Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (129)

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 illusions, and the various sense objects are like a dream. All dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent—this is called the door of emptiness liberation. The dharmas being empty and yet without the mark of emptiness is called the door of signlessness liberation. If all dharmas are without even any signs, then one should not give rise to any wishes or aspirations—this is called the door of wishlessness liberation. These three dharmas—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—practice in accord with emptiness, walking the path toward nirvāṇa; one should cultivate and study in this way. To seek nirvāṇa, one must first know that all dharmas are the true reality dharmadhātu, all being the one true dharmadhātu of the ālayavijñāna, pervading the bounds of empty space in the ten directions. Regarding these analogies, one should understand them in this way.

The six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all illusory manifestations. The various sights the eyes see, the various sounds the ears hear—the objects the six faculties engage with are like things in a dream, not real. What more should we pursue? All dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent; there is nothing that is not empty, nothing that is not quiescent and extinguished—there is nothing at all. This is the door of emptiness liberation. When one realizes that all dharmas are empty and knows that they are empty, the mind is liberated.