Commentary on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (190)

Nothing Can Be Taken Away; Only Karma Follows Along

The Buddha said that not even the slightest dharma passes from this world to another world. We believe the Buddha's words and know that in this life we can take nothing with us—only karma follows us. Since this is so, we must think carefully about how we should live this life so as to carry along more wholesome karma and not take unwholesome karma with us. Now that we have encountered the Buddha-dharma and are studying and practicing it, we should cherish this opportunity, perform more meritorious deeds, cultivate more wholesome dharmas, and devote our minds single-pointedly to the Buddha-dharma. It is enough if we merely get by in worldly matters, so that we may bring more seeds of wholesome karma to future lives and receive more wholesome retributions in the future.

However, whether karma is wholesome or unwholesome, its nature is empty; it cannot act as a master; 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; it is illusory and unreal. For example, if I take a knife and kill someone: before I do this deed, the karma does not exist and has no place of origin; nor is there any person who performs the act—the surface appearance is like something conjured by a magician, with no creator of the karma. The act of killing is produced by the combined operation of the physical body and the conscious mind, yet the physical body is illusory and the conscious mind is illusory; neither truly exists, and so the actions of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not real. Moreover, once the act of killing has occurred, it vanishes in an instant without a trace. Therefore the act itself is empty, yet it leaves behind karmic seeds.

And the karmic seeds themselves are also empty: they come from nowhere and vanish to nowhere, going from nothing to nothing. Once the retribution has been received, the karmic seeds too will disappear without a trace. Karmic seeds are also empty and illusory. If karmic seeds were not illusory, then after the retribution has been received, or after repentance, the karmic seeds should not be able to disappear; and if karmic seeds could not disappear, then sentient beings should receive retribution forever, endlessly—a killer should receive retribution in hell forever, and should be slaughtered by others endlessly, without end. Therefore it can be said that all karma of sin and merit is illusory, coming from nowhere and 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; and all sinful karma will in the end cause sentient beings to suffer feelings of suffering 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 instant by instant and ceasing instant by instant—arising and ceasing faster than a flash of lightning.