Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (77)

Are the celestial maidens in a dream truly existent?

Original text: 大王。诸根如幻。境界如梦。譬如有人。于梦寐中。与诸婇女。共相娱乐。大王。于意云何。彼梦觉已。忆所受乐。为实有不。王曰不也。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the six faculties are all illusory transformations, and the realms of the six sense objects are like objects in a dream. For example, there is a person who, while dreaming, plays and amuses himself together with many celestial maidens. Great King, what do you think? After that person wakes from the dream and recalls the pleasure he experienced in the dream, is that dream realm truly existent? King Śuddhodana said: It is not truly existent.

The six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are like illusory transformations; from empty space, in which nothing exists, the six faculties are conjured forth, and their functions are likewise illusory and unreal. The master of these conjurations is the tathāgatagarbha, which is like a magician. The realms that the faculties confront—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—the Buddha said are like a dream, just like objects in a dream, utterly impossible to grasp. In a dream, the mind consciousness can still discern the dreamscape, come into contact with people and things in the dream, and give rise to feelings of joy, pleasure, sorrow, and anger; but after waking from the dream, there is nothing at all, nothing to be found. Sentient beings living in so-called reality are just as deluded and inverted as if in a dream: it seems they can come into contact with the realms of the six sense objects, and it seems there are the feelings of the six consciousnesses, but in fact all of it is illusory; after waking from the dream, nothing can be found. Sentient beings have not yet awakened from the dream; bodhisattvas are half asleep and half awake, not yet fully awakened; the Buddhas have already completely awakened and are no longer in the dream, able to fully recall the events of the dream—while ordinary sentient beings are all talking in their sleep.

Original text: 佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。为智者不。不也世尊。何以故。梦中婇女。毕竟非有。何况与之。共相娱乐。当知是人。忆梦中境。徒自疲劳。不复可得。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, if this person takes his own dream as truly existent, is he a person of wisdom? King Śuddhodana said: This person has no wisdom. Why is this said? Because the celestial maidens in the dream ultimately do not exist, let alone the matter of amusing oneself together with them—that is even more nonexistent. It should be known that when this person recalls the dreamscape of his dream, he merely tires his consciousness in vain; the dream cannot be returned to and cannot be obtained.

Clearly, in the dream there is everything, yet upon waking there is nothing at all; and after waking, one still takes the people and events of the dream as real and keeps clinging to them—such a person is not one of wisdom. The Buddha used this method to alert his father not to crave the pleasures of the five desires. The pleasures of the five desires are just like events in a dream and should not be craved; through such craving, one will falsely undergo the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra.