Grasping at illusory dharmas — illusion within illusion; speaking of dreams within a dream — a dream within a dream

The sense objects' conditioned shadows are like images in a mirror. Everything we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think, and do is a shadow in the mirror. When we look at the shadows in the mirror, no matter what feelings or thoughts we have about a shadow, no matter how we wish to act upon it, in any case a shadow is ultimately a shadow, not something real. We discriminate among those shadows in the mirror—this shadow is so good, that shadow is so evil—and thus we keep grasping and clutching without cease; yet no matter what, we never truly grasp anything at all. They are all shadows, with no real function; both the outcome and the process are utterly empty. It is like the shadow of a tree in a river: however much one admires and clings to it, it is after all not truly existent. And the moon in the river—no matter how the monkeys scoop at it, in the end they never scoop up even the slightest bit, because there is no real moon in the river at all.

It is the same with all the states we come into contact with. It seems as if we have enjoyed something within them, but in fact we have enjoyed nothing at all—we are merely dealing with shadows. The manas directs the six consciousnesses to engage in continual attention (manaskāra), continual contact, continual feeling, continual perception, and continual grasping; in reality nothing is ever grasped—it is all dealing with shadows. And oneself is also one of those shadows: illusory dharma facing illusory dharma—what reality is there to speak of? Yet we have no way to leap out of these illusory states, no way to know these true facts, because of meager merit (alpa-puṇya) and foolishness. Out of compassion for sentient beings, the Buddhas, through all manner of words and parables, teach beings to cultivate precepts, meditation (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā), to remove obstructions and recognize the facts: in the world there is truly not a single dharma to be attained. Rest the mind and eliminate deluded thoughts, and one will see the true reality. Only by relying on the Buddha's words and cultivating genuinely can sentient beings see the shadows clearly, return to their self-nature, and attain liberation.