Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son
Chapter One: Four Dream Analogies (2)
Original text: 佛言大王。耳闻舍声。起于舍想。如人梦中。闻他宣说。不了义句。于意云何。是人觉已。忆念梦中。所闻之声。为实有不。王曰不也。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, when sentient beings hear with their ears a sound of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) that is neither wholesome nor unwholesome, they grasp it as real. It is like a person who, in a dream, hears someone else speaking words that are not definitive (neyārtha), meaningless phrases that do not form coherent sentences. What do you think? After this person wakes up, he keeps recalling the sounds he heard in the dream — do they truly exist? King Śuddhodana said: They do not truly exist.
Original text: 佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无有音声。何况更有。不了义句。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, this person takes his own dream to be truly existent — is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana replied: He is not a wise person, World-Honored One. Why? Because in a dream there are ultimately no sounds at all, let alone non-definitive phrases that do not form coherent sentences. You should know that this person merely wearies himself in vain; there is nothing real in it at all.
The mind of neutral feeling is neither joyful nor distressed; it abides in a middle state free from both extremes — neither craving nor aversion, neither good nor bad, neither painful nor pleasant. At such a time the mind is calm without waves, without ups and downs. For example, when you look at a person and feel nothing — neither liking nor disliking — that is the mind of neutral feeling. If a mind of liking arises, then one experiences pleasant feeling; if one finds the person rather disagreeable, that is a painful feeling, and hatred has emerged. Therefore feelings are of three kinds: painful feeling, pleasant feeling, and the neutral feeling that is neither painful nor pleasant.
As for the sound of neutral feeling, it refers to a sound that belongs neither to the wholesome nor to the unwholesome, abiding in a middle state that is neither good nor bad. This person, in a dream, hears someone else speak words that do not form coherent sentences, meaningless talk. Although his mind does not feel anything particular about it, he takes it as something truly existent and keeps recalling it. Even if one clings to this state of neutral feeling as truly existent and craves this thought of neutral feeling, not knowing that the six sense-object realms of neutral feeling are equally false and illusory, one still does not escape birth-and-death.
The "non-definitive phrases" here are different from the "non-definitive sūtras" in the Buddhist scriptures; they are not the same meaning. Sūtras are divided into definitive sūtras (nītārtha) and non-definitive sūtras (neyārtha). Definitive sūtras are true, expounding the real dharma; non-definitive sūtras do not expound the real dharma. Definitive sūtras teach the Mahāyāna scriptures on the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya) of the tathāgatagarbha — this is called definitive, the fundamental dharma, the dharma of ultimate reality. Other scriptures, those that do not teach the tathāgatagarbha dharma, are not definitive sūtras. Not teaching the dharma of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, makes a scripture non-definitive, not a fundamental scripture. Of course, within definitive sūtras there are also non-definitive sentences, and within non-definitive sūtras there are even more non-definitive sentences.
Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。耳闻舍声。不达义趣。轻慢毁呰。造作痴业。身三语四。意三种业。最初造作。即便灭谢。是业灭已。不依东方。南西北方。四维上下。中间而住。最后边际。命根灭时。自分业报。皆悉现前。犹如梦觉。忆梦中闻不了义句。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. Foolish ordinary beings (pṛthagjana), hearing with their ears sounds they neither delight in nor loathe, do not penetrate their true meaning, and give rise to disparaging and abusive words and deeds, creating karmic acts of delusion: the three bodily karmas, the four verbal karmas, and the three mental karmas. Once these karmic acts are created, they immediately cease and vanish. After the karma has ceased, it does not abide in the east, south, west, or north, the four intermediate directions, up, down, or the middle. But at the final limit, when the life-faculty perishes, the karmic retributions one has created all manifest before one, just like waking from a dream and still recalling the non-definitive phrases heard in the dream.
What is delusion (moha)? Not understanding is delusion. Delusion is ignorance (avidyā); ignorance is not understanding — not understanding the origins and workings of all dharmas, not understanding the true nature of all dharmas, not understanding what the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are and their essence, not understanding the eighteen realms (dhātu) and their essence, not understanding how to realize the no-self of the five aggregates of the Small Vehicle, not understanding the twelve links of dependent origination of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, not understanding the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha dharma, not understanding how to attain enlightenment, not understanding how to know the seed-qualities of the tathāgatagarbha, not understanding how to cultivate oneself to broadly benefit sentient beings, not understanding the dharmas of how to cultivate and become a Buddha — this is ignorance, belonging to delusion. Including not understanding ignorance and delusion themselves — that too is delusion and ignorance.
The ignorance stored in sentient beings' Ālayavijñāna is immeasurable and boundless. When all of this ignorance is completely destroyed, one becomes a Buddha. Ignorance is of three kinds. The first is the ignorance of a single thought (ekacitta-avidyā): craving for the world of the three realms and attachment to the body of the five aggregates; when this is completely severed, one realizes the fourth fruit and enters nirvāṇa without remainder. The second is beginningless ignorance (ādi-avidyā): from beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have not known that there is a true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which can give birth to the five-aggregate bodies of life after life and the dharmas of the three realms, and which is sentient beings' true unborn and undying self. The third is dust-and-sand ignorance (raja-avidyā), which can also be subsumed under beginningless ignorance, meaning that on the path to buddhahood the principles not yet understood are as numerous as dust and sand, and all must be severed before buddhahood. It is also called the afflictions of cultivation; when a bit of this affliction is severed, ignorance decreases a bit, and one draws a bit closer to buddhahood.
The less ignorance a person has, the more he knows he has ignorance, and the humbler he is; the more ignorance a person has, the less he knows he has ignorance, the less humble and more arrogant he is. Why do sentient beings have a mind of arrogance? Because of ignorance, because of delusion. In the sequence of severing afflictions, greed and hatred are both easier to sever than delusive ignorance. Greed is easiest to sever, hatred next. After eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attaining the first dhyāna, greed is severed first, then after a period of further cultivation hatred is severed, and after that the ignorance of a single thought is severed. When one cultivates to become a Mahāyāna bodhisattva of the first bhūmi, one begins to sever the afflictive habits of greed, hatred, and arrogance, as well as the dust-and-sand ignorance; when the dust-and-sand ignorance is completely severed, one becomes a Buddha.
At each stage of cultivation, the degree and kinds of ignorance differ. Bodhisattvas before seeing the mind, bodhisattvas after seeing the mind, and bodhisattvas after entering the bhūmis — each fruit-stage corresponds to various different kinds of delusion and ignorance. Even bodhisattvas of the ninth and tenth bhūmis still have slight delusive obscurations. Only upon becoming a Buddha and attaining omniscience (sarvākārajñatā) can all the delusive obscurations in the mind be eliminated.
Original text: 大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。初识生已。各受其报。同分心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, and the karmic seeds are the object-condition (ālambana-pratyaya). When these two causes and conditions combine, the first consciousness of the next life arises. Beings either proceed to the hell realm, or fall into the hungry ghost realm, or are reborn in the animal realm — these three evil destinies; or they are reborn in the three good destinies: the asura realm, the human realm, and the heavenly realm. When the first consciousness arises, beings each begin to receive their retributions, and then the consciousness on the same material body continues to operate without interruption. When consciousness ceases at the end of life, the material body becomes a corpse, called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the material body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the material body are called the aggregate of birth.
Original text: 大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。所以者何。性生灭故。大王。身识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所去。初识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。何以故。自性离故。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not a single dharma that can transmigrate from this life to the next life. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing, not permanently existing; when the five aggregates perish at the time of death, all dharmas perish. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. When karmic actions arise, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they go nowhere. When the first consciousness of the next life arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. Why do all dharmas have neither a place of coming nor a place of going? Because all dharmas are free from all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas has no characteristics whatsoever; their intrinsic nature is empty and utterly unobtainable.
Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。
Explanation: One should know the body consciousness in this way, knowing the emptiness of the body consciousness's self-nature; know in this way the karmic actions created by one's own consciousness, knowing the emptiness of the karmic actions' self-nature; know in this way the first consciousness, knowing the emptiness of the first consciousness's self-nature; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty. One should also know that in the creation and transmigration of karmic actions there is no doer and no receiver; all dharmas are merely discriminations and displays of names and marks.
All dharmas are free from all dharma-natures; not a single dharma has a real intrinsic nature by which it can exist independently. Knowing this, one knows that the body consciousness is empty, karmic actions are also empty, and the first consciousness produced in the next life is also empty. If consciousness ceases, the ceasing dharma is also empty; if consciousness arises, the arising dharma is also empty. The transmigration and creation of karmic actions are also empty: there is no one who creates, and when retribution is received there is no one who receives it. All are false appearances, unreal illusory appearances, merely false appearances discriminated and displayed through names and marks.
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。涅槃先道。决定如法界。周遍虚空际。于此譬喻。当如是知。
Explanation: Great King, you should know that the six faculties are like illusions, and the various realms are like dreams. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil — this is called the door of liberation of emptiness (śūnyatā). The dharmas being empty yet without even an empty mark is called the door of liberation of signlessness (ānimitta). If all dharmas have no marks at all, then there should be no wishes or aspirations — this is called the door of liberation of wishlessness (apraṇihita). These three dharmas — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness — proceed together with emptiness. The preliminary path to nirvāṇa should be cultivated thus: definitively like the dharma-realm, pervading the bounds of empty space. Regarding these analogies, you should know them in this way.
The six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all illusory manifestations. The various realms the eyes see, the various realms the ears hear — the realms the six faculties confront are like things in a dream, not real. What more is there to 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 door of liberation of emptiness. When one realizes that all dharmas are empty and knows they are empty, the mind is liberated.
Emptiness without an empty mark is called the door of liberation of signlessness. Empty dharmas have no appearance that can be seen, spoken of, or pointed out; even emptiness is empty — this is the door of liberation of signlessness. Knowing that emptiness has no characteristics 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 does not exist, what attachment to emptiness could there be? If there are no marks, there are no wishes and aspirations: if not even marks exist, what is there to seek? What wishes or aspirations remain? Nothing more need be sought — this is the door of liberation of wishlessness. Without wishes and aspirations, the mind is even more liberated. When the three doors of liberation — emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness — are accomplished, one is a noble one (ārya).
The three dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness proceed together with emptiness: neither departing from emptiness, nor having an empty mark, the three not separate from one another, advancing layer by layer toward ultimate liberation. If sentient beings wish to enter nirvāṇa and attain the unborn and undying, they should cultivate in this way, constantly producing mental activities of emptiness, becoming ever emptier, until even emptiness is empty — only then is the emptiness clean and thorough. If there is still an "emptiness" in the mind, then it is not truly empty; 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 undying; nirvāṇa is tranquil non-action; nirvāṇa is great freedom.
The faculties include the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. These six faculties are like illusions, manifested by the Ālayavijñāna — this is called "like an illusion." The realms are like dreams: the realms are the forms the eyes see, the sounds the ears hear, the fragrant and foul odors the nose smells, the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy tastes the tongue experiences, and the realms the body feels — fatigue, tranquility (praśama), softness, comfort, hunger, fullness, and so on — as well as the mental-object (dharma) realms the manas confronts. These realms seem to exist, but the existence is false existence, illusory existence, not real — just like realms in a dream.
Everywhere the Buddha reveals to sentient beings one truth: all dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil. This means all dharmas are empty and tranquil. Why is this said? Because all dharmas exist through the aggregation of various causes and conditions; they inherently have no intrinsic nature of their own and are not truly existent dharmas — hence they are said to be empty and tranquil. From another perspective, all dharmas are manifested by the Ālayavijñāna, directed by the Ālayavijñāna, shadows of the Ālayavijñāna; in essence they are the Ālayavijñāna, and there is no real substance of any dharma — hence it is said that all dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil. The emptiness of the Small Vehicle and the emptiness (śūnyatā) of the Great Vehicle both point to this truth and reality.
"The faculties are like illusions, the realms are like dreams" — to contemplate these dharmas requires fairly deep meditative concentration (samādhi). Amid various states, in the six faculties confronting the six sense-objects, one must experience the illusoriness, unreality, lack of self-mastery (avaśatā), and absence of intrinsic nature of faculties and objects; meditative concentration and wisdom must be combined, fully merged together. Contemplate carefully: when the eye sees forms, how the eye faculty lacks self-mastery, how the form sense-object is illusory, like a shadow; when the ear hears sounds, how the realm of sound is like a dream, how the ear faculty is like an illusion, how it arises and how it ceases, how it performs the function of hearing. When this contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) is accomplished, one can realize that the five aggregates are empty and illusory, tranquil and non-arising.
For the contemplation of these dharmas, initial understanding and even final understanding are not equivalent to realization. Understanding is relatively easier: after the mind consciousness deliberates for a while, one feels one has understood. But this is not realization. Realization requires meditative concentration, profound deliberation, conclusive evidence, and penetration deep into the manas in the depths of the mind; only when the manas accepts it is it called realizing the fruit. What the sixth consciousness (manovijñāna) understands is merely knowledge; without evidence or with insufficient evidence, it is not realization. Only through deep and subtle contemplative practice, when the manas genuinely accepts that principle in the depths of the mind, can it be called realizing the fruit.
At that time, because one has genuinely realized and accepted that the five aggregates are without self and the six faculties are illusory, one's mental activities change, and one's views of all things transform. When one truly believes oneself to be false and illusory, the mind must certainly change — it cannot remain the same as before, still the same old way. But when it is merely the mind consciousness's understanding, without realization, one does not inwardly know that the five aggregates are truly without self; one's cognition of self does not change, and one's view of the five aggregates remains merely theoretical. One's mental activities remain as before, afflictions remain as heavy as ever; and if one cannot sever the three fetters, the three evil destinies cannot be avoided.
This is the same as the worldly principle of "seeing is believing, hearing is doubting." What one hears from others is equivalent to the mind consciousness's understanding — it has not been verified, and one still feels unsure inwardly, not daring to insist. Afterwards, when one sees with one's own eyes, one truly knows, and will say: "Ah! So that's how it is!" Then one knows how to handle the person or matter. Seeing with one's own eyes is equivalent to the manas's realization; hearing is equivalent to the mind consciousness's understanding — these are two entirely different levels. The mind consciousness's understanding comes from hearing others; the manas's realization is seeing with one's own eyes, direct perception, truly seeing.
Understanding is equivalent to hearsay, and differs greatly from actually seeing with one's own eyes. For example, hearing about how a certain person is, one forms a view in the mind, a certain impression; but upon meeting and observing him, one finds: "So this is how he is" — not entirely consistent with the mental impression. The feeling and impression at the meeting are more real and credible, and only then can one adopt an appropriate attitude toward this person. After truly understanding and observing, one's views, opinions, ideas, actions, and conduct differ from when one had only heard.
Therefore, in studying the dharma and cultivating, one must diligently immerse and permeate oneself, permeating down to the depths of the mind, genuinely contemplating that the faculties are like illusions and the five aggregates are without self. Contemplation is the sixth consciousness's initial deliberation; after deliberation it sinks into the manas, letting the manas deliberate (manasikāra) on its own, letting the manas verify and accept this principle — this is realizing the fruit. If the manas does not accept the principle that the consciousness has deliberated and contemplated, it is useless. To enable the manas to realize it as quickly as possible, the evidence must be conclusive, reaching as far as possible the level of direct perception. In the middle of contemplative practice there are still many procedures, many paths to walk, many dharmas to cultivate; one must constantly accumulate various provisions and provisions for the path, constantly accumulate the provisions of merit, as well as precepts, patience, meditative concentration, and wisdom, constantly perfecting the conditions of these six pāramitās.
All dharmas being entirely empty and tranquil — this is called the door of liberation of emptiness. Emptiness has no mark of emptiness either; the dharma of emptiness itself has no empty mark — it is merely a noun, a concept, without marks. Emptiness has no appearance of emptiness, not a single mark, not even an empty mark — this is called the door of liberation of signlessness. If all marks are gone, what longing remains, what wishes and aspirations? All dharmas are empty — what more could you hope for? With no wishes or aspirations, it is called the door of liberation of wishlessness. When these three dharmas proceed together with emptiness, the mind is liberated — this is called the three doors of liberation. Emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness: this "wish" means longing, aspiring to results, the vows one makes. Because there is nothing at all, whatever one grasps is empty — even attaining buddhahood is empty.
The Diamond Sutra says that even the fruit-stage of buddhahood cannot be attained. If even the fruit of buddhahood cannot be attained, what else do you want to obtain? No matter what you think you have obtained, after careful analysis and examination you will know that nothing has been obtained — there is not even a person who obtains, let alone a dharma that is obtained. Someone will ask: if nothing can be attained, then what are we cultivating for? Cultivation is first knowing the principle that all dharmas are unobtainable, then realizing that all dharmas are unobtainable, and finally the mind being utterly empty — then one can attain great liberation, no longer bound by "having something obtained," and be liberated from all the suffering of birth-and-death. Even if there is truly nothing to obtain, we must still obtain this dharma of non-obtaining; otherwise birth-and-death transmigration will not end.
All dharmas are false and illusory, unobtainable. Receiving painful retribution is unreal, yet no one wishes to receive painful retribution; creating evil actions is unreal, yet one should not create evil karmic deeds; killing someone is unreal, yet one should not kill; hell is unreal, yet no one wants to go there; becoming a Buddha is unreal, yet everyone wishes to become a Buddha. Cultivation is just like this: false dharmas have the function of false dharmas, true dharmas have the function of true dharmas. Since they cannot all be extinguished, one should make the false dharmas better and purer. The mind of the seven consciousnesses is false, yet it has great function; therefore one must make it perform its best function. One cannot abandon the false entirely — that way one cannot become a Buddha. This dialectic seems contradictory, but after realizing the fruit and seeing the mind, one knows it is not contradictory.
Original text: 大王。譬如有人。于睡梦中。以旃檀香。或多摩罗叶香。及余香等。而以涂身。于意云何。是人觉已。忆念梦中。所涂之香。是实有不。王曰不也。佛言大王。是人所梦。执以为实。为智者不。王曰。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无有诸香。何况复有。以涂身耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无有实。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, suppose a person in a dream anoints his body with sandalwood incense, or tamāla-leaf incense, or other fragrances. What do you think of this? After this person wakes up, he keeps recalling the fragrance he anointed in the dream — does the anointing of incense truly exist? King Śuddhodana said: It does not truly exist. The Buddha said: Great King, this person clings to his dream as truly existent — is he a wise person? King Śuddhodana said: This person is not wise, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there is ultimately no incense at all, let alone the anointing of incense on the body. You should know that this person merely wearies himself in vain with false thoughts; there is nothing real in it at all.
The anointing of incense in the dream is false and illusory, and dreaming itself is also false and illusory. So did this person actually dream? He indeed dreamed. Although dreaming is a false appearance, the existence of the false appearance cannot be denied. As long as we can find a way to recognize that this is a dream, we are awake; recognizing that these dharmas are all false appearances, and finding ways to prove that these dharmas are all illusory — that is awakening, and in the future one can escape birth-and-death.
Apart from the Ālayavijñāna, all dharmas are illusory manifestations, all false. But false dharmas have the function of false dharmas; when false dharmas function, the functioning is also false. The five aggregates themselves are also false, but the function of the five-aggregate body is still needed. Beings before the fourth fruit have no ability to extinguish the false appearance of the five aggregates, so they should make the false dharmas and false appearances purer and freer, in order to sever all painful feelings. Even when beings become Buddhas, they do not extinguish the false dharma of the five-aggregate material body; they merely make the five aggregates extremely sublime and extremely pure, without a trace of defilement or ignorance, endowed with the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks (lakṣaṇa-vyañjana-sampad).
Cultivation means recognizing and investigating how these false appearances arise and in what way they are illusory. Does the anointing of incense in the dream exist? It cannot be denied that such an illusory false appearance exists; the false appearance is extremely unreal. But how does this unreal dharma arise, how is it manifested? Only after investigating this does great wisdom arise. After waking from the dream, everything done by the five aggregates is likewise false and illusory, no different from dreaming. So how are the five aggregates and the activities of the five aggregates manifested? Constantly contemplating and investigating in this way is actual cultivation. It requires much cultivation of meditative concentration; one must enter deep into meditative concentration to investigate Chan and realize these profound principles.
Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚夫异生。初闻妙香。便生爱乐。心起染着。造如是业。身三语四。意三种业。造彼业已。即便灭谢。是业灭已。不依四方。四维上下。中间而住。乃至最后识灭。自业现前。犹如梦觉。念梦中事。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. When foolish ordinary beings (pṛthagjana) first smell a wondrous fragrance, they give rise to delight and craving; the mind becomes defiled and attached, creating such karmic acts of greed, hatred, and delusion. After the evil karma is created, it ceases in an instant; after it ceases, the karmic action does not abide in the east, south, west, or north, the four intermediate directions, up, down, or the middle — it vanishes without a trace. But at the final perishing of the life-faculty, the karmic retributions created in this life all manifest before one, just like waking from a dream and still recalling the events of the dream.
Smelling the fragrance makes one feel joyful and refreshed, giving rise to a mind of delight and craving — the mind becomes defiled and attached. If the mind does not crave the fragrance, one will not feel delight; one would only feel indifferent. Once the mind gives rise to delight and craving, it becomes defiled and stuck; the mind is no longer at ease or free, locked by the realms of the six destinies, and thus transmigrates through birth-and-death, unable to attain liberation. The defiled mind, the clinging mind, the delighting mind are the ropes and locks that can firmly lock the five-aggregate body within the great prison of the three realms.
Original text: 大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。初识生起。各受其报。同分心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, and the karmic seeds are the object-condition (ālambana-pratyaya). When these two causes and conditions combine, the first consciousness of the next life arises. Beings either proceed to the hell realm, or fall into the hungry ghost realm, or are reborn in the animal realm and other evil destinies; or they are reborn in the three good destinies: the asura realm, the human realm, and the heavenly realm. When the first consciousness arises, beings each begin to receive their karmic retributions, and then the consciousness on the same material body continues to operate without interruption. When consciousness ceases at the end of life, the material body becomes a corpse, called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the material body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the material body are called the aggregate of birth.
Original text: 大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。所以者何。性生灭故。大王。身识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所去。初识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。何以故。自性离故。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not a single dharma that can transmigrate from this life to the next life. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing, not permanently existing; when the five aggregates perish at the time of death, all dharmas perish. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it has no place of coming; when it ceases, it has no place of going. When karmic actions arise, they have no place of coming; when they cease, they have no place of going. When the first consciousness of the next life arises, it has no place of coming; when it ceases, it has no place of going. Why is it said that all dharmas have neither a place of coming nor a place of going? Because all dharmas are free from all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas has no characteristics whatsoever; their intrinsic nature is empty and utterly unobtainable.
Original text: 如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。
Explanation: One should know the body consciousness in this way, knowing the emptiness of the body consciousness's self-nature; know in this way the karmic actions created by one's own consciousness, knowing the emptiness of the karmic actions' self-nature; know in this way the first consciousness, knowing the emptiness of the first consciousness's self-nature; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty. One should also know that in the creation and transmigration of karmic actions there is no doer and no receiver; all dharmas are merely discriminations and displays of names and marks.
