Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (164)

The Three Doors of Liberation

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: The great king should know that the six sense faculties are like illusions, and the various sense objects are like dreams. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil — this is called the door of liberation of emptiness. The emptiness of all dharmas also has no mark of emptiness; this is called the door of liberation of signlessness. If all dharmas have no marks at all, then one should not generate any wishes or aspirations; this is called the door of liberation of wishlessness. In this way, the three doors of liberation — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness — exist together 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 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 in this way.

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 — they 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 there at all. This is the door of liberation of emptiness. When one realizes that all dharmas are empty and knows they are empty, one is liberated.