Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (97)

Keep emptying all the way, and you will arrive at the city of nirvāṇa

The consciousnesses on the physical body are all empty, and the karmic formations that are created are also empty. However, we must not think that because karmic formations are empty, we can create evil karma at will—the retribution still exists. One who truly knows emptiness and has realized emptiness will not create evil karma at all. Since one knows it is empty, why would one still create evil karma for an empty, unattainable self? There is simply no need to create evil karma; knowing it is empty, one no longer creates it. The consciousness of the next life arises, and that consciousness of the next life is also empty; the dharmas that cease into emptiness are also empty. Birth and death themselves are empty—nothing is not empty. Keep emptying all the way, and you will arrive at the city of nirvāṇa.

In the creation and transmigration of karmic formations, there is no one who creates them and no one who receives the retribution. "I" is illusory, "you" are illusory, "he" is illusory—all dharmas are illusory; there is no person. The body is false and empty, the conscious mind is false and empty, the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are false and empty; there is no self, no you, no him, no sentient beings, and thus there are no karmic formations. The karmic formations that are created—the bodily, verbal, and mental actions—are also false and empty. When this knot is untied, one attains the fruits of realization.