Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (193)

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。若无相者。则无希求。名无愿解脱门。若能了此。三解脱门。与空共行。菩提先道。广大如法性。究竟如虚空。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 tranquil; this is called the door of liberation of emptiness. Although dharmas are empty, there is also no mark of emptiness; this is called the door of liberation of signlessness. If all dharmas are without even a mark, then one should not give rise to any longing or aspiration; 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 exactly this way. If one wishes 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 throughout the ten directions. Regarding these analogies, one should understand them in this way.