Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (163)

Why do all dharmas have no place of coming and no place of going?

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: The Buddha said: Great King, there is not a single dharma that transmigrates from this life to the next life. Why is this said? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is ceaselessly arising and ceasing; they do not exist permanently and enduringly. When the five aggregates perish at the time of death, all dharmas will perish. Great King, when the body consciousness arises, it has no place of coming; when it ceases, it has no place of going. When karmic actions are created, the karmic actions have no place of coming; when the karmic actions cease, they likewise have no place of going. When the initial consciousness of the next life arises, it has no place of coming; when it ceases, it has no place of going.

Why do all dharmas have no place of coming and no place of going? Because all dharmas are apart from all natures; the self-nature of all dharmas has no characteristics of any kind; their intrinsic nature is empty and utterly unattainable. Know the body consciousness in this way, and know that the self-nature of the body consciousness is empty; know the karmic actions created by one's own conscious mind in this way, and know that the self-nature of karmic actions is empty; know the initial consciousness in this way, and know that the self-nature of the initial consciousness is empty; know in this way that if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty, and if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is empty. At the same time, one must also know that in the creation and transmigration of karmic actions, there is no creator and no receiver; all dharmas are merely discriminations and manifestations of false appearances and names.

All the dharmas we come into contact with are illusory dharmas. If one repeatedly compares them with dreams, one can gain a genuine and tangible understanding of worldly dharmas, the attachments in one's mind will loosen, one will no longer be willing to do many things, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions in one's daily life will gradually become tranquil. In this sūtra, the World-Honored One repeatedly uses dreams as metaphors to guide King Śuddhodana to see through the illusory nature of the five desires and the six sense objects, and to recognize that the essence of this world is nothing but a dream and illusion, without any real existence.