Lectures on the Pitāputrasamāgama Sūtra (116)

There is neither a creator nor a recipient for the formation of all phenomena.

Since the formation of karmic actions has no creator, is there a recipient for the resulting karmic retribution? Where there is no creator, there is no recipient, because the five aggregates are a provisional composite, lacking an inherent self. Who, then, receives the retribution? There is no "I" experiencing suffering or pleasure; the body does not suffer, nor does the consciousness suffer. Both body and mind are illusory, and the suffering itself is unreal. Therefore, in all phenomena, there is no real creator or recipient. No single phenomenon can be said to be an individual, and the combination of multiple phenomena is even less so an individual; all are provisional entities. Thus, the formation of all phenomena has neither a creator nor a recipient. To truly realize this is not merely enlightenment; it may reach the stage of a first-stage bodhisattva.

Since all phenomena lack true characteristics and are all illusory manifestations, it can be said that all phenomena are merely conceptual differentiations of names and appearances. For example, a name is assigned to an object to represent and denote it; otherwise, it cannot be referred to or expressed. The four-legged object is named "chair." Upon hearing "chair," the mental image of a chair arises. Only when the name and appearance emerge can the chair be conceptually distinguished, facilitating communication and use among sentient beings. The physical body, composed of the four great elements, is named "form-body" (rūpakāya), enabling people to express its state through language for recognition and communication. The consciousnesses associated with the form-body are named eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind-consciousness. The controlling consciousness is named manas-vijñāna (ego-consciousness). Only then can the functions, actions, and states of these consciousnesses be expounded and described, allowing us to express, denote, and communicate. Without names and appearances, we cannot communicate or live; assigning provisional names resolves this. If, initially, a towel had been named "sheet," when we needed a towel to wipe our face, we would tell a child, "Hand me the sheet to wipe my face." As long as it becomes a fixed habit, what it was originally named does not matter. All are merely names, nominal appearances, without much inherent meaning.