Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (115)

Dharmas formed through the convergence of conditions are not real dharmas

One should understand that the turning of karma has no doer and no receiver. The turning of karma refers to the actions and activities of our body and mind, the operation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions—there is no person who creates them. For example, right now I am expounding the Dharma and speaking, but in fact there is no one doing this. Who is doing it, who is speaking? You say it is "I," but what is "I"? Is my body called "I," or is my conscious mind called "I"? These are all false appearances. The five aggregates formed by the combination of the physical body and the conscious mind are even more false appearances; there is no true self. The five aggregates are false appearances, and the phenomenon of the five aggregates speaking is even more unreal—the person speaking is not "I," but a composite. Since it is a composite, it is formed by the convergence of causes and conditions; when the conditions cease, the composite disperses and no longer exists. Even the present composite is not real existence.

For example, an army is composed of infantry, cavalry, and multiple branches of service, and is provisionally named a "military force." After the force was formed and went out to war and won, the king would say: "Our military force is so brave, so valiant and invincible, so mighty." But is there really a dharma called "our military force"? The force is composed of multiple branches of service; a single branch alone is not called a force, and after they are combined, even less can it be called a force. There is no real dharma of a "military force" existing; the force is an illusory, falsely combined entity, not real. A dharma formed through the convergence of conditions is not a real dharma; when the conditions disperse, the composite will break apart. A composite that can assemble and disperse is false and unreal. Two or more things gathered together are called "one body," but leaving aside the individual components, none of them is called "one body." A is A, B is B—they are in fact not one body, but a falsely combined entity, and a falsely combined entity is not real.

Our five aggregates are also composites, formed by the combination of the physical body and several kinds of minds that see, hear, perceive, and know. Only after this combination are there feelings, thoughts, discernment, discrimination, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of coming and going; if the conscious mind ceases, the five aggregates cannot be combined; if the body ceases, the five aggregates also cannot be combined. Therefore, the falsely combined phenomenon is not real. In reality, there is no real person who is the self of the five aggregates; a person is a thing pieced together from several causes and conditions, a false appearance, which disperses as soon as the causes and conditions cease. For example, this chair is put together from nails, wood, and human labor; when the time comes, this chair falls apart and becomes wood; when the wood is gone, it becomes ash; and finally even the ash is gone. Things formed by the combination of causes and conditions are all unreal like this, and therefore one must not cling to them.

The Hīnayāna teachings say that all worldly dharmas arise from causes and conditions, and all are provisional dharmas, not real. Whatever is formed by the combination of causes and conditions is a provisional dharma, subject to arising and ceasing, false and illusory. From the perspective of the Mahāyāna teachings, why are there combinations of causes and conditions? It is all because of the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, this chair could not be assembled either. When I nail this chair together by hand, if my tathāgatagarbha does not function, I cannot nail this chair together. Without the tathāgatagarbha, there would not even be wood, because trees cannot grow on their own; everything depends entirely on the functions and operations of the tathāgatagarbha. The growth of all things cannot be separated from the tathāgatagarbha.