Commentary on the Pitṛputra Samāgama Sūtra (84)

Nothing can be taken along except karma that follows.

After the discerning mind arises, it operates continuously within the physical body until death. When this lifetime ends, and the six discerning minds—eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind-consciousness—cease, it is called the aggregate of death; the body becomes like a piece of wood. When the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind-consciousness initially arise, it is called the aggregate of birth. The cycle of arising and ceasing constitutes a single lifetime.

At the beginning and end of each lifetime, nothing is brought along, and nothing is taken away, except for the karmic actions that are carried over to undergo retribution. Everything else vanishes without a trace. Thus, all phenomena are inherently subject to arising and ceasing; they are empty. What is empty cannot be taken along; only what is real can be carried forward. What is it that can be taken along? The Tathagatagarbha always accompanies us through life after life, carrying the karmic seeds across lifetimes to fulfill karmic retribution in each existence. As for where the five aggregates will undergo retribution, the Tathagatagarbha remains indifferent, for it does not undergo retribution itself. It merely continues to manifest the five-aggregate body in accordance with karma, never abandoning sentient beings. So, who is our closest kin? It is the Tathagatagarbha—so intimately close that it never departs from us even for an instant.