The Gāthā of Dharma Transmission by Vipassī Buddha

Original Text: The body is born from the formless, just as illusions manifest various forms. The consciousness of the illusory person is fundamentally nonexistent; both sin and merit are void and abide nowhere.

Explanation: The first line, "The body is born from the formless," refers to the physical body as the aggregate of form (rūpa-skandha), which obscures sentient beings' consciousness, causing them to mistake the false for the true. Sentient beings persistently regard this physical body as the self, believing it to be real. "Formless" refers to the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness), the eighth consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature). This is the true mind, formless and without characteristics, devoid of the appearances of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or mental objects, and without any characteristic within the three realms. It is like space yet not space, for space is insubstantial and an illusory appearance, whereas this mind truly exists, is the true reality (dharmatā), possessing genuine essence and function.

The true mind can produce all dharmas, including the physical body. The physical body is born from this mind. Due to the unceasing clinging to self, sentient beings' mental faculty (manas) grasps onto the self. After death, there is an intermediate state body (antarābhava). Upon encountering suitable parents, the mental faculty carries the eighth consciousness to take rebirth, forming name-and-form (nāmarūpa), i.e., the fertilized ovum. Because the eighth consciousness contains the seeds of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind), upon contact with the four elements in the mother's womb, the fertilized ovum is produced. It changes every seven days, developing a head, limbs, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. Around five months, the discriminating mind arises, differentiating the living environment. Once the six sense faculties are complete, the eighth consciousness "blows the karmic wind," causing the head to turn downward for birth from the mother's womb. The eighth consciousness then absorbs the four great elements, transforming the infant into a child, adolescent, adult, and finally old age, ending in death. Thus, the physical body is produced from the eighth consciousness, which is itself formless; being formless, it can nevertheless manifest all appearances.

The second line, "just as illusions manifest various forms," means the physical body produced by the eighth consciousness is like an illusion, transforming from nothingness into a fertilized ovum, then into an adult-sized body, or even bodies as large as an elephant, a dragon, or a garuḍa. It is like a magician suddenly conjuring a beautiful woman in empty space. It is also like a painter freely depicting landscapes and figures on a blank canvas. It resembles clouds in the sky, gathering and dispersing to form a cat, a dog, or a flower. These illusory creations come from emptiness and return to emptiness, fundamentally ungraspable; no matter how much one clings to them, they will vanish.

The third line, "The consciousness of the illusory person is fundamentally nonexistent," means sentient beings within the fertilized ovum originally lack the six consciousnesses and possess no discriminative capacity. Around five months, the sixth mental consciousness arises, followed by ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, and body consciousness. Seven days after birth, the eye consciousness becomes capable of discrimination. These discriminative consciousnesses are momentary, arising and ceasing instantaneously; they are not real. In a single instant, there are eighty-one thousand occurrences of seed production and cessation, enabling sentient beings to differentiate the six sense objects. Each seed is transmitted by the ālaya-vijñāna. If even one or several seeds fail to be transmitted, the discriminative function of consciousness ceases to exist. For example, for a lamp to emit light, an electric current is necessary. The current is formed by electrons: one electron arises and ceases, immediately followed by another arising and ceasing. Countless electrons connect in succession, forming a current that passes through the lamp, causing the bulb to glow.

The seeds of consciousness are like those electrons. The formation of a stream of water is likewise formed by successive drops of water continuously joining together. The seeds of consciousness are like those water droplets. The water stream is drawn out by a pump; electrons are output by a generator. The ālaya-vijñāna is like the generator and the pump, transmitting seed after seed of consciousness. Eighty-one thousand seeds of consciousness arise and cease consecutively in a single instant, forming the conscious mind. With the activity of consciousness comes the discriminative function. If the ālaya-vijñāna departs or ceases to function, consciousness ceases to arise, and discriminative capacity vanishes. The body then becomes merely a piece of wood.

The fourth line, "both sin and merit are void and abide nowhere," means that both sinful and meritorious karma are created by the deluded mind. While the deluded mind engages in bodily, verbal, and mental actions—whether good, evil, or neutral—the ālaya-vijñāna records and stores them all. When the karmic conditions mature in a future life, the ālaya-vijñāna outputs the karmic seeds, and sentient beings experience the retribution. However, the five aggregates (skandhas) experiencing the retribution have changed; they are not the same as in the previous life. Both the creator of karma and the experiencer of retribution are arising-and-ceasing, illusory, and unreal. Sinful and meritorious karma are likewise arising-and-ceasing and illusory: merit is exhausted upon enjoyment, and sin vanishes after retribution or repentance. Both are impermanent dharmas subject to arising and cessation.

For example, the karma of false speech: before it is created, it does not reside anywhere. After creation, the speech ceases, and the karmic action disappears. After disappearing, it goes nowhere. Yet the entire process of the action is fully recorded by the ālaya-vijñāna. False speech itself is illusory. Who commits false speech? The body cannot speak falsely, the mouth cannot speak falsely, the tongue cannot speak falsely—otherwise, a corpse could speak falsely. The tongue consciousness and mental consciousness cannot speak falsely; moreover, they are thought-moments arising and ceasing. The mental faculty (manas) cannot speak and thus cannot utter falsehood. The ālaya-vijñāna has no mouth or tongue and certainly cannot speak falsely. There is fundamentally no one who speaks falsely; the karma of false speech is illusory.

Sentient beings are illusory manifestations of the ālaya-vijñāna. Like a robot or a puppet, such an illusory, artificial person creates karmic actions that are also illusory. One cannot condemn them, for even if condemned, they cannot receive punishment. Illusory sentient beings are likewise. The illusory nature of sin and merit can be proven by many facts. Take the example of King Ajātaśatru: after killing his father, his karmic retribution manifested, and he went to see the World-Honored One. The Buddha analyzed for him the illusory nature of the concept of "father," whereby the act of patricide itself is illusory. Upon understanding this, Ajātaśatru's sinful karma vanished. At the end of his life, not only did he not fall into the Avīci hell, but he was reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This demonstrates the illusory nature of sinful and meritorious karma.

Furthermore, for instance, upon attaining the first fruition of Arhatship or upon realizing the mind (in Mahāyāna), the sinful karma from beginningless kalpas leading to the three evil destinies is eradicated. One will never again fall into the three evil destinies to undergo retribution, suffering only within the human realm. All dharmas, including sinful and meritorious karma, are arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, empty, and illusory. By profoundly analyzing this principle, one can awaken to the principle of the unborn in Mahāyāna and become a Bodhisattva of true meaning.