Lectures on the Pitāputrasamāgama Sūtra (191)

All dharmas are ultimately empty; both samsara and nirvana are also empty.

Original text: One should understand thus: the initial consciousness and the emptiness of the initial consciousness; one's own karmic actions and the emptiness of those karmic actions; body consciousness and the emptiness of body consciousness. If something arises, that arising is empty; if something ceases, that cessation is empty. Samsara and the emptiness of samsara; nirvana and the emptiness of nirvana—all are empty in their intrinsic nature. There is neither a creator nor an experiencer. They are merely manifested through conventional designations, not in accordance with the ultimate truth. Thus it is taught.

One should understand the initial consciousness and its emptiness in this manner; understand one's own created karmic actions and their emptiness; understand body consciousness and its emptiness. Similarly, understand that when any dharma arises, its arising is empty; when any dharma ceases, its cessation is also empty. Simultaneously, understand samsara and the emptiness of samsara; understand nirvana and the emptiness of nirvana. The creation and continuation of karmic actions have neither a creator nor an experiencer. All dharmas are merely displayed according to conventional distinctions; in the ultimate truth, such descriptions are not applied.

The initial consciousness arising in the physical form of the next life is also empty. Created karmic actions are also empty. Body consciousness is also empty. If I cause this dharma to cease, this very cessation is also empty—there is no real annihilation. Is there a fixed principle of cessation? No, it is empty. The arising of consciousness in the next life—the arising itself is also empty. Is there an unchanging principle or law of arising? No, it is empty. All dharmas simply arise in this way. When we cycle through the six realms—as humans, as devas, as animals, as hungry ghosts—that very samsara is also empty. If samsara were not empty, one would be bound to it eternally, unable to attain liberation or become a Buddha; spiritual practice would be useless. The fact that we can break free from and transcend the cycle of samsara demonstrates that samsara itself is empty—there is no real, indestructible dharma of samsara. Since we ourselves are not real, how could there be a real samsara? There is none. All is empty; all is illusory.