Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (131)

The faculties include the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. These six faculties are like illusions, manifested by the tathāgatagarbha; this is called "illusion-like." The sense objects are like a dream: the sense objects are the material objects seen by the eye, the sounds heard by the ear, the fragrant and foul odors smelled by the nose, the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy flavors tasted by the tongue, the objects felt by the body such as fatigue, tranquility, softness, comfort, hunger, satiety, and so on, and the mental sense-objects confronted by the manas. These sense objects appear to exist, but their existence is false existence, illusory existence, and is not real—just like the objects in a dream.

Everywhere the Buddha is revealing to us one truth: all dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent. This means that all dharmas are empty and tranquil. Why is this said? Because all dharmas arise from the convergence of various conditions and causes, and inherently have no self-nature; they are not truly existing dharmas, and therefore are said to be empty and quiescent. From another perspective, all dharmas are manifested by the ālayavijñāna, are directed by the ālayavijñāna, and are shadows of the ālayavijñāna; in essence they are the ālayavijñāna, and there are no [independent] dharmas at all. Therefore it is said that all dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent. The emptiness of the Small Vehicle and the emptiness (śūnyatā) of the Great Vehicle both point to this truth and reality.