法界次第初門 3.63

3.63

Second, like a mirage. 'Like a mirage' means that a mirage is caused by sunlight and wind stirring up dust, appearing in the wilderness like galloping wild horses; an unwise person upon first seeing it declares it to be water. The characteristics of male and female and the characteristics of all dharmas are also like this: the light of latent defilements and afflictions, the dust of the conditioned formations, and the wind of improper mindfulness turn within the wilderness of birth and death. The unwise proclaim them to be a single characteristic, to be male or female; this is called a mirage. Furthermore, if one sees a mirage from afar, one imagines it to be water, but when approached, there is no characteristic of water. The unwise are also like this: if they are far from the noble Dharma, they do not know selflessness and do not know the emptiness of all dharmas, generating notions of a person, notions of male, and notions of female within the inherently empty dharmas of the skandhas, āyatanas, and dhātus. When near the noble Dharma, they know the true nature of all dharmas, and at that time the various false and deceptive conceptualizations are completely eliminated; for this reason it is said to be like a mirage.