宗鏡錄 66.20

66.20

Answer: 'Although the internal and external both merely depend on causes and conditions, causes and conditions are twofold: First, sovereign karmic causes and conditions of good and evil, which only induce birth in heaven or the vipāka of hell, and so forth. Second, causally concordant karmic causes and conditions of good and evil: those born in heaven induce jeweled ground and golden flowers; those falling into hell induce forests of swords and copper pillars, and so forth. These are created by karmic causes and conditions; they are not what a self can do. How could one grasp at the existence of a self merely because retributions received are different? Therefore, the sūtra says: "There is no self, no maker, and no receiver, / Yet the karma of good and evil is not lost."'