Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Meeting of Father and Son

Original text:大王。彼识起时。无所从来。灭无所至。其缘生时。无所从来。灭无所至。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所至。大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。何以故。自性空故。

However, whether it is wholesome karma or unwholesome karma, its intrinsic nature is empty; it cannot exercise any mastery or control; it is constantly arising and ceasing—when it arises there is no place it comes from, and when it ceases there is no place it goes to; it is illusory and unreal. For example, if I take a knife and kill someone, before I do this deed, this karma does not exist and has no place of origin; this action of deed-making also has no one who performs it—the surface phenomenon is like something conjured up by a magician; there is no maker of karma. The act of killing is produced through the combined operation of the material body and the conscious mind, yet the material body is illusory and the conscious mind is illusory; neither truly exists, so the actions of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are not real. Moreover, once the act of killing has occurred, it vanishes without a trace in an instant. Therefore the action of deed-making is itself empty, yet it leaves behind karma seeds.

And the karma seeds themselves are also empty: when they come, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they go nowhere—from nothing at all to nothing at all. After the retribution has been received, the karma seeds will also vanish without a trace. The karma seeds are likewise empty and illusory. If the karma seeds were not illusory, then after the retribution has been received, or after repentance, the karma seeds should not be able to disappear; and if the karma seeds could not disappear, then sentient beings should receive retribution forever, endlessly—the one who killed should receive retribution in hell forever, should be slaughtered by others forever, without end. Therefore it can be said that all karma of sin and merit is illusory: coming from nowhere, going nowhere. Even so, all meritorious karma will in the end gradually lead sentient beings toward buddhahood, until they ultimately attain the fruit of buddhahood; all sinful karma will in the end cause sentient beings to suffer without end and lament without cease. Analyzing it over and over, only the Ālayavijñāna is real and unchanging, unborn and unceasing, existing forever; all other dharmas are empty and illusory, arising moment by moment, ceasing moment by moment—arising and ceasing even faster than a flash of lightning.