Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (192)

If we attain nirvāṇa, extinguishing the worldly dharmas of the three realms—the five aggregates are extinguished, the eighteen elements are extinguished, the body is extinguished, the mind is extinguished, feelings are extinguished, thoughts are extinguished, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions and their fabrications are extinguished—all are extinguished, leaving only the ālayavijñāna, neither arising nor ceasing, tranquil and quiescent. This state is called nirvāṇa. The state in which the five aggregates and the eighteen elements have all been extinguished is itself also empty; it is also subject to arising, ceasing, and change, and is not forever unchanging. The state of nirvāṇa likewise comes from nowhere and goes nowhere: there is no one who enters nirvāṇa, no one who exits nirvāṇa, no agent and no experiencer.

Therefore nirvāṇa is not a true existence; nirvāṇa is the manifestation of a state of tranquility. Just like the clamorous phenomena of the world, it is unreal and illusory. This state is also empty; only the ālayavijñāna is not empty, and everything else is empty. Nirvāṇa has no mark—even the state of emptiness is itself empty—and this emptiness does not exist apart from the ālayavijñāna.

Among all dharmas there is no agent, nor is there an experiencer. When an arhat who has realized the fourth fruit enters nirvāṇa, there is no person who has realized the fourth fruit, no arhat who has entered nirvāṇa, and no arhat who enjoys the bliss of quiescence. Who experiences the bliss of quiescence in nirvāṇa? Can such a person be found? Within nirvāṇa there is no person and no arhat; if there were, it would not be nirvāṇa. The arhat's physical body is extinguished, the conscious mind is extinguished, the functions of the five aggregates are extinguished, and the phenomena of the eighteen elements are extinguished. Therefore, within nirvāṇa there is no arhat and no one who experiences the bliss of quiescence.