Chapter 2: The Five Dream Similes Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son

Chapter 2 Five Dream Similes

Original text: 大王。如人梦中。见以死蛇。死狗人尸。系己颈上。心生怖畏。于意云何。是人觉已。忆念所见。为实有不。王曰不也。佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无死蛇等。何更复有。系之颈耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。

Explanation: Great King, it is like someone who in a dream sees a dead snake, a dead dog, and a human corpse tied around his own neck, and fear arises in his mind. What do you think? After this person awakens, he keeps thinking about the terrifying things seen in the dream — are the things seen in the dream truly existent? King Śuddhodana said: They are not truly existent. The Buddha said: Great King, if this person clings to what he dreamed as being real, is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana said: He is not a wise person, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there are ultimately no such things as dead snakes or dead dogs — how could there be the event of tying dead snakes and dead dogs around the neck? One should know that this person merely wearies his mind in vain; there is nothing real at all.

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。见是臭恶。嗔恚毁呰。造作是业。身三语四。意三种业。造是业已。刹那灭谢。是业不依。东西南北。四维上下。中间而住。最后边际。命根灭时。自分业报。皆悉现前。犹如梦觉。念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings (pṛthagjana), seeing such foul and repulsive corpses, give rise to minds of anger and destructiveness and create evil karma — three kinds created through the body, four kinds through speech, and three kinds of mental karma. After the ten unwholesome karmas are created, the karmic formations cease in a kṣaṇa, being extinguished even as they are created; after they cease, the karmic formations have nowhere to go, not abiding depending on east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, up, or down. When at the end the life-faculty ceases, the karmic retribution to be undergone on this life's material body all manifests, just like remembering the events of a dream after waking from it.

Original text: 大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗果。及阿修罗。若人若天。初识生已。各受其报。同分心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。

Explanation: Great King, the Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, with karmic seeds as its object (ālambana). When this cause and this condition come together, the first consciousness of the next life is born. Beings either proceed to the hell destiny, fall into the hungry-ghost destiny, or are reborn into the animal destiny — the three evil destinies; or they are reborn into the three good destinies of the asura destiny, the human destiny, and the heavenly destiny. Once the first consciousness has been born, beings begin to each receive their karmic retribution, and thereafter the consciousness on the same material body continues to operate without interruption. When at the end of life the consciousness ceases, the material body is a corpse, called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the material body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the material body are called the aggregate of birth.

Original text: 大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。所以者何。性生灭故。大王。身识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所去。初识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。何以故。自性离故。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not the slightest dharma that can transmigrate from this life to the next life. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing, not permanently existing; when the five aggregates cease at the time of death, all dharmas cease. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. When karmic formations are created, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they go nowhere. When the first consciousness of the next life arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. Why do all dharmas have neither a place of coming nor a place of going? Because all dharmas are free of all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas has no marks whatsoever; their intrinsic essence is empty and utterly unobtainable.

Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。

Explanation: One should know the body consciousness in this way, knowing that it is empty of self-nature; know the karmic formations created by one's own consciousness in this way, knowing that karmic formations are empty of self-nature; know the first consciousness in this way, knowing that the first consciousness is empty of self-nature; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty; and one should also know the creating and transmigrating of karmic formations: there is no doer and no experiencer; all dharmas are merely discriminated and displayed as false marks and names.

Original text: 大王。譬如有人。于睡梦中。为彼非人。断其鼻根。于意云何。是人觉已。忆念梦中。鼻根断坏。是实有不。王曰不也。佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无有鼻根。何更说有。被断坏耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。

Explanation: Great King, it is like someone who in a dream dreams that a non-human being has cut off his nose faculty. What do you think? After this person awakens, he keeps recollecting the event of his nose faculty being destroyed in the dream — is this event truly existent? King Śuddhodana said: It is not truly existent, World-Honored One. The Buddha said: Great King, if this person clings to what he dreamed as being real, is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana said: He is not a wise person, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there is ultimately no such thing as a nose faculty, let alone the event of its being cut off. One should know that this person merely wearies his mind in vain; there is no real event at all.

Non-humans (amanuṣya) are not part of the human race; they include asuras, Yama beings, great golden-winged garuḍa birds, ghosts and spirits — they are not humans. Many non-humans also serve as Dharma-protecting deities for us humans; they create both evil karma and perform good deeds.

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。见鼻根坏。起恐怖想。造作痴业。身三语四。意三种业。最初造作。刹那灭谢。是业灭已。不依四方。四维上下。中间而住。最后边际。命根灭尽。自分业报。皆悉现前。犹如梦觉。念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings, seeing their own nose faculty destroyed, give rise to minds of terror and create karma of delusion — three kinds of bodily karma, four kinds of verbal karma, and three kinds of mental karma. From the very first moment of creating them, the karmic formations cease in a kṣaṇa even as they are being made; after these karmic formations cease, they do not abide depending on east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, up, or down. But when the final life is nearing its end, the karmic retribution created in this life all manifests, just like remembering the events of a dream after waking from it.

Original text: 大王。识为其主业为攀缘。二种相因初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生琰摩罗界及阿修罗若人若天。初识生已各受其报。同分心品相续随转。最后识灭名为死蕴。最初识起名为生蕴。

Explanation: Great King, the Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, with karmic seeds as its object (ālambana). When this cause and this condition come together, the first consciousness of the next life is born. After the first consciousness is born, beings either proceed to the hells, fall into the hungry-ghost destiny, or are reborn into the animal destiny and the other three evil destinies; or they are reborn into the three good destinies of the asura destiny, the human destiny, and the heavenly destiny. Once the first consciousness has been born, beings begin to each receive their karmic retribution, and thereafter the consciousness on the same material body continues to operate without interruption. When at the end of life the consciousness ceases, the material body is a corpse, called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the material body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the material body are called the aggregate of birth.

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not the slightest dharma that can transmigrate from this life to the next. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing, not permanently existing; when the five aggregates cease at the time of death, all dharmas cease. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. When karmic formations are created, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they go nowhere. When the first consciousness of the next life arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. Why do all dharmas have neither a place of coming nor a place of going? Because all dharmas are free of all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas has no marks whatsoever; their intrinsic essence is empty and utterly unobtainable.

Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。

Explanation: Know the body consciousness in this way, knowing that it is empty of self-nature; know the karmic formations created by one's own consciousness in this way, knowing that karmic formations are empty of self-nature; know the first consciousness in this way, knowing that the first consciousness is empty of self-nature; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty; and also know the creating and transmigrating of karmic formations: there is no doer and no experiencer; all dharmas are merely discriminated and displayed as false marks and names.

Original text: 大王当知。诸根如幻。境界如梦。一切诸法。皆悉空寂。此名空解脱门。空无空相。名无相解脱门。若无有相。则无愿求。名无愿解脱门。如是三法。与空共行。涅槃先道。决定如法界。周遍虚空际。于此譬喻。当如是知。

Explanation: Great King, you should know that the six faculties are like conjured illusions, and the various sense realms are like a dream. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil — this is called the door of liberation of emptiness (śūnyatā-vimokṣa-mukha); the dharmas being empty yet without even a mark of emptiness is called the door of liberation of signlessness (ānimitta-vimokṣa-mukha); if dharmas have no marks at all, then there should be no aspirations or seeking — this is called the door of liberation of wishlessness (apraṇihita-vimokṣa-mukha). These three dharmas — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, the three doors of liberation — exist together with emptiness; the path toward nirvāṇa should be cultivated in this way. To seek nirvāṇa, one must first know that all dharmas are the dharmadhātu of ultimate reality, all being the Ālayavijñāna, the one true dharmadhātu, pervading the bounds of empty space in the ten directions; only then can nirvāṇa be realized. Regarding these similes, one should know them in this way.

The six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all conjured up by illusion. The various realms the eyes see, the various realms the ears hear, the various realms the six faculties confront — they are like events in a dream, not real. What more is there to pursue? All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil; there is not a single dharma that is not empty, not a single dharma that is not quiescent — there is nothing at all. This is the door of liberation of emptiness. Realizing that all dharmas are empty and knowing they are empty, one is liberated.

Emptiness without a mark of emptiness is called the door of liberation of signlessness. Empty dharmas have no appearance that can be seen, spoken of, or pointed out; even emptiness itself is empty — this is the door of liberation of signlessness. Knowing that emptiness has no marks whatsoever, that even emptiness does not exist, the mind is further liberated. If there is not even a mark of emptiness, if there is not even emptiness, what emptiness is there to cling to? If there are not even marks, what is there to seek? Nothing more needs to be sought — this is the door of liberation of wishlessness. Without aspirations or seeking, the mind is even more liberated. When the three doors of liberation — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness — are cultivated to accomplishment, one is a noble one who has entered the noble stage.

The three dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness proceed together with emptiness: neither departing from emptiness, nor having a mark of emptiness, the three not separate from one another, advancing level by level toward ultimate liberation. If beings wish to enter nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and unceasing, they should cultivate in this way, continually producing mental activities of emptiness, becoming ever emptier, with even emptiness being empty, until the emptiness is clean and thorough. If there is still an "emptiness" in the mind, then it is not true emptiness; one should also extinguish the mind of emptiness. Only by cultivating in this way on the path to nirvāṇa can nirvāṇa be realized. Nirvāṇa is liberation; nirvāṇa is the unborn and unceasing; nirvāṇa is tranquil and unconditioned; nirvāṇa is great sovereign freedom.

The path to nirvāṇa should be walked in this way. And what nirvāṇa fundamentally relies upon is the one true dharmadhātu, the dharma of the Ālayavijñāna; without the Ālayavijñāna, there would be no four kinds of nirvāṇa to speak of. It is in terms of the dharmadhātu of the Ālayavijñāna tathāgatagarbha that all dharmas are empty, tranquil, and signless, and therefore there is no aspiration or seeking. These dharma principles pervade the bounds of empty space; in whichever world of empty space one may be, this is the same truth — all dharmas are empty. This principle applies throughout all the bounds of empty space; it is so everywhere.

Nirvāṇa is divided into four kinds: nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), the nirvāṇa of the intrinsically pure mind, and non-abiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa). The nirvāṇa of the Small Vehicle means extinguishing all dharmas. "Nirvāṇa" is a provisional term referring to the attainment of a state that is unborn and unceasing; it is merely a nature or state, not a truly existent dharma. The truly existent dharma is the tathāgatagarbha; displayed upon the substance of the tathāgatagarbha is a nature that is unborn and unceasing, a nature of immovability — this is nirvāṇa. When an arhat enters nirvāṇa without remainder, there is no arhat there; only his tathāgatagarbha mind remains, abiding in a state that is unborn and unceasing — that state is nirvāṇa, and therefore nirvāṇa is also a provisional term. Only the mind of ultimate reality, the tathāgatagarbha mind, is the true dharma, the real dharma; everything else is provisional dharma.

The Buddha also said this in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Likewise, suchness (tathatā) is also a nature or state: suchness is the real and thus-like nature manifested by the Ālayavijñāna tathāgatagarbha; it is a term. Ultimate reality is the truly existent mark of the tathāgatagarbha; the real nature manifested upon that truly existent mark, together with the thus-like, unmoving nature, is suchness. Therefore it is said that nirvāṇa proceeds together with emptiness; when emptiness is exhausted, one enters nirvāṇa without remainder.

Original text: 大王。譬若有人。于睡梦中。为彼饥渴。之所逼切。遇诸美馔。随意而食。于意云何。是人觉已。忆念美馔。为实有不。王曰不也。佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无彼美膳。况得食耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is like someone in a sleep-dream who, tormented and pressed by hunger and thirst, comes upon fine delicacies and eats them freely and to his heart's content. What is your view? After this person wakes up, he keeps recollecting the fine delicacies of the dream — is this event truly existent? King Śuddhodana said: It is not truly existent. The Buddha said: Great King, if this person clings to his dream as being real, is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana said: He is not a wise person, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there are ultimately no such fine delicacies, let alone the event of enjoying food and drink. One should know that this person merely wearies his mind in vain.

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。见美食已。心生爱着。起于贪行。身三语四。意三种业。最初造作。刹那灭谢。是业灭已。不依东方。南西北方。四维上下。中间而住。最后边际。命根灭时。自分业报。皆悉现前。犹如梦觉。念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings, upon seeing fine food, give rise to craving and attachment in their minds and create karmic formations of greed — three kinds of bodily karma, four kinds of verbal karma, and three kinds of mental karma. From the very first moment of creating them, the karmic formations cease in a kṣaṇa even as they are being made; after these karmic formations cease, they do not abide depending on east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, up, or down. But when the final life is nearing its end, the karmic retribution created in this life all manifests, just like remembering the events of a dream after waking from it.

Original text: 大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。初识生已。各受其报。同分心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。

Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, with karmic seeds as its object (ālambana). When cause and condition, the two, come together, the first consciousness of the next life is born. Beings either proceed to the hells, fall into the hungry-ghost destiny, or are reborn into the animal destiny — the three evil destinies; or they are reborn into the three good destinies of the asura destiny, the human destiny, and the heavenly destiny. Once the first consciousness has been born, beings begin to each receive their karmic retribution, and thereafter the consciousness on the same material body continues to operate without interruption. When at the end of life the consciousness ceases, the material body is a corpse, called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the material body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the material body are called the aggregate of birth.

Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。

Original text: 大王。如人梦中。为饥所逼。得其苦瓠。并拘赊怛计子。毕租摩哩捺子。而便食之。心生恚恨。于意云何。是人觉已。忆其梦中。食苦瓠等。为实有不。王曰不也。佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无苦瓠等。况复食耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。

Explanation: Great King, it is like someone in a dream who, pressed by hunger, obtains bitter gourds and Jushedaci seeds, Bizumolina seeds, and other things bitter to the taste and unpleasant to eat, and eats them; after eating, his mind feels anguish and resentment arises. What do you think? After this person wakes up, he recollects eating bitter gourds in his dream — is this event truly existent? King Śuddhodana said: It is not truly existent.

The Buddha said: Great King, if this person clings to what he dreamed as being real, is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana said: He is not a wise person, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there is ultimately no such thing as a bitter gourd, let alone the event of eating bitter gourds. One should know that this person merely wearies his mind in vain; there is no real event at all.

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。梦为饥逼。啖其苦味。心生恚恼。造是业行。身三语四。意三种行。造彼业已。即便灭谢。是业灭已。不依东方。南西北方。四维上下。中间而住。最后边际。命根灭时。自分业。报皆悉现前。犹如梦。觉念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings, pressed by hunger in a dream, eat bitter-tasting food and drink, and their minds give rise to anger and vexation, creating evil karmic formations — three kinds of bodily karma, four kinds of verbal karma, and three kinds of mental karma. From the very first moment of creating them, the karmic formations cease in a kṣaṇa even as they are being made; after these karmic formations cease, they do not abide depending on east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, up, or down. But when the final life is nearing its end, the karmic retribution created in this life all manifests, just like remembering the events of a dream after waking from it.

Explanation: Great King, the Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, with karmic seeds as its object (ālambana). When cause and condition, the two, come together, the first consciousness of the next life is born. Beings either proceed to the hells, fall into the hungry-ghost destiny, or are reborn into the animal destiny and the other three evil destinies; or they are reborn into the three good destinies of the asura destiny, the human destiny, and the heavenly destiny. Once the first consciousness has been born, beings begin to each receive their karmic retribution, and thereafter the consciousness on the same material body continues to operate without interruption. When at the end of life the consciousness ceases, the material body is a corpse, called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the material body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the material body are called the aggregate of birth.

Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。

Original text: 大王。如人梦中。舌根断坏。于意云何。是人觉已。忆念梦中。是为实不。王曰不也。佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无有舌根。况复断坏。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。

Explanation: Great King, it is like someone who in a dream dreams that his tongue faculty has been severed. What do you think? After this person wakes up, he keeps recollecting the events of his dream — are the events of the dream truly existent? King Śuddhodana said: They are not truly existent, World-Honored One. The Buddha said: Great King, this person clings to his dream as being real — is he wise? King Śuddhodana replied: He is not wise, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there is ultimately no tongue faculty, let alone the event of its being severed. One should know that this person merely wearies his mind in vain; there is not the slightest real event.

Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。见舌坏已。心生恚恼。造是业行。身三语四。意三种业。造彼业已。刹那灭谢。是业不依。四方四维。上下而住。最后边际命根灭谢。自分业报。皆悉现前。如梦觉已。念梦中事。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings, after seeing their own tongue faculty destroyed in the dream, give rise to anger and vexation in their minds and create evil karmic formations — three kinds of bodily karma, four kinds of verbal karma, and three kinds of mental karma. From the very first moment of creating them, the karmic formations cease in a kṣaṇa even as they are being made. After these karmic formations cease, they do not abide depending on east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, up, or down. But when the final life is nearing its end, the karmic retribution created in this life all manifests, just like remembering the events of a dream after waking from it.

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not the slightest dharma that can transmigrate from this life to the next. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing, not permanently existing; when the five aggregates cease at the time of death, all dharmas cease. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. When karmic formations are created, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they also go nowhere. When the first consciousness of the next life arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. Why do all dharmas have neither a place of coming nor a place of going? Because all dharmas are free of all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas has no marks whatsoever; their intrinsic essence is empty and utterly unobtainable.

Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。

All the dharmas that sentient beings encounter are illusory dharmas. By repeatedly comparing these dharmas with dreams, one can gain a tangible understanding of worldly dharmas; the attachments within the mind will loosen, one will no longer be willing to do many things, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions in daily life can gradually become pure. In this sūtra, the World-Honored One repeatedly uses dreams as similes to guide King Śuddhodana to see through the illusoriness of the five desires and the six sense objects, and to recognize that the essence of this world is a dream-illusion, without any reality.

Explanation: Great King, you should know that the six faculties are like conjured illusions, and the various sense realms are like a dream. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil — this is called the door of liberation of emptiness; the dharmas being empty yet without even a mark of emptiness is called the door of liberation of signlessness; if dharmas have no marks at all, then there should be no aspirations or seeking — this is called the door of liberation of wishlessness. These three dharmas — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, the three doors of liberation — exist together with emptiness; the path toward nirvāṇa should be cultivated in this way. To seek nirvāṇa, one must first know that all dharmas are the dharmadhātu of ultimate reality, all being the Ālayavijñāna, the one true dharmadhātu, pervading the bounds of empty space in the ten directions; only then can nirvāṇa be realized. Regarding these similes, one should know them in this way.

Emptiness without a mark of emptiness is called the door of liberation of signlessness. Empty dharmas have no appearance that can be seen, spoken of, or pointed out; even emptiness itself is empty — this is the door of liberation of signlessness. Knowing that emptiness has no marks whatsoever, that even emptiness does not exist, the mind is further liberated. If there is not even a mark of emptiness, if there is not even emptiness, what emptiness is there to cling to? If there are no marks, there are no aspirations or seeking — if there are not even marks, what aspirations could there be? Nothing more needs to be sought — this is the door of liberation of wishlessness. Without aspirations or seeking, the mind is even more liberated. When the three doors of liberation — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness — are cultivated to accomplishment, one becomes a noble one and enters the noble stage.

The three dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness proceed together with emptiness: neither departing from emptiness, nor having a mark of emptiness, the three not separate from one another, advancing level by level toward ultimate liberation. If one wishes to enter nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and unceasing, one should cultivate in this way, continually producing mental activities of emptiness, becoming ever emptier, with even emptiness being empty — only then is the emptiness clean and thorough. If there is still an "emptiness" in the mind, then it is not true emptiness; one should also extinguish the mind of emptiness. Only by cultivating in this way on the path to nirvāṇa can nirvāṇa be realized. Nirvāṇa is liberation; nirvāṇa is the unborn and unceasing; nirvāṇa is tranquil and unconditioned; nirvāṇa is great sovereign freedom.