唯識二十論述記 1.225

1.225

述曰：此釋第四，能成喻句。有斷見外道聞說無我，來問佛云：我體既無，誰往後世？如佛世尊為答斷見者，說有中有化生有情，能往後世，非為實有，說化生也。若非實有，佛如何說？

The commentary says: This explains the fourth line, which constitutes the analogy. When non-Buddhists holding the view of annihilation heard the teaching of no-self, they came and asked the Buddha: 'Since the substance of a self does not exist, who proceeds to a future life?' Just as the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, in answering those with the view of annihilation, taught that there are intermediate-state spontaneously born sentient beings who can proceed to a future life, it was not as something substantially real that he spoke of spontaneous birth. If it is not substantially real, how could the Buddha speak of it?