Kāśyapa Buddha's Dharma Transmission Verse

Original text: 一切众生性清净，从本无生无可灭；即此身心是幻生，幻化之中无罪福。

Explanation: Sentient beings are the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), and the five aggregates are what the eighth consciousness conjures up through illusion; they stand in a relationship of non-duality with the eighth consciousness, and their essence is in every case the true suchness of the eighth consciousness. The eighth consciousness of true suchness is the mind of intrinsically pure self-nature; from the very beginning it has been pure in its self-nature, without any defilement. Therefore, in terms of the self-substance of true suchness, the sentient beings of the five aggregates that He gives birth to are pure in nature, that is, of the nature of the tathāgatagarbha of true suchness.

If one sets aside the eighth consciousness of true suchness and looks separately at each individual sentient being of the five aggregates, they are nevertheless defiled, subject to arising and ceasing, subject to change, impermanent, and without self. Because the eighth consciousness of true suchness has existed just so (dharmatā) since beginningless kalpas—it was not born, has never ceased, and never will cease—then in terms of the eighth consciousness, the sentient beings of the five aggregates are also unborn and unceasing, because in essence they are all attributes of the eighth consciousness.

Because the seeds of the five aggregates are stored within the eighth consciousness, when conditions are encountered the five aggregates of sentient beings will be produced; and since the eighth consciousness endures without ceasing, He will forever be able to give rise to the bodies of the five aggregates without interruption. Thus, viewed as a whole and over long eons, the five aggregates are permanently existent and unceasing, continuing even until buddhahood is attained; after attaining buddhahood they will cease even less, and the buddhas use these bodies and minds of the five aggregates to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings without end. Only when each individual aggregate-body is viewed separately is it subject to arising and ceasing.

For sentient beings composed of the five aggregates, both the body of the aggregate of form and the mental consciousnesses of the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are conjured up through illusion by the eighth consciousness of true suchness in dependence on various conditions, just like the illusory persons conjured by a magician in empty space. And no matter what unwholesome or meritorious karma an illusory person performs, that karma of offense and merit is likewise illusory and unreal, with no real retribution of offense or retribution of merit. The sentient beings of the five aggregates are just the same: for conjured-up sentient beings, whatever karma of offense or merit they perform, that karma is illusory and unreal. If it is done by the body, the body is illusory; if it is done by the mental consciousness, the consciousness too is a conjuration without real substance. Since it is a conjuration without real substance, the karma of offense and merit that it performs is also illusory and unreal, with no real retribution of offense or merit; there being no owner, there is no karmic action.