the world; it is the ignorant who create it for themselves. We are all such ignorant beings, taking external matters as real, causing the mind to churn and surge incessantly. Yet nothing is actually happening; we are merely manufacturing suffering for ourselves.

Once one truly realizes that all phenomena are empty and without form, the mind becomes still. A still mind is pure and at ease; a still mind attains the bliss of nirvana. This is the greatest joy, utterly free from affliction. The joys experienced by worldly people are all tainted by affliction: the happiness of family gatherings is affliction; the joy of marriage and childbirth is affliction, and it still gives rise to distress—none of it is pure or liberating. But when we cultivate to the point of attaining the bliss of nirvana, a still mind experiences not a trace of affliction or agitation. We cannot now imagine what a state of mind devoid of affliction and emotional turbulence would be like. Once one truly tastes that blissful state, they would likely never again crave even a hint of worldly experience.

Our Alaya consciousness is inherently free from the slightest affliction, abiding eternally in the bliss of nirvana. Why? Because it has no eyes yet sees not, no ears yet hears not, no nose yet smells not, no tongue yet tastes not, no body yet feels no touch, no mind yet thinks no thoughts—it has no mental state whatsoever, yet it is not ignorant. Those who have not realized the Alaya consciousness find it difficult to comprehend. Compared to the bliss we attain through meditation, the joy of worldly family gatherings, or the delight of gaining rank and wealth—it is of an entirely different nature. The bliss of nirvana contains no worldly pleasures; all phenomena of the world are unseen, undesired, free from chaos and turbulence. Worldly joys exist amidst turmoil; they are unquiet, filled with affliction and distress.