Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (86)

When body consciousness arises, there is no place it comes from—it does not come from east, west, south, or north, nor does it come from empty space; the conscious mind has no place of origin. After the conscious mind ceases, it also has no place to go; the conscious mind is illusory, it is empty. In this way one can realize the fruit of emptiness of the Small Vehicle. When the karmic actions one has created arise, they have no place of coming and no place of going; they too are empty and illusory. For example, before the karma of my killing someone arose, where was this karma of killing? Where was the act of killing? It existed nowhere; the karma has no place of origin. After I have created this karma, the karma is gone—where has the karma gone? Where has the act of killing gone? There is nowhere to go; it did not depart to east, west, south, or north, nor to the directions above and below or empty space—it has no place to go.

Likewise, when I hold this book in my hand and this action is no more, where has it vanished to? There is nowhere to go—it is illusory. Before the action of my wanting to pick up the book has arisen, where does it exist? Nowhere. Before I speak, where is my speech? There is no place. When I finish speaking, the words vanish—where have they vanished to? There is nowhere to go. If there were a place to store these things, even empty space could not contain them. All actions and activities are illusory, transformed, and empty; analyzing them over and over, not a single one is real. If a person is completely a Small Vehicle practitioner, concerned only with his own liberation, he will feel that his life has no meaning, that it is very boring.

If one wants to keep on living, one must give rise to the mind of a Great Vehicle bodhisattva, aspiring to become a Buddha and deliver suffering sentient beings. Living is for this one thing alone, and there is no second thing. Everything in the world is empty, nothing is possessed; with this mind, what is the state of mind in living in the world? Light as a feather, dwelling in empty space, everything has nothing to do with me, without ties or attachments, without afflictions or vexations, and also without delight. When will that state of mind be attained? Sentient beings' minds are stuffed full with a great pile of things—is that heavy? Far too heavy: carried on the shoulders, packed in the heart, wanting everything; yet when they die they cannot take it away. If it could be taken along, they would pack as much as possible, the more the better; but they cannot take it away—it is all empty. How could it be taken away?