Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (37)

Chapter Five  Three Dream Similes

Original text:大王。诸根如幻。境界如梦。譬如有人。于梦寐中。与诸婇女。共相娱乐。大王。于意云何。彼梦觉已。忆所受乐。为实有不。王曰不也。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the six faculties are all illusory transformations, and the objects of the six sense objects are like a dream. For example, suppose there is a person who, while dreaming, frolics and takes pleasure together with many celestial maidens. Great King, what do you think? After that person wakes from the dream and recollects the pleasure experienced in the dream, does that dream state truly exist? King Śuddhodana said: It does not truly exist.

The six faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are like illusory conjurations. From empty space, in which nothing exists, the six faculties are conjured forth, and their functions are likewise illusory and unreal. The master of these conjurations is the tathāgatagarbha, which is like a magician. The objects that the faculties confront—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—the Buddha said are like a dream, just like things in a dream, utterly impossible to grasp. In a dream, the mind consciousness can still discern the dreamscape, come into contact with people and things in the dream, and give rise to feelings of joy, pleasure, sorrow, and anger; but after waking from the dream, there is nothing at all—nothing can be found. Sentient beings living in so-called reality are just as confused and deluded as if in a dream: it seems they can come into contact with the six sense objects, and it seems there are the feelings of the six consciousnesses, but in fact all of it is illusory; after waking from the dream, nothing can be found. Sentient beings have not yet awakened from the dream; bodhisattvas are half asleep and half awake, not yet fully awakened; while the Buddhas have already completely awakened and are no longer in the dream, able to fully recollect the events of the dream. Ordinary sentient beings are all talking in their sleep.