Lectures on the Sutra of the Compilation of the Father and the Son (114)

The Body Consciousness and the Karma Created by Body Consciousness Are Void

The body consciousness itself is void; it comes void and goes void, ungraspable, unretainable, ceaselessly arising, ceasing, and transforming. The karma created is void; the initial consciousness is also void. If consciousness ceases, the phenomenon of cessation itself is void—there is no actual cessation dharma to be found. Who can extinguish it? There is no extinguisher. If consciousness arises, the phenomenon of arising is also void; all dharmas arising from karmic seeds are void. Only the alaya-vijnana is non-void. It contains the seeds of all dharmas and can produce all dharmas. It truly exists, while everything else is void, false, illusory, and unreal.