Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (154)

The Aggregate of Death and the Aggregate of Birth

Original text:大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。初识生已。各受其报。同分心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。

Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is the master that gives birth to the five-aggregate body of the next life, and the karmic seeds serve as the object condition. When these two causes and conditions come together, the first consciousness of the next life arises—beings may proceed to the hells, or fall into the realm of ghosts, or be reborn among animals, the three evil destinies; or they may be reborn in the three good destinies: the asura destiny, the human destiny, and the heavenly destiny. Once the first consciousness has arisen, beings begin to each receive their karmic retribution, and thereafter the consciousness on that same physical body continues to operate without interruption. When consciousness ceases at the end of life, the physical body becomes a corpse, which is called the aggregate of death; the consciousness that first arises on the physical body is called the first consciousness, and the five aggregates of the physical body are named the aggregate of birth.