(9.141cd)And that a result, such as a sprout, does not exist in any of its causes and conditions,
Either individually or collectively.

If production does not come from self and it does not come from other then how can it come from both self and other. If neither inherently exists in itself or inherently exist another have any means whatsoever of producing anything, then how is it possible for these two things together to produce something?  If they could, then it would imply that an inherently existent self and an inherently existent other could enter into some sort of relationship with each other. But we have already established that that is impossible through the paradox of contact. If two things exist independently, they cannot come into contact with each other. If they can come into contact with each other and that produces a change, then that means these two things do not exist independently, but rather have a dependent relationship with each other period further if these two things together can produce an effect, then there is a dependent relationship between these causes and the effect. If there is a dependent relationship between the causes and the effect, then we cannot say that the causes exist in dependently because they have a dependent relationship with something else.

We will go into these sorts of arguments in much more detail in the next couple of verses on the logical reasoning of dependent relationship, and there is an extensive reputation of this in Ocean of Nectar.  We can also of course read in Meaningful to Behold and Heart of Wisdom.

So, how is any effect produced?  In every religion there is identified that which is the creator of all, isn’t there?  There is identified that which is the creator of all, a fundamental source or cause of everything that we experience.  There is the Christian god, Ishvara, the general principle, etc.  From the Buddhist perspective, the mind is the creator of all, but I think as well we have to understand that from emptiness, everything is created.   Emptiness, we can regard as the basis of all.  From emptiness, there manifests this world in dependence upon and as an effect of the collective karma of all the people who inhabit it.   We can see there are many similarities even with respect to the general principal, everything manifesting from a permanent general principal.   Everything manifests from the permanent object that is emptiness. Everything.  Everything arises from, as a manifestation of, emptiness. Everything.

Mind is the creator of all, but from emptiness, everything is created.  We experience indifference, pleasure, pain arising from emptiness as effects.  This world and our experiences of it, our pleasant experiences for example, are all manifestations of emptiness, creations of mind, aren’t they?  All arise from, or are manifestations of emptiness, creations of mind.

Effects and their causes are empty.  Empty causes produce empty effects.  Effects and their causes are empty, they are mere imputations of mind.  Everything that is a cause, everything that is an effect is mere imputation of mind.  But the mind itself is empty.  So all causes and effects are imputations of mind, and mind itself is empty.  Therefore, there is no creator other than mind, and mind itself is empty.  And it is from this emptiness that everything appears or manifests, again in dependence upon imputation of mind.

To make it very simple:  Objects arise in dependence upon karma, which itself comes from mental action.  Objects are maintained and discriminated by mind in the present.  If you look for anything other than these projections of mind, you will find nothing.  Mind is the actual creator.  Emptiness is what things are created from, made out of.  Things themselves are nothing other than projections of mind.  Mind itself is empty.  So all of these things are the nature of mind, which itself is empty.

We might ask why it is necessary to study these different schools of emptiness.  One reason is it gradually guides us to the correct view.  We proceed through the views, gradually leaving behind a series of wrong views leading us to the correct one.  By studying their objections, we identify our own objections to emptiness, and the response of the Prasangikas.

The main reason is our final view is the union of the Prasangika and the Chittamatrin view – the Tantra-Prasangika view.  This gives us a complete understanding, perfect understanding of how things are created.  We must understand cause and effect, and in particular, actions and effects, or mental actions, mental intention, and effects.  There are three main types of dependent relationship:  Dependent on causes and conditions, specifically karma, the substantial cause.  If we didn’t create the karma to see a flower, we wouldn’t see one.  If we did create such karma, we couldn’t not see one.  There is dependent on parts, for example parts of a flower.  And there is dependent on mere imputation, for example, mere name ‘flower’ imputed upon a basis of imputation.  But as well we need to understand that they are the nature of the mind too.   The flower is the nature of the mind itself.  By bringing in all of these elements, we gain a complete picture, perfect understanding, of how everything is created by mind.

If we think about it clearly, we will understand that nothing can take place, no effect can occur outside a mental continuum.  If it could, it would be inherently existent, wouldn’t it?  Nothing can take place, causes or effects, outside the mind, outside the mental continuum.  We create the causes within our mind to experience the effects that are both subject and object.  Everything is taking place within the mental continuum.  This is why our world is a subjective world.   Every effect that takes place, every occurrence, whatever we perceive, does not take place outside our mind.

The conclusion is all things are a mere karmic appearance of mind.  We need to try to bring all three together.  This is the final view.  Mere appearance.  Traditional prasangika view, mere imputation of mind.  Karmic appearance.  This unites karma and emptiness, it is an appearance arising from karma.  Of mind.  This brings in the Chittamatrin view, that objects are the nature of mind.  In this way, everything is created by mind.  Put another way, the emptiness of the mind manifests itself as appearances to mind.

If we understand all three, then we will gain a perfect understanding, a complete picture of how things are created.   If we understand this, we realize that we can create what kind of world we like, we can create what kind of people who are going to be living in that world, we can create the person, ourselves, who is going to be living in that world, we create all the experiences, we can create whatever experiences we like.  We create all these things, all of them, with our own mind.  All of them.  And where will they take place?  They cannot take place outside of our continuum.  If that is the case, then obviously we will feel entirely responsible for everything, won’t we?  Not even partly responsible, we will feel entirely responsible, won’t we?  We discussed before we are responsible for this world of suffering.  Let’s now destroy this world of suffering.  How do we do that?  Change takes place here in the mind.  The mind is the creator of an impure world, mind is the creator of a happy world, mind is the creator of a pure world.