Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (163)

Original text: 大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。所以者何。性生灭故。大王。身识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所去。初识生时。无所从来。灭无所去。何以故。自性离故。如是了知。身识身识空。自业自业空。初识初识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。了知业转。无有作者。亦无受者。但唯名相。分别显示。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not even the slightest dharma that transmigrates from this life to the next life. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing; they do not exist permanently and enduringly. When the five aggregates perish at the time of death, all dharmas will cease. Great King, when body consciousness arises, it has no place from which it comes; when it ceases, it has no place to which it goes. When karmic actions are created, the karmic formations have no place from which they come; when the karmic formations cease, they likewise have no place to which they go. When the initial consciousness of the next life arises, it has no place from which it comes; when it ceases, it has no place to which it goes.

Why do all dharmas have no place of coming and no place of going? Because all dharmas are apart from all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas is without any characteristics; their intrinsic nature is empty and utterly unobtainable. Know body consciousness in this way, knowing that the self-nature of body consciousness is empty; know the karmic formations created by one's own consciousness in this way, knowing that the self-nature of karmic formations is empty; know the initial consciousness in this way, knowing that the self-nature of the initial consciousness is empty; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty. At the same time, one must also know that in the creation and transmigration of karmic formations, there is no agent and no experiencer; all dharmas are merely discrimination and display in terms of false appearances and names.

All the dharmas we come into contact with are illusory dharmas. By repeatedly comparing them with dreams, one can gain a genuine and tangible understanding of worldly dharmas, and the attachments in one's mind will loosen. Many things one will no longer be willing to do, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions in daily life can gradually attain tranquility (praśama). In this sūtra, the World-Honored One repeatedly uses dreams as metaphors to guide King Śuddhodana to see through the illusory nature of the five desires and the six sense objects, and to recognize that the essence of this world is nothing but a dream—an illusion without any true reality.