Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (115)

One should understand that when karma operates, there is no agent and no experiencer. The operation of karma refers to the actions and activities of our body and mind—the running of bodily, verbal, and mental actions—yet there is no person who performs them. For example, right now I am expounding the Dharma and speaking, but in fact there is no one doing this. Who is doing it, who is speaking? You say it is "I." But what is called "I"? Is my body called "I," or is my conscious mind called "I"? These are all false appearances. The five aggregates (pañcaskandha) formed by the combination of the physical body and the conscious mind are even more so false appearances; there is no true self. The five aggregates are false appearances, and the phenomenon of the five aggregates speaking is even less real. The person speaking is not "I"—it is a composite. Since it is a composite, it is formed by the convergence of causes and conditions; when the conditions cease, the composite disperses and no longer exists. Even the present composite is not truly existent.

For example, an army is composed of infantry, cavalry, and various branches of service, and is provisionally named a "troop." After the troop is formed and goes out to win a war, the king says: "Our troops are so brave, so invincible and heroic, so mighty." But is there such a dharma as "our troops"? A troop is composed of multiple branches of service; a single branch alone is not called a troop, and once combined, it still cannot truly be called a troop. There is no real dharma called "troop" that exists. A troop is an illusorily manifested false composite, not real. A dharma formed by the convergence of conditions is not a real dharma; when the conditions disperse, the composite will break apart. A composite that can gather and disperse is false and unreal. When two or more things come together, it is called "one body"; apart from the individual components, it cannot be called one body. A is A, B is B—in reality they are not one body; they are a false composite, and a false composite is not real.

Our five aggregates are also a combination, formed by the physical body and several kinds of minds of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing. Only after they are combined are there feelings, thoughts, discernment, discrimination, the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra), and bodily, verbal, and mental actions of coming and going. If the conscious mind ceases, the five aggregates cannot be combined; if the body ceases, the five aggregates also cannot be combined. Therefore, this falsely combined phenomenon is not real. In fact, there is no real person of "I" consisting of the five aggregates. A person is a thing pieced together from several causes and conditions—a false appearance that disperses as soon as the causes and conditions cease. For example, this chair is put together from nails, wood, and human labor. When the conditions arrive, this chair falls apart and becomes wood; when the wood is gone, it becomes ash, and finally even the ash is gone. Things formed by the combination of causes and conditions are all unreal in this way, and therefore one should not be attached to them.

In the teachings of the Small Vehicle, it is said that all worldly dharmas arise from causes and conditions, and all are provisional dharmas, not real. Whatever is formed by the combination of causes and conditions is a provisional dharma, subject to arising and ceasing, false and illusory. From the perspective of the Great Vehicle, why are there combinations of causes and conditions? It is all because of the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, this chair could not be assembled either. When I nail this chair together by hand, if my tathāgatagarbha does not function, I cannot make this chair. Without the tathāgatagarbha, there would not even be wood, because trees cannot grow on their own; they depend entirely on the functions and operations of the tathāgatagarbha. The growth of all things cannot be separated from the tathāgatagarbha.