成唯識論述記 7.558

7.558

The Commentary states: Below, in the author's reply, he first adduces a universally established fact as an analogy, saying that just as before waking from a dream one cannot know it oneself, and only upon waking can one retrospectively recall that the previous dream object had no real substance, only then realizing it was a dream; next he explains the previous objection: one should know that waking objective forms are also like this. A verse in the Viṃśikā-vijñaptimātratāsiddhi states: "Before waking, one cannot know / that what was seen in the dream is non-existent." That is, before true awakening, one can never know it oneself; when one attains uncontaminated true awakening, one can also retrospectively recall the dream-objects of saṃsāra, awakening to the fact that these dream-objects are all non-existent. Why is saṃsāra spoken of as a dream? Not having attained the awakening from the dream, one constantly dwells in a dream; therefore the Buddha spoke of it as the long night of saṃsāra, obscure as a dream. Due to this principle, one does not understand that objective forms such as form are consciousness-only. The setting up of objections based on teaching above is concluded.