Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (92)

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。涅盘先道。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 illusions, and the various realms are like dreams. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil—this is called the gate of emptiness liberation (śūnyatā-vimokṣa-mukha). The emptiness of all dharmas itself has no mark of emptiness—this is called the gate of signlessness liberation (animitta-vimokṣa-mukha). If all dharmas have no marks at all, then no wishes or aspirations should arise—this is called the gate of wishlessness liberation (apraṇihita-vimokṣa-mukha). These three dharmas—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—exist together with emptiness, walking the path toward nirvāṇa, and one should cultivate and study in this way. If one wishes to attain nirvāṇa, one must first know that all dharmas are the dharmadhātu of ultimate reality, all being the one-true dharmadhātu of the Ālayavijñāna, pervading the bounds of empty space in the ten directions; only then can one realize nirvāṇa. Regarding these analogies, one should understand them thus. The six faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are all illusory manifestations. The various realms the eyes see, the various realms the ears hear, the realms the six faculties engage with—are like things in a dream, not real. What more should we pursue? All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil; there is nothing that is not empty, nothing that is not quiescent—there is nothing at all. This is the gate of emptiness liberation. When one realizes that all dharmas are empty and knows they are empty, one is liberated. "Emptiness without the mark of emptiness is called the gate of signlessness liberation": the empty dharmas have no appearance that can be seen, spoken of, or pointed out—even emptiness itself is empty. This is the gate of signlessness liberation. Knowing that emptiness has no marks whatsoever, that even emptiness does not exist, the mind is further liberated. If even the mark of emptiness does not exist, if even emptiness itself does not exist, then what attachment to emptiness could there be? "If there are no marks, then there are no wishes or aspirations": if there are no marks at all, what wishes or aspirations could we still have? There is nothing more to seek—this is the gate of wishlessness liberation. Without wishes or aspirations, the mind is even more liberated. When we have accomplished the three gates of liberation—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—we are noble ones. The three dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness proceed together with emptiness: they neither depart from emptiness nor bear the mark of emptiness, and the three are inseparable, advancing step by step toward ultimate liberation. If we wish to enter nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and undying, we should cultivate in this way, continually generating mental processes of emptiness, becoming ever emptier, until even emptiness itself is empty—only then is the emptying thorough and clean. If there still remains an "emptiness" in the mind, then it is not true emptiness, and the mental process of emptiness should also be extinguished. If one cultivates in this way on the path to nirvāṇa, one can realize nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is liberation; nirvāṇa is the unborn and undying; nirvāṇa is tranquil non-action; nirvāṇa is great freedom and ease.