Karmic causes and effects are also illusory and unreal.

Where do the causes, conditions, and karmic retribution of sentient beings manifest themselves? They manifest through the body of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), through form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, and through the eighteen dhātus. The body of the five aggregates is illusory, the eighteen dhātus are illusory, the material universe of the vessel-world is illusory, and all human affairs, events, and phenomena are entirely illusory. Since the very basis upon which causes, conditions, and karmic retribution depend is illusory, they themselves are also illusory and unreal—arising from causes and conditions and ceasing with causes and conditions. Karmic seeds are deposited by the actions of the body of the five aggregates; since the body of the five aggregates is false, impermanent, the causes, conditions, and karmic retribution are also false and impermanent. Therefore all cause and effect is likewise illusory. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, everything else is an illusion conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with karmic seeds and various conditions, and none of it is real dharma. For example, the wholesome and unwholesome karma that sentient beings create and the wholesome and unwholesome retribution they receive are all created and received upon these worldly illusory dharmas. Since the world of the five aggregates is illusory, these karmic actions and their retribution are of course also illusory. 

For instance, in this life one may become a king in this world, or ascend to heaven and become a heavenly lord. The five-aggregate body of the king and the heavenly lord is illusory, the palaces and thrones are illusory, the material universe in which they live is illusory, the fine clothing and exquisite food are illusory, and all the officials and ministers, the attendants at their side, are all illusory—all are illusory. Everything of the king and the heavenly lord is illusory. Take another example: the karmic retribution of killing or being killed is all created and borne by the five aggregates. Where do these unwholesome retributions come from? They are all conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha according to karmic seeds and conditions, and they all manifest upon the body of the five aggregates. Having received the retribution of wholesome and unwholesome karma, feelings of suffering and happiness and so forth arise; these feelings are also conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha, and all are subject to arising, ceasing, change, and impermanence. Since this is so, all causes, conditions, and karmic retribution are not the self, nor do they belong to the self. This is called "no self and no dharmas."

Knowing that all dharmas are illusory and unreal, one should reduce grasping, reduce fabricating, reduce mental exertion, and try to keep the mind empty, because no matter how you fabricate, it is all empty and meaningless, all subject to arising and ceasing—nothing gained and nothing lost. Why not rest the mind and spare it trouble? Some people say: since everything is empty, why should I not fabricate more? The unwholesome karma I create is also empty, so I need not fear creating unwholesome karma. But if one creates unwholesome karma, the mind can no longer be empty; when the mind is not empty and one receives unwholesome retribution, the anguish is extreme. At that time even the feeling of suffering cannot be emptied, and one suffers in agony worse than death—no one wants that. Therefore, when the mind is empty, one will not create unwholesome karma. By reducing all operations, the mind gradually becomes pure and gradually becomes empty; only then can one end suffering and attain liberation.