Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son

Volume Nineteen  King Śuddhodana's Faith and Understanding, Twenty-Seven 

Through the previous immersion in the various dream states, we have come to know that the myriad dharmas are all like dreams and illusions, all false and unreal, and that not a single dharma is real apart from self-nature. If one can truly accept the principle that all dharmas are empty, one can gradually attain liberation. The principle of liberation is expounded rather extensively in the Hinayana Āgama sūtras: when the mind does not adhere to the myriad dharmas and is not bound by them, that is liberation. Are sentient beings now all bound by the myriad dharmas? Observe whether you yourself are bound by the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, bound by the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and bound by the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas. Certainly all are bound; then one must find a way to undo these bonds and seek liberation.

All dharmas are contained within the eighteen realms. The manifold things of life—the forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas—are all included within the myriad dharmas, and no matter or principle can depart from the five aggregates and the eighteen realms. The minds of sentient beings are indeed all bound by the myriad dharmas. Then which mind, specifically, is bound by the myriad dharmas? The minds of the first seven consciousnesses are all bound. The seventh consciousness, the manas, universally grasps at all dharmas, grasps at the five aggregates, and grasps at all the dharmas of the eighteen realms, being bound by the eighteen realms; at the same time, it continually perfumes the six consciousnesses, causing the six consciousnesses likewise to crave the realms of the six sense objects. In this way, there is no liberation from the six sense objects and no escape from the ocean of suffering of birth and death in the six paths of rebirth, so that one drifts through birth and death amid sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress.

What is the cause of sentient beings being bound by the myriad dharmas? It is not that the myriad dharmas insist on binding sentient beings; rather, it is that sentient beings insist on grasping and craving, and therefore the mind cannot separate from the myriad dharmas. For example, when the mind craves money, one's entire life is tied up by money and possessions, unable to escape from them, transmigrating life after life within the realms of the six sense objects. Then how is one to attain liberation? By correctly recognizing the selfless nature of the arising, ceasing, and mutation of the myriad dharmas—not seeking, not craving, not chasing, not clinging—when the mind does not grasp, liberation is attained.

The dharmas the Buddha previously taught King Śuddhodana were all dharma gates of liberation, employing all sorts of illusory marks and dream states to awaken King Śuddhodana to the need to liberate himself from the five desires and the six sense objects. We already know that the myriad dharmas are like dreams and illusions, that a person is likewise as if within a dream and not truly existent, and we know the body is an illusion; yet we have not truly realized this. To realize it, one must cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna) and engage deeply in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); after realization, one can gradually attain liberation. The purpose of the World-Honored One's teaching of the Dharma is to enable sentient beings to enter the gate of liberation. The eighty-four thousand dharma gates the Buddha taught are all dharma gates of liberation; entering through a single dharma gate, all dharma gates can be penetrated, and every dharma can bring liberation. The Buddha descended into the world precisely in order to deliver sentient beings and liberate them from the suffering of birth and death, and to open up, demonstrate, awaken, and lead them to enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision, ultimately attaining buddhahood. The lesser liberation is eradicating the grasping at a personal self to become an arhat; the great liberation is eradicating the grasping at a self of dharmas to attain the buddha fruit of great sovereignty and freedom—this is the most ultimate liberation.