Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (101)

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: Great King, there is not even the slightest dharma that can be carried from this life to another life. Why is this so? Because all dharmas are subject to arising and ceasing. Great King, when body consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. When the karmic actions created by that consciousness arise, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they go nowhere. When the first consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. Why do these dharmas have no place of coming and no place of going? Because their self-nature is apart from all dharmas, and they lack any true reality of the dharmas.

In this way, one can know body consciousness and know the emptiness of body consciousness; know the karmic actions created by oneself and the emptiness of those karmic actions; know the first consciousness and the emptiness of the first consciousness. If these dharmas cease, their ceasing is also empty; if these dharmas arise, their arising is also empty. One knows the transmigration of karma: there is no creator, and there is no experiencer of retribution—it is merely the discriminative display of various names and marks.

There is not even the slightest dharma that transmigrates from this life to another life; nothing can be taken away, because the nature of all dharmas is one of arising and ceasing—they are empty, illusory transformations. The material body is empty, the mind is empty, karma is empty—everything is empty, all dharmas are completely empty, empty by nature. When the first consciousness arises, there is no place it comes from; when it ceases, there is no place it goes. The self-nature of these dharmas is apart from all dharmas; they do not truly exist in themselves—they are empty and illusory. When karma ceases, it is also empty; when karma arises, it is also empty. There is no person who creates karma, and no person who receives the retribution—there is no experiencer either; it is merely the discriminative display of names and marks.