Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (92)

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。涅盘先道。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 faculties are like illusions, and the various sense objects are like dreams. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil—this is called the gate of emptiness liberation. The dharmas are empty and yet there is no mark of emptiness—this is called the gate of signlessness liberation. If all dharmas have no marks at all, then no aspiration or seeking should arise—this is called the gate of wishlessness liberation. These three gates of liberation—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—exist together with emptiness and walk 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 suchness, all being the one true dharmadhātu of the ālayavijñāna, pervading the reaches of empty space in the ten directions; only then can nirvāṇa be realized. Regarding these analogies, one should understand them thus. The six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all conjured up like illusions. 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 tranquil; there is nothing that is not empty, nothing that is not quiescent—there is nothing at all. This is the gate of emptiness liberation. When one realizes the emptiness of all dharmas and knows they are empty, one is liberated. "Emptiness without the mark of emptiness" is called the gate of signlessness liberation. Empty dharmas have no appearance that can be seen, spoken of, or pointed out—even emptiness itself is empty. This is the gate of signlessness liberation. Knowing that emptiness has no marks at all, that even emptiness does not exist, the mind is further liberated. If even the mark of emptiness does not exist, if even emptiness itself is absent, what emptiness would there be to cling to? "If there are no marks, there is no aspiration or seeking"—if there are no marks at all, what aspiration or seeking could we still have? There is nothing left to seek. This is the gate of wishlessness liberation. Without aspiration and seeking, the mind is liberated even further. When we have accomplished the three gates of liberation—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness—we are noble ones. The three dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness practice in accord with emptiness: they neither depart from emptiness nor carry the mark of emptiness, and the three are inseparable from one another, progressing layer by layer toward ultimate liberation. If we wish to enter nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and unceasing, we should cultivate in this way, continually giving rise to mental processes of emptiness, becoming ever more empty, until even emptiness itself is empty—only then is the emptying clean and thorough. If there still remains an "emptiness" in the mind, then it is not true emptiness; the mind of emptiness should also be extinguished. One should cultivate and study in this way on the path to nirvāṇa, and then one can realize nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is liberation; nirvāṇa is the unborn and unceasing; nirvāṇa is tranquil and unconditioned; nirvāṇa is great freedom and ease.