A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness

Chapter Fourteen  How to Contemplate and Eradicate the View of Self of the Mind Consciousness

1. The reason the mind consciousness arises is that the manas contacts the mental sense-objects (dharmāyatana), and the eighth consciousness produces the mind consciousness at the place where faculty and sense-object contact each other; then the three—faculty, sense-object, and consciousness—conjoin in contact, and the mind consciousness begins to discern the mental sense-objects, whereupon discriminating mind manifests, and thus the function of discrimination is produced. Among the six consciousnesses, the range of activity of the mind consciousness is extremely broad: whenever we are in a waking state without having fainted, in a waking state without being truly asleep, the mind consciousness exists and is active and operating. Therefore the range of the mind consciousness's activity is indeed extremely broad; at every present moment when our bodily, verbal, and mental actions manifest, the mind consciousness is currently operating. The nature of the mind consciousness is: "I am thinking, I am discerning, I am contemplating, I am reflecting." We often take the mind consciousness as the self, and this "self" is the most prominent and the strongest in its manifestation.

Who takes the mind consciousness as the self? One is the mind consciousness itself, but the principal one is the manas, which severely grasps the mind consciousness as the self, taking all the functions and operations of the mind consciousness as the self. The manas has the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva); it universally deliberates and grasps all dharmas as the self and as belonging to the self. It not only grasps the eighth consciousness as the self, but also grasps the six consciousnesses as the self, grasping all dharmas as the self and as belonging to the self; its greedy grasping nature is especially great. In every activity of our bodily, verbal, and mental actions, every act of thinking, every mental operation, is a function of the mind consciousness, including the functions of discrimination, thinking, judgment, reflection, contemplation, and so forth. The function of deliberation—no matter what dharma is being deliberated, whether deliberating worldly dharmas, deliberating Buddhist dharmas, or investigating a huatou—all is the mind consciousness in operation; one can see that the uses of the mind consciousness are extremely extensive.

To eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), one must contemplate and practice vipaśyanā on the arising-and-ceasing nature and illusory nature of the mind consciousness, and contemplate the various conditions needed for the mind consciousness to arise, knowing that dharmas manifesting through conditions must be empty, illusory, and subject to arising and ceasing. At every present moment when the mind consciousness manifests, various conditions are needed, various supporting conditions are needed, for the mind consciousness to arise and to be active; if there are no supporting conditions, the mind consciousness cannot manifest and is in a state of cessation. Another method of contemplative practice on the mind consciousness is to contemplate the mind consciousness's illusoriness from the overall phenomenon of its arising and ceasing: after the mind consciousness has formed, on the surface it seems continuous and unbroken, and the discriminating function of the mind consciousness also seems to exist all along, but in fact these functions are illusory, subject to arising and ceasing, and intermittent. Under the following five circumstances, the mind consciousness must cease: for example, at true death, when unconscious, when dreamlessly asleep, when in the meditative absorption of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti), and when in the meditative absorption of cessation (nirodha-samāpatti).

The conclusion reached through contemplation should be: whatever dharmas are born of causes and conditions are all illusory, all subject to arising and ceasing, all empty, and none is the self. Forming this concept is also not easy; it requires overturning mistaken ideas and concepts from beginningless kalpas past in order to establish present ideas and concepts that accord with the truth and with reality; from then on, one no longer mistakenly takes conditionally-arisen dharmas as real—this is the eradication of the view of self.

Let us contemplate and practice vipaśyanā: the mind that is deliberating right now, the mind that is discerning things—of what causes and conditions is it born? Without these conditions, would this discriminating mind of mine not cease to exist? Without these conditions, my present power of thought would be gone, my present capacity for discernment would be gone. Thinking back and forth in this way, one can know how illusory and how unreal this mind is! After gradual contemplation, one no longer mistakenly takes the mind consciousness—which can think and discern—as the self. It is best to contemplate while possessing meditative power; such contemplation is then very deep and subtle, and the mind consciousness and manas can easily accept this principle, no longer grasping the mind consciousness as the self, and thus the view of self is eradicated.

The mind consciousness can be divided into two kinds: consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) and solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta). That which performs discernment together with the five sense consciousnesses is the consciousness accompanied by the five senses; that which does not operate together with the five sense consciousnesses but can function independently is the solitary consciousness. The mind consciousness that is together with the eye consciousness, when seeing forms, can simultaneously analyze the quality, source, and content of that material sense-object, as well as how boring or how interesting that sense-object is, and thereby produces feelings toward form, discrimination of form, discernment of form, and judgment of form—all these are the discriminating functions of the mind consciousness.

Of what causes and conditions does the mind consciousness manifest? For the mind consciousness to manifest, there must be the eye faculty, material sense-objects, the manas, the eighth consciousness, and its own consciousness-seeds, among other conditions. Because these causal conditions exist, our mind consciousness can manifest and can discriminate the specific content of material sense-objects, discern form, judge form, think about form, plan to deal with form, and infer about form. This is the mind consciousness together with the eye consciousness; if even one condition is lacking, the mind consciousness cannot be born and cannot arise to discern. From this, one knows how illusory our mind consciousness is.

Furthermore, the mind consciousness together with the ear consciousness—analyze and contemplate how illusory it is and how it arises and ceases. When we hear sounds, the mind consciousness certainly must participate; the mind consciousness can analyze what kind of sound this is, where it comes from, how far or near it is from me, what the content of the sound is, how coarse or fine the sound is, whether it is a male's voice or a female's voice, whether it is a sound produced by an object or a sound produced in the universe, what influence it has on me, how to handle and treat this sound, and so forth—all these are the contents that the mind consciousness discerns and processes.

What conditions are needed for the mind consciousness together with the ear consciousness to manifest? Its manifestation requires the ear faculty, the ear consciousness, the eighth consciousness, the manas, the mind consciousness's own consciousness-seeds, and also sounds from the external world. Only when these conditions are complete can we hear sounds, and only then can we discriminate, discern, judge, and analyze that sound, deliberate and plan, give rise to various minds of joy, greed, and aversion, and produce various mental states—all these are the functions of the mind consciousness.

Analyze and contemplate the arising-and-ceasing nature of this mind consciousness: if the external sounds disappear, the mind consciousness cannot discern the sound sense-objects there and shifts elsewhere to discriminate, no longer continuing to discriminate the sound sense-objects in that place. If one condition is lacking—for instance, if the ear faculty is destroyed—then the ear consciousness no longer exists, and the mind consciousness also cannot attend to that sound; one can see how illusory this mind consciousness is. External sounds all arise from various causes and conditions; without external sounds, the mind consciousness also cannot manifest. Without consciousness-seeds, the mind consciousness cannot manifest; if the manas is not interested in the mental sense-objects and does not give rise to attention (manaskāra) toward that sound sense-object, the mind consciousness also cannot manifest. If a person is tired or unconscious, the mind consciousness also cannot manifest, and I cannot hear sounds. Then this mind consciousness of mine that can hear sounds, analyze sounds, and deliberate on the content of sounds is also subject to arising and ceasing, is impermanent, and is born of causes and conditions; therefore the mind consciousness is not the self—it arises and ceases moment after moment and fundamentally cannot be the self.

There is also the mind consciousness together with the nose consciousness, the consciousness that smells odors together with the nose consciousness; it can discriminate the nature, source, category, degree, harmfulness or harmlessness of odors, their influence on oneself and the environment, and so forth, and can also think about how to handle and treat them. The manifestation of this mind consciousness also has many conditions: there must be external scent sense-objects—whether fragrance, stench, or any kind of smell, in any case this scent sense-object must arise. There must also be the manas, the eighth consciousness, the mind consciousness's own seeds, the nose faculty, and the nose consciousness; only with these causal conditions can the mind consciousness manifest and produce discriminating functions.

After the mind consciousness manifests, it can know from what object this odor is emitted, what kind of odor it is, what its variety is, to what degree it is fragrant, to what degree it is foul, how far it is from us, and then give rise to a mind of joy, a mind of aversion, and various feelings, and analyze, plan, judge, deliberate, and infer about this scent sense-object—all these functions are the operations of the mind consciousness. For the production of the mind consciousness, the eighth consciousness is the cause, and there must also be all kinds of conditions; only when these causes and conditions gather together can the mind consciousness be born, and only afterward can it give rise to a series of mental activities such as discernment, inference, judgment, and deliberation. Therefore this mind consciousness arises and ceases moment after moment, lacks self-mastery (avaśatā), is not self-governing, is illusory and impermanent, and is fundamentally not the self.

There is also the mind consciousness together with the tongue consciousness; under what conditions does it manifest? Its manifestation requires the tongue faculty, which must be intact and undamaged; there must be the tongue consciousness, as well as the seventh consciousness and the eighth consciousness, and the mind consciousness's own consciousness-seeds, and also the taste sense-objects in food and drink, for the mind consciousness to manifest. After the mind consciousness manifests, it can discriminate what taste this is, specifically to what degree it is sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, or bland, what object it belongs to, whether it is tasty, and whether eating it is beneficial or not beneficial to oneself. Then there are other mental activities—discriminating, knowing, inferring, analyzing, judging, planning; all kinds of deliberation are run by the mind consciousness. For the manifestation of the mind consciousness's deliberative activity, these causal conditions are required; if one condition is lacking, the mind consciousness's deliberative activity cannot manifest. Since it is a dharma that can manifest only when causes and conditions are complete, it is of course illusory—an impermanent dharma that arises and ceases, ceases and arises again—and is not the self.

There is also the mind consciousness together with the body consciousness; the conditions for this mind consciousness to manifest require the body faculty to be intact and undamaged. The conditions for the mind consciousness to manifest require the body faculty, the body consciousness, the manas, the eighth consciousness, the mind consciousness's own seeds, and also tactile sense-objects. Tactile sense-objects include external and internal tactile sense-objects: external tactile sense-objects are emitted by external objects, contact our body, and are then transformed by the eighth consciousness into internal tactile sense-objects of the internally-perceived aspect (内相分). Internal tactile sense-objects are tactile sense-objects produced within our physical body, such as hunger, thirst, satiety, fatigue, comfort, and so forth. With these conditions, our mind consciousness can be manifested by the eighth consciousness, and only then can it discern the tactile sense-objects within the body—discern whether I am now hungry, whether I am thirsty, whether I am fatigued, where it now hurts, where it is now comfortable, and so forth; this is the mind consciousness discriminating the tactile sense-objects on the body.

The mind consciousness can also discriminate tactile sense-objects outside the body—for example, how warm and mild the sunlight is on the body, how gentle the wind blowing on the body is, or how fierce the wind lashing against my body is, how painful it is when an object strikes my body; discriminating and feeling various tactile sense-objects are all functions of the mind consciousness. Of course the body consciousness also operates jointly therein; the mind consciousness must discriminate what kind of tactile sense-object it is, whether it is good or bad, and what its influence and consequences are. Then various mental activities arise—all these are the mental activities of the mind consciousness. These mental activities are subject to certain conditions; without these conditions, the mental activities cannot manifest. Therefore the mind consciousness is subject to arising and ceasing, is born of causes and conditions, and lacks self-mastery and self-governance; then this mind consciousness together with the body consciousness is not the self, and we must no longer take it as the self.

The mental activities carried out by the mind consciousness alone, not together with the five sense consciousnesses, are the solitary consciousness. For example, when we are pondering a Buddhist dharma or a principle, or engaged in Chan contemplation, or recollecting, or daydreaming, or mulling over matters of the heart, and so forth—all these various mental activities are the distracted solitary consciousness. Another example: in meditative concentration, knowing that various meditative states have appeared in one's mind, discriminating what kind of state this is, what its significance is, what its content is, and the mind thereby giving rise to various feelings and various mental activities—this is the solitary consciousness within samādhi, which does not engage in discernment together with the five sense consciousnesses. There is also the solitary consciousness in dreams: our activities in dreams, discerning various dream scenes—all these are the independent activities of the mind consciousness, and these activities require the completion of many conditions to occur; if one condition is lacking, the solitary consciousness cannot manifest. When the solitary consciousness does not manifest, we cannot carry out these deliberative activities, discerning activities, analytical activities, planning activities, and contemplative-practice activities; all of these activities are gone.

The arising of the solitary consciousness requires the eighth consciousness and the manas, requires the mind consciousness's own consciousness-seeds, and also requires the participation of the mental sense-objects. The conditions needed for the solitary consciousness to manifest at such times are fewer than those needed for the consciousness accompanied by the five senses, and also fewer than those needed for the five sense consciousnesses to manifest. Therefore the solitary consciousness in the distracted state manifests most easily—one can see that our minds are distracted most of the time, and therefore cultivating meditative concentration is not easy, and it is also not easy to concentrate when doing things; we always like to think of this and that, letting thoughts run wild, and sometimes we ourselves do not even know what we are thinking about. These solitary consciousnesses are all produced by the manas's grasping at the myriad dharmas; the root lies right here in the manas. Therefore only by subduing the manas and keeping it from grasping everywhere can the mind become single-pointed and the mind consciousness attain concentration.

Since the arising of the solitary consciousness also requires certain conditions, this mind consciousness is born of causes and conditions and is not self-existent. A dharma born of causes and conditions is subject to arising and ceasing and impermanent, and is fundamentally not the self; a dharma that changes constantly is not permanent, is suffering, and what is suffering is also not the self. The true self is not suffering, is permanent, is not subject to arising and ceasing, and is not intermittent; it is not constrained by any conditions, originally exists, and has no phenomenon of arising and ceasing—that is the true self. Apart from this, everything is illusory, a transformed false self. Whatever is subject to the constraints of various conditions is not real, and therefore is not the self. Contemplate this principle often, and gradually one can transform one's thinking.

There is a Western philosophical idea that says: "I think, therefore I am." The "I" here refers, on the one hand, to the self of the manas that can deliberate, and on the other hand, to the self of the mind consciousness that can think. "I am thinking, I am discerning, I am analyzing, I am planning, I am judging, I am deliberating, I am knowing," and so forth. This "I" is the self of the mind consciousness, which is always knowing: "Today I am doing such-and-such, I am eating, I am walking, I am discerning, I am reading, I am deliberating, I am thinking, I am practicing contemplation, I am investigating Chan, I am prostrating to the Buddha, I am working," and so forth.

Now this entire "I" can manifest only through various causes and conditions and must be constrained by many causal conditions; this "I" is of course an arising-and-ceasing false self and is fundamentally not the true self. This "I" is an empty shell conjured up by the eighth consciousness, and all the functions it possesses on the surface are bestowed by the eighth consciousness. If the eighth consciousness had no consciousness-seeds, if the eighth consciousness did not cooperate in the activities, these functions such as the capacity for discrimination would all vanish and cease to exist; then the mind consciousness is subject to arising and ceasing, illusory, conjured, and empty, and is not the self.

We should clearly recognize: the "I" that is speaking right now, the "I" that is thinking about things, the "I" that is doing things—all are born of causes and conditions, all subject to arising and ceasing, and therefore none is the self; in this way we eradicate the view of self that takes the mind consciousness as the self. All the philosophers and thinkers in the world take the thinking mind consciousness as the self—one can see they are all ordinary beings whose view of self has not been eradicated. Even the devas—the devas of the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm, the three realms, including the devas of the highest heaven, the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception—likewise take the mind consciousness as the self, as a real, eternal, imperishable self; therefore they must all undergo unceasing birth-and-death and saṃsāra, suffering endlessly—one can see how important the eradication of the view of self is!

No matter what price we must pay in this life, we must eradicate the view of self; after eradicating the view of self, we can benefit immeasurably life after life. Therefore we should in our minds abandon worldly dharmas as much as possible; these worldly dharmas can only be dealt with perfunctorily, must not be taken as real, must not be clung to, and still less grasped. Abandon as much as the mind can abandon; to abandon them completely is best. Then turn back and grasp the Buddhist dharma—you may grasp the Buddhist dharma; no matter how much you grasp it, for the time being it does not matter, because the problem of birth-and-death has already been solved, and the Buddhist dharma can also enable us to accomplish the Buddha-way—why not do it!

2. The consciousness-seeds arise and cease moment by moment; under the five circumstances of dreamless sleep, unconsciousness, the moment of death, entering the meditative absorption of no-perception, and entering the meditative absorption of cessation, the six consciousnesses necessarily cease and disappear; therefore the consciousness-mind is subject to arising, ceasing, and change, is impermanent, suffering, empty, and not-self. As long as the seventh consciousness exists and operates, the eighth consciousness follows along; the eighth consciousness is like an attendant who follows along. The two consciousnesses differ greatly in nature and are closely connected. The eighth consciousness is the most subtle and profound; next, the seventh consciousness is also subtle and profound; next, the sixth consciousness is also subtle and profound; finally, the five sense consciousnesses are also subtle and profound—all eight consciousness-kings are subtle and profound. When the natures of all eight consciousnesses are known completely without remainder, sentient beings become Buddhas.

In the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, the sixth consciousness is extremely subtle; the higher the level of meditative concentration, the subtler the mind consciousness and the weaker its capacity for discernment. The meditative absorption of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is the highest samādhi in the mundane world of the three realms; the mind consciousness in that samādhi has no self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) and cannot introspectively observe its own existence—that is, it does not know that it exists. In other samādhis, the mind consciousness can still introspectively observe itself and know its own existence. The mind consciousness in the first dhyāna and in the desire-realm concentration can still discern the mental sense-objects upon the five sense-objects; in samādhi of the second dhyāna and above, the mind consciousness cannot discern the mental sense-objects upon the five sense-objects, because the first five consciousnesses have already disappeared and the mind consciousness cannot discern the first five sense-objects alone. Therefore it is said that the mind consciousness is subject to arising, ceasing, and change, is not real and eternally existent—that is not-self; the same is true of the five sense consciousnesses, and the same is true of the seventh consciousness.

3. How to Eradicate the View of Self That Takes the Mind Consciousness as the Self

The mind consciousness that can be detected under ordinary circumstances has obvious and strong functions of discriminating awareness, obvious functions of feeling, obvious functions of deliberation, and obvious functions of mental emotion; this is the relatively coarse and heavy (dausthulya) mind consciousness, which is easy for us to perceive. In cultivation, eradicating the view that such a mind consciousness is the self is not too difficult; but to observe the subtler mental functions of the mind consciousness, if the mind is not refined and there is no wisdom to discriminate, it is rather difficult. Without meditative concentration (dhyāna), one's deliberation is coarse, and one cannot eradicate the wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) that takes the deep and subtle mind consciousness as the self; if the view of self cannot be eradicated completely, birth-and-death cannot be ended, and the three evil destinies cannot be avoided.

In studying Buddhism and cultivating practice, it suffices to know that the mind consciousness is illusory and not to take the mind consciousness as the self; actually realizing that the mind consciousness is subject to arising and ceasing, illusory, and not-self, one eradicates the view of self, is no longer bound by the mind consciousness's functions of discriminating awareness, and can attain liberation; then one should make good use of the mind consciousness to obtain greater wisdom, and in the future one can become a Buddha. In daily life one should observe and practice vipaśyanā, confirming that the mind consciousness is not the self and not belonging to the self, that all the various characteristics of the mind consciousness are unreal and none is the self; in this way one can break through ignorance and not be bound by birth-and-death. Whatever worldly dharma can be perceived through awareness is not the self; all of one's own functions are not real and none is the self. Accepting these principles requires fairly good meditative power; cultivate concentration in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—the better the meditative power, the more one can realize the illusoriness of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the more one can know the illusoriness of the mind consciousness itself.

If the consciousness-mind were entirely extinguished, it would be impossible to know that one had entered samādhi, impossible to know that one was very tranquil (praśama), impossible to know that one was without thoughts, and impossible to know all the states and realms within samādhi. Since one knows, there is the existence and operation of the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness is still performing the function of discernment. Only by observing even these subtle consciousnesses and accepting that the subtle consciousnesses with all their functions of discernment are not the self is the wrong view of the mind consciousness as the self completely and utterly eradicated—this is the true eradication of the view of self. At that time, when investigating Chan, one will no longer take the subtle mind consciousness as the eighth consciousness that is originally pure, and one cannot become enlightened wrongly and go astray.

4. After the six consciousnesses contact the six sense-objects, there are feelings and felt experiences; sentient beings all believe that these various felt experiences are so real, that all these various felt experiences are the self, and so they must react correspondingly to these various felt experiences—either with fondness and greedy love, or with anger and resentment. In fact, all kinds of felt experiences are extremely illusory and unreal; they are things produced from consciousness-seeds, just like an electric current formed by the transmission of electrons—extremely unreal. Why care so much about felt experiences and create unwholesome karmic actions?

Observe and imagine the process by which an electric current is generated, and you will know that an electric current is formed by the aggregated flow of countless electrons; the electrons are formless and without mark, arising and ceasing and changing, transmitted out by a generator to form the current, and the electrons return to the generator. The electric current is subject to arising, ceasing, change, and conjuration, and disappears after functioning. Felt experiences are just like this—what is there to cling to? What is there to take as real?

Contemplating that the sixth and seventh consciousness-minds and the five sense consciousnesses are also illusory and unreal is far more important than contemplating the realms of the six sense-objects. When the mind arises, the various dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, the various dharmas cease. To catch bandits, first catch their king; the consciousness-mind is the master of the dharmas—watch the master, and let the cattle and sheep run wherever they will.

Grasp the felt experiences and watch the felt experiences, and the thoughts and concepts will inevitably be purified, evil karma will inevitably be eliminated, unnecessary karmic actions will inevitably be created less, the mind will inevitably gradually become pure, afflictions will inevitably be lightened, meditative concentration will inevitably arise, and wisdom will inevitably be born. The body becomes light and awareness peaceful; body and mind will inevitably undergo transformation—why not do it? Why immerse oneself every day in various felt experiences and be unable to extricate oneself, suffering anguish and distress, with body and mind worn out?

5. In observing that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are not-self, the main observation is the not-self of the mind consciousness; the realms of the mind consciousness are relatively many—coarse and subtle, pure and impure, empty and non-empty. To observe the mind consciousness, one must experience the arising-ceasing, impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and not-self of the various realms of the mind consciousness. The mind consciousness has various characteristic appearances, such as various marks of affliction, various marks of purity, various marks of emptiness, various marks of knowing, various marks of discernment, marks with language and words, marks without language and words, marks with sound, marks without sound, marks of quietude, marks of clamor, and so forth—all these marks and realms are dhamas of arising-ceasing, impermanent change, none is the self, and all are empty.

This includes when the mind settles down and not a single thought arises—that is the mark of quietude of the mind consciousness; see through its illusoriness, do not take it as real, as the self, as the Dharmakāya, as the Tathāgata, and the view of self of the mind consciousness at that moment is eradicated. But there are still views of self of the mind consciousness at other times: the empty gap between the previous thought not arising and the next thought not yet coming seems tranquil, but in substance it is still a realm of the mind consciousness; only by seeing through it can the view of self of the mind consciousness be eradicated.

6. How to Practice Contemplation on the Aggregate of Consciousness

In practicing contemplation on the aggregate of consciousness among the feeling, perception, and consciousness of the five aggregates, one should contemplate the functions produced by the consciousness-seeds generating the seven consciousnesses, with the functions of the six consciousnesses as the main focus. After the consciousness-seeds of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are output, the six consciousnesses are formed, and only then do the various functions of the six consciousnesses exist.

After the six consciousnesses are born, there are felt experiences, then the discriminating functions of consciousness-awareness, then the awareness of volitional formations, and all the functions of the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness. As for what specific functions there are, one must observe each one carefully and clearly oneself, not missing a single one. One must know that after the consciousness-seeds are generated, the consciousness-mind has these functions—this is very important; observe it clearly, and one can realize awakening in both the Great and Small Vehicles.

Within the aggregate of consciousness, the main contemplation is on the illusoriness of feeling; our five aggregates still take the aggregate of feeling as the main thing—sentient beings all take their own felt experiences as real and unfold the bodily, verbal, and mental activities of the five aggregates centered on felt experiences. Observe how this felt experience is unreal, subject to arising and ceasing, empty, suffering, and not the self; then continue downward to observe the aggregate of perception and the aggregate of volitional formations. The aggregate of perception is grasping (upādāna), taking marks—taking marks upon the mind, discerning and discriminating, or various kinds of thought and deliberation.

As for the aggregate of volitional formations: where there is consciousness there is volitional formation, because consciousness must necessarily operate; only after consciousness operates are there feeling and perception, and only then discrimination and these functions. Observe clearly the content of the consciousness-seeds forming consciousness, and both Great and Small Vehicle dharmas can be realized upon this; the wisdom of future awakening will be extremely deep, and upon enlightenment one will awaken directly to Yogācāra—this awakening is far deeper and more thorough than the awakening of the Chan school. Having awakened to consciousness, the wisdom will be extremely deep, and in the future one can quickly possess the seed-wisdom of Yogācāra (sarvākārajñatā).