大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 17.45

17.45

"The various non-Buddhists again do not attach to other causes; furthermore, what is evolved by the world free from grasping at a self": next, the difference from non-Buddhists is clarified. What their school asserts is that a self, a spirit, and so forth generate everything. Now this body of mine is not my self; it is generated by the Great Self. If it is generated by the Self, then the cause and effect of good and evil both emerge from that; now, this body and mind are intrinsically without a self—for whom would the fruit of upholding precepts be cultivated, and who would receive its retribution? One should know that the principle of cause and effect is not established, just like flowers and fruits without seeds, or like the son of a barren woman being able to make a garland of sky-flowers: there is no such possibility. This metaphor of the barren woman's son is explained in detail by consulting the meaning of the *Buddhadhātu-śāstra*. Furthermore, there are those who cling to annihilationism or eternalism and practice the ten wholesome dharmas: if there is permanence, there is no karmic retribution—on what then would the present upholding of the ten wholesome actions abide? If there is annihilation, there is also no karmic retribution—on what would it rely? Therefore, while the name of the ten wholesome actions is the same, it is like an insect eating wood and by chance forming a character; they cannot be compared.