Some might think: ‘Say one accepts that not being inherently produced it is not spent,¹ and this is why there can be a ripening result. In that case, since the ripening manifests without it having ceased, there will likewise be another ripening after the initial ripening has taken place because it hasn’t been spent. And, since after that ripening there will be yet another ripening, this leads to the fault of infinite regress.’ This will not be the case:

Just as with cataracts one will see hairs
And not just any other random thing,
Although as non-existents they’re the same
The ripened won’t be ripening again. (6.41)

As an example, take objects that are similar in that they are nonexistent: someone with cataracts will see nonexistent objects such as strands of hair, but not the appearance of other types of things, such as a donkey’s horns and a barren woman’s child. Likewise, while the natures of karmas are equal in their non-cessation, they have specific ripening results.

This example not only shows that karma isn’t unspecific, but also that its maturation is specific. To explain:

The negative will therefore further woe,
While virtues lead to what is fortunate.
It’s freedom to see neither good nor bad.
To question karmic links was still deterred. (6.42)

Though virtuous and non-virtuous karmas lack intrinsic essence, still, just as there is a sense of certainty for the one seeing hair strands, non-virtue will not have have a pleasant outcome while virtue will not have an unpleasant outcome. When not apprehending karma as virtuous and non-virtuous one is liberated. The Illustrious One saw that if ordinary beings were to enter into very detailed analyses of it, they could end up denying karmic consequences and demolishing the relative. Stating that, ‘The workings of karmic consequences are inconceivable,’ he thus discouraged speculation about the workings of karmic actions and results.

‘If this is how the relationship between karmic actions and results is posited, when it is stated in the Descent Onto Lanka² that the substrate consciousness is the basis of all the unlimited particular potentials, containing the seeds that cause the production of all things, like the ocean is for the waves, can this then be something utterly unproduced in every respect?’

That is not how it is, because the statements presenting this as something existent were given in order to instruct disciples. It should be understood that it is as an approximation of the nature of all things that what is in fact emptiness is described with the term substrate consciousness. Not only is the substrate consciousness then existent, but the person too exists – such statements of their existence are given in order to nurture individuals who need to be trained. It was for instance stated:

O mendicants. The five aggregates are the burden. The carrier of the burden is the person.³

To some it was taught that there are only the aggregates; and terms such as mind, mentation and consciousness were used when explaining that, ‘By immersing oneself with faith, moral discipline and so forth, one will improve, and in future lives take rebirth in the higher realms.’ But all such teachings were given with intentional ambiguity.

If one wonders what the intention behind them was, it is said:

And so, for those who are not able to
Accommodate the most profound of views,
He taught a substrate, that the person does
Exist, that aggregates alone exist. (6.43)

The kinds of students who have previously had prolonged exposure to misguided (tīrthika) views will struggle to assimilate the profound nature of things (dharmatā), and become frightened when hearing statements such as, ‘I am not, nor will I be ….’⁴ When from the very outset they relate to the instructions of the Teacher like they would the edge of a precipice, backing away from it, they will not accomplish the supreme goal. By initially presenting them with such topics as the substrate consciousness, their misguided beliefs are counteracted as they are steered towards the greater purpose of these instructions. Since they will later, when gaining an unmistaken understanding of the teachings, naturally abandon these, it is definitely a beneficial approach and in no way mistaken. As Āryadeva explained:

One should first of all assess
Their particular inclinations.
If estranged they will never become
Vessels for the sacred Dharma.⁵

For didactic reasons not only did he teach topics such as the substrate consciousness, but also:

He taught by saying I and mine, although
Free from the view of an identity.
And likewise, though things lack inherent truth,
He taught provisionally that they exist. (6.44)

Although he had relinquished any ego and mine by leaving behind the identity view in its entirety, as worldly convention uses terms such as I and mine as a means of communication, the Illustrious One taught using the expressions I and mine. Similarly, although things do not have an intrinsic nature, teaching that they exist can be a means for leading the worldly to understanding, and thus he taught their existence.

As stated at length in the Verses Agreeing with the Pūrvaśaila School:

If the guides of the world
Did not conform with the world,
Nobody would know about Buddha
Or the Buddhist teachings.

While knowing that the aggregates,
Elements and sense fields are of one nature,
He taught about the three realms
To accord with the world.

Though phenomena are unnameable,
He expressed himself to beings
Using an inconceivable variety of terms
To accord with the world.

He taught the non-existence of things,
While dwelling in the nature of awakening
Where there is no non-existence at all,
To accord with the world.

Though seeing no objects nor non-objects,
The supreme of speakers professed
Cessation and the ultimate truth
To accord with the world.

Though being without destruction and creation
Things are equal in the realm of phenomena,
He taught about the inferno of the aeon
To accord with the world.

Although the nature of sentient beings
Is not observed throughout the three times,
He taught about the characters of beings
To accord with the world.⁶