The True Meaning That All Dharmas in the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment Are Pure

The Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment says that all dharmas are tranquil (praśama). Why? Unwholesome dharmas, wholesome dharmas, hells, heavenly palaces—all dharmas of the world are tranquil. Why? Slandering the Buddha and destroying the Dharma is also extremely tranquil; slandering the Saṅgha and destroying stupas and temples is also extremely tranquil; and of course, studying Buddhism and cultivating the Path, the bodhisattva's six perfections, are even more tranquil. Why? Because all dharmas are the wondrous function of the tathāgatagarbha, empty in their very nature; and even if not empty, they are still tranquil. For example, a machine designed by humans to slaughter sentient beings through programmed procedures—its actions carry no defilement, because it creates the karma of killing without mind or intent, and it has no autonomy; therefore it does not create the karma of killing. Its actions are attributed to the program design, to the will of the designer.

When one realizes the emptiness of all dharmas, the karma of the hells is also empty, and one need not fall into the hells. For example, a magician conjures up a man and a woman; although these man and woman perform various wholesome and unwholesome deeds, there is no karmic retribution. This is because all karma is illusory and has no substance; if there were substance, it would all be the doing of the magician.

Suppose a magician conjures up two people, and one of them kills the other. Yet there is no killer, and no one killed; the karma of killing therein is also illusory. The master of the illusion is the magician, yet the magician does not undergo retribution. In reality there is no act of killing, no creator of karma, and no one who undergoes retribution. All dharmas are illusory—where is there anything real? To say anything is real is to be deluded and inverted. Therefore we need not, upon waking from a dream, contemplate that the dream is a dream; while awake, it is still a dream—just like observing a dream within a dream, everything is a dream. The observer is also a dream, and the observing is also a dream! All dharmas are dreams.