Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (82)

The Aggregate of Death and the Aggregate of Birth

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, as the master of sentient beings, is the cause for the birth of the material body of the next life; karmic actions are the condition for the birth of the material body of the next life. When a cause and a condition meet—when cause and condition converge—the initial mind-consciousness of the next life appears, and the material body of the next life is born. This person may fall into a hell body, or fall into an animal body, or fall into a ghost body, or take an asura body, a human body, or a heavenly body. When the initial mind-consciousness of the next life is born, the sentient being begins to receive his respective retribution. Thereafter, the mind-consciousness on this material body must continue to operate without cease, until finally the mind-consciousness ceases—this is called the aggregate of death, and the body becomes a corpse; whereas when the initial mind-consciousness arises, it is called the aggregate of birth—that is, a living person.