Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (191)

All dharmas are ultimately empty; saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are also empty

Original text: 如是了知。初识初识空。自业自业空。身识身识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。轮回轮回空。涅槃涅槃。皆自性空。无有作者。亦无受者。但随世俗。之所显示。非第一义。作是说也。

One should know in this way the initial consciousness and the emptiness of the initial consciousness, know the karmic actions one has created and the emptiness of those karmic actions, and know the body consciousness and the emptiness of the body consciousness; in this way, one should know that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is also empty; at the same time, one should also know saṃsāra and the emptiness of saṃsāra, and know nirvāṇa and the emptiness of nirvāṇa. The creation and transmigration of karmic formations have neither a doer nor a receiver; all dharmas are merely manifested in accordance with worldly conventions. In terms of ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya), such statements would not be made.

The initial consciousness that arises on the physical body of the next life is also empty, and the karmic actions that are created are also empty. The body consciousness is also empty. If I extinguish this dharma, this ceasing dharma itself is also empty — is there any real ceasing dharma, any principle by which this dharma ceases? No, it is empty. The arising of consciousness in the next life — the dharma of arising in that birth is also empty. Is there any fixed, unchanging law or principle of arising? No, it is empty; all dharmas arise in just this way. When we transmigrate through the six realms, being human, being devas, being animals, or being hungry ghosts, that saṃsāra is also empty. If saṃsāra were not empty, we would transmigrate forever, unable to attain liberation, unable to become Buddhas, and cultivation would be useless. The fact that we can cut off saṃsāra and transcend saṃsāra shows that saṃsāra is empty, that there is no real, indestructible dharma of saṃsāra. We ourselves are not real, so could there be a real dharma of saṃsāra? No — everything is empty, everything is illusory.