Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (101)

 All dharmas arise and cease and are illusory

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 fundamentally not a single thing that can be carried from this life to another life. Why is it so? Because all dharmas are subject to arising and ceasing. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, there is no place it comes from; when it ceases, there is no place it goes. When the karmic actions created by the conscious mind arise, they have no place of coming, and when they go, they have no place of going. When the first consciousness of the physical body arises, there is no place it comes from, and when it ceases, there is likewise no place it goes. Why do these dharmas all have no place of coming and no place of going? Because the self-nature of these dharmas is apart from all dharmas, and they lack any real substance of dharmas.

In this way one can come to know the body consciousness and know the emptiness of the body consciousness; know the karmic actions one has created 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 comes to know the transmigration of karmic force: there is no creator, and no receiver of retribution; it is all merely the discriminative manifestation of various names and marks.

Not a single dharma transmigrates from this life to another life; nothing can be taken away, because the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is one of arising and ceasing — they are empty, illusory transformations. The physical body is empty, the mind is empty, karma is empty; everything is empty, all dharmas are utterly empty, empty in self-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 retributive fruits — there is no receiver either; it is merely the discriminative manifestation of names and marks.