Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (114)

The body consciousness and the karmic actions created by the body consciousness are all empty

The body consciousness itself is empty, coming and going in emptiness, unable to be grasped or retained, arising and ceasing in constant illusion and transformation. The karmic actions that are created are empty, and the initial consciousness is also empty. If the consciousness ceases, the phenomenon of cessation itself is also empty—there is no truly existing dharma of cessation. Who could extinguish it? There is no extinguisher. If the consciousness arises, the dharma of its birth is also empty; dharmas that arise in accordance with karmic seeds are all empty. Only the Ālayavijñāna is not empty—He holds the seeds of all dharmas and can produce all dharmas. He truly exists; everything else is empty, false, illusory, and unreal.