Causes, Conditions, and Retribution Are Also Illusory and Unreal

Where do the causes, conditions, and karmic retributions of sentient beings manifest themselves? They manifest through the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), through form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, and through the eighteen realms (dhātus). The body of the five aggregates is illusory, the eighteen realms are illusory, the material universe (the vessel-world) is illusory, and all human affairs, events, and phenomena are entirely illusory. Since the basis upon which causes, conditions, and karmic retributions depend is illusory, they themselves are also illusory and unreal—conditions arise and conditions cease. The karmic seeds are deposited by the actions of the body of the five aggregates; since the body of the five aggregates is false, impermanent, the causes, conditions, and karmic retributions are also false and impermanent. Therefore all causes and effects are also illusory. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, everything else is a conjured illusion, conjured by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with karmic seeds and various conditions, and none of it is real dharma. For example, the wholesome and unwholesome karma created by sentient beings and the wholesome and unwholesome retributions they receive are all created and received upon these worldly illusory dharmas. Since the world of the five aggregates is illusory, these karmic actions and their retributions are of course also illusory. 

For instance, in this life one becomes a king in this world, or ascends to heaven to become a heavenly lord (deva-king). The five-aggregate bodies of the king and the heavenly lord are illusory, the palaces and thrones are illusory, the material universe in which they live is illusory, the fine clothing and exquisite food are illusory, and all the officials and ministers, the attendants at their side, are all illusory—all are illusory; everything of the king and the heavenly lord is illusory. Take another example: the karmic retributions of killing or being killed are all created and borne by the five aggregates. Where do these unwholesome retributions come from? They are all conjured by the tathāgatagarbha according to karmic seeds and conditions, and all manifest upon the body of the five aggregates. Having received the retribution of wholesome or unwholesome karma, feelings of suffering, happiness, and so forth arise; these feelings are also conjured by the tathāgatagarbha, and all are subject to arising, ceasing, change, and impermanence. Since this is so, all causes, conditions, and karmic retributions are not the self, nor are they possessed by the self—this is called "no self and no dharmas." 

Knowing that all dharmas are illusory and unreal, one should reduce clinging and seeking, reduce fabrication, reduce mental exertion, and try to keep the mind empty, because no matter how you fabricate, it is all empty and meaningless, all subject to arising and ceasing, with nothing gained and nothing lost—so why not rest the mind and spare the mind? Some people say: since everything is empty, why not fabricate all the more? The unwholesome karma I create is also empty, so I need not fear creating unwholesome karma. But if one creates unwholesome karma, the mind can no longer be empty; when the mind is not empty and one receives unwholesome retribution, the suffering is extremely agonizing—at that time even the feelings of suffering cannot be emptied, and one suffers in pain worse than death. No one wants that. Therefore, when the mind is empty, one will not create unwholesome karma; by reducing all operations, the mind gradually becomes pure and gradually becomes empty—only then can one end suffering and attain liberation.