Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (46)

Original text: 大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。初识生已。各受其报。同分心品。相续随转。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the ālayavijñāna, as the master of sentient beings, is the cause for the birth of the physical body of the next life, and karmic actions are the condition for the birth of the next life's physical body. When cause and condition converge, the initial consciousness arises, and the physical body of the next life is born. This person may fall into a hell body, or fall into an animal body, or fall into the realm of ghosts, or fall into an asura body, a human body, or a heavenly body. When the initial consciousness of the next life is born, sentient beings begin to receive their respective karmic retributions. Thereafter, the consciousness on this physical body continues to operate without cease; when the final consciousness ceases, it is called the aggregates of death, becoming a corpse, a deceased person. And when the initial consciousness arises, it is called the aggregates of birth, that is, one who is born.

The ālayavijñāna, the tathāgatagarbha, is the master of sentient beings. The bodily, verbal, and mental actions created by the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind serve as a contributing condition. When cause and condition come together, there will be the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind in the next life, and the karmic retribution of the next life begins. Once the initial consciousness is born, one immediately knows that one has been born into hell, born into the heavens, born among animals, born into the ghost realm, or born into the asura realm. For example, one who is due to be reborn as a human, once the initial consciousness is born again, feelings arise, and the human karmic retribution manifests. When there is no consciousness, there is no experiencer; one cannot feel feelings of suffering or happiness, and thus has not yet received the true retribution. Before the fourth or fifth month in the mother's womb, a human has no mind consciousness and cannot feel suffering or happiness. Strictly speaking, that does not count as truly receiving retribution; yet saying it does not count as receiving retribution, it actually does count as receiving retribution, because that physical body is itself the retributive body—it simply has no mind and does not know feelings of suffering or happiness.

The consciousnesses on the same physical body keep transmigrating and functioning throughout. Within one lifespan, the six consciousnesses such as the eye consciousness all continuously function on the same physical body; this is called the common nature of sentient beings (sattva-sabhāga) of the mind. When the final consciousness ceases, the physical body becomes like a piece of wood; this is called the aggregates of death. When the initial consciousness arises, it is called the aggregates of birth; the six consciousnesses are called the aggregate of consciousness (vijñāna).