Commentary on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (116)

The creation of all dharmas has neither a doer nor a receiver

The creation of karmic actions has no doer, but does the karmic retribution that is received have a receiver? If there is no doer, there is no receiver, because the five aggregates are a falsely combined entity with no substantial subject—who would receive the retribution? There is no "I" that receives suffering or pleasure; the body does not receive suffering, and the conscious mind does not receive suffering either; both body and mind are illusory, and the retribution of suffering itself is also illusory. Therefore, among all dharmas there is no real doer and no real receiver. No single dharma can be said to be a person, and even less is a combination of multiple dharmas a person—they are all false bodies. Therefore, the creation of all dharmas has no doer and no receiver. If one truly realizes this point, one has not merely attained enlightenment—one may have reached the level of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva.

Since all dharmas have no real appearance and are all conjured up through illusion, it can be said that all dharmas are nothing more than false discrimination of names and marks. For example, we assign a name to a certain object to represent and indicate it; otherwise, there would be no way to address or express it. We name that four-legged thing a "chair"; upon hearing "chair," the appearance of a chair arises in the mind. Only when the name and the mark appear can the chair be discriminated and displayed, facilitating communication and use among sentient beings. We name the fleshly body, falsely combined of the four great elements, the "material body" (rūpa-kāya), so that people can use language to express the state of the material body, facilitating recognition and communication. We name the several consciousnesses on the material body the eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness, and name the master consciousness the manas-consciousness (ādāna-vijñāna); only then can we expound and describe the functions, roles, and states of these conscious minds, so that we can express, display, and communicate. Without names and marks, we could not communicate or live; giving things provisional names makes everything manageable. If, in the beginning, a towel had been named a "bedsheet," then when we wanted to use the towel to wipe our face, we would tell the child, "Bring the bedsheet to wipe your face." As long as the habit formed and became fixed, whatever name was originally given would not matter—they are all just terms, names and marks, without much actual significance.