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

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, and 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 first 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 deva body. When the first consciousness of the next life is born, the sentient being begins to receive his respective retribution. Thereafter, the consciousness on this material body must continue to operate without cease, until the final consciousness ceases—this is called the aggregates of death, and the body becomes a corpse; whereas when the first consciousness arises, this is called the aggregates of birth, meaning a living person.