Contemplating the Five Aggregates and Eliminating the View of Self (Part I) (Second Edition)
Section 4: The Relationship Between the Five Aggregates and the Eighth Consciousness
1. Using a Flower and Its Fragrance as an Analogy for Their Relationship
From the Mahāyāna perspective, the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness have a relationship of neither being one nor being different. The aggregate of form, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness arise, cease, and change without any true reality; they are not the true self, the eighth consciousness. Yet the five aggregates are born from the eighth consciousness and come from the eighth consciousness, and they are not different from the eighth consciousness. Apart from the five aggregates, the eighth consciousness cannot be found either; yet the eighth consciousness and the five aggregates do not mix with each other—the eighth consciousness is not within the five aggregates, and the five aggregates are not within the eighth consciousness.
Why are the five aggregates not different from the eighth consciousness? The World-Honored One gave an analogy: consider the relationship between a flower's fragrance and the flower itself. The fragrance depends on the flower for its existence; apart from the flower there is no fragrance, and where there is fragrance there must be a flower. But the flower can exist without the fragrance—apart from the fragrance, the flower can still exist. If you wish to find the flower, you need only follow the fragrance, and you will certainly find it; smelling the fragrance, you can locate the flower.
The flower is like the eighth consciousness, and the fragrance is like the five aggregates. Apart from the eighth consciousness there are no five aggregates; apart from the five aggregates the eighth consciousness cannot be found. From the perspective of worldly phenomena, the aggregate of form is not the eighth consciousness, and apart from the aggregate of form the eighth consciousness cannot be found; the aggregate of feeling is not the eighth consciousness, and apart from the aggregate of feeling the eighth consciousness cannot be found; the aggregate of perception is not the eighth consciousness, and apart from the aggregate of perception the eighth consciousness cannot be found; the aggregate of volitional formations is not the eighth consciousness, and apart from the aggregate of volitional formations the eighth consciousness cannot be found; the aggregate of consciousness is not the eighth consciousness, and apart from the aggregate of consciousness the eighth consciousness cannot be found. The five aggregates are not different from the eighth consciousness; they are a part of the eighth consciousness, an attribute of the eighth consciousness. The eighth consciousness can manifest upon the five aggregates, and apart from the five aggregates it cannot manifest. The eighth consciousness and the five aggregates differ in nature and cannot mix with each other, just as form and sound cannot be mixed together. However, from the perspective of the seed-wisdom of Yogācāra, the substance of the five aggregates is precisely the eighth consciousness; the five aggregates in their entirety are true suchness (tathatā).
2. The Two Are Not Contained Within Each Other
When the World-Honored One first taught the Hīnayāna Dharma, he already made clear that within sentient beings' five aggregates there is an unborn and unceasing eighth consciousness. Because Hīnayāna practitioners believe the Buddha's words, they know this mind exists, and thus they can eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), not taking the five aggregates as a false self, knowing that the cessation of the five aggregates is not annihilation, and that there remains an unceasing eighth consciousness. The five aggregates and the eighth consciousness are neither one nor different, and neither is contained within the other. Why are they not contained within each other? Because the eighth consciousness is formless and without marks. If the eighth consciousness were inside the physical body, one could find it by cutting the body open, but this is impossible. In ancient times, kings experimented on condemned prisoners, slicing their bodies piece by piece, yet even after the dissection was complete, the eighth consciousness was not found. The eighth consciousness is formless and without marks; it cannot be united with the body, nor can it be discovered with the naked eye. One must use the wisdom eye of a bodhisattva to recognize or clearly understand this markless eighth consciousness mind.
3. The Meaning of "Not Contained Within Each Other"
"Not contained within each other" has two meanings. From the Hīnayāna perspective, the self of the five aggregates and what belongs to the self (self and self's possessions) do not mix with each other: if one takes the form aggregate as the self, one will take the feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness aggregates as belonging to the self, and the form aggregate and the feeling-perception-volitional formations-consciousness aggregates do not exist within each other. From the Mahāyāna perspective, the true mind of the eighth consciousness and the five aggregates do not mix together, do not intermingle, do not adhere together, do not touch together, do not blend together. Because their categories are different—the eighth consciousness is formless and without marks, having no volume or shape—it cannot mix with the physical body, just as empty space does not mix with the body; empty space does not intermingle with any material object.
The eighth consciousness is formless and without marks; it cannot be located in any specific place, nor can it be inside or outside the body. Yet He can reach both inside and outside, simultaneously attending to matters in all directions of the physical body, simultaneously reaching everywhere in all directions without obstruction. If the eighth consciousness had form and marks, there would be obstruction: if He could reach one place, He could not simultaneously reach another. This is the principle of His pervading all dharmas. For example, while you are in the Sahā world, He follows you in the Sahā world, and at the same time He also sustains the corpse or grave of your past life in another world, or He goes to the seven-jeweled pond in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) to produce the lotus seat you will need at the time of rebirth, or He enters another person's dream, or returns to past lives, or goes to future lives. The eighth consciousness can also, following the manas, do other things, such as taking revenge on someone, blessing someone, benefiting and delighting someone, teaching and transforming someone, or harming someone, and so on. He is present in the six faculties, present in the six sense objects, and present in the six consciousnesses—there is no dharma in which He does not exist.
4. The Differences and Connections Between the Five Aggregates and the Eighth Consciousness
The five aggregates undergo arising, abiding, alteration, and cessation, flowing and changing moment by moment—impermanent and mutable—and therefore they are suffering; impermanence and mutability are suffering. We cannot grasp the five aggregates or master them. When they slowly age, when illness appears, we are helpless and cannot make them change according to our wishes. This is our helplessness with respect to the five aggregates, and it also shows the lack of self-mastery (avaśatā) of the five aggregates, their inability to be in charge. Therefore the five aggregates are not the self, nor are they possessed by the self; they are not real. On the other hand, the five aggregates can be altered by us and by external forces—for example, amputating limbs, damaging the body, performing various cosmetic procedures and surgeries, adding organs and substances to the body, or removing organs and substances. Such five aggregates are mutable and unstable, not fixed and unchanging; therefore they are not real, not eternally constant, not the self.
The real self is eternally constant and unchanging, free of suffering and possessing self-mastery, able to be independent and autonomous. The self never changes; no external force can alter it. It is eternally constant and unchanging, without feelings of suffering, without arising or ceasing. The relationship between the impermanent, changing false self and the real self is one of neither one nor different. The false self cannot exist apart from the true self, and the true self needs to manifest upon the false self, though He does not depend on the false self for existence. If the two were one, then when the false self perishes, the true self would perish along with it. If they were two, then even without the true self the false self would still exist and could exist independently—but in fact this is not so. Therefore, between the two there are both differences and connections; they are neither one nor different.
5. Why Is What Suffers Not the Self?
The real self is eternal; what is eternal is pure and at ease; what is pure and at ease is the bliss of quiescence and cessation. Suffering, however, is subject to arising, ceasing, and change; it does not last forever. What lasts forever must be pure bliss, real bliss, bliss of tranquility. A dharma that continues life after life without ceasing must be a pure dharma of bliss; a dharma that ceases must be suffering. Only what does not cease, does not change, and exists eternally is bliss and is the self. What ceases and changes is suffering; therefore what suffers is not the self. The self is without suffering; the self is eternal, forever without worry or peril; therefore the self has no suffering.
Within the body of the five aggregates there is the eighth consciousness, which does not cease, does not change, and has no feeling of suffering. The five aggregates have suffering; therefore the five aggregates are not the self, yet the five aggregates are also not different from the self. "Different" means two dharmas—dharmas that are distinct and unrelated. But the five aggregates are produced by the eighth consciousness; they are part of the seed functions and powers of the eighth consciousness, not completely a separate entity from the eighth consciousness; they are non-dual with the eighth consciousness.
6. Contrasting the True and the False
The Hīnayāna's suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self correspond to the Mahāyāna's permanence, bliss, self, and purity. The impermanence of the seven consciousnesses — the permanence of the eighth consciousness; the suffering of the seven consciousnesses — the bliss of quiescent cessation of the eighth consciousness; the non-self of the seven consciousnesses — the self of the eighth consciousness; the impurity of the seven consciousnesses — the purity of the eighth consciousness.
7. The Relationship Between the Volitional Formations Aggregate and the Eight Consciousnesses
The volitional formations aggregate among the five aggregates includes bodily formations, verbal formations, and mental formations. Within bodily formations, sometimes the six consciousnesses are present and sometimes they are not. Some bodily formations operate with the six consciousnesses running and being upheld by them; some bodily formations operate without the six consciousnesses running and do not require their function. Bodily formations without the activity of the six consciousnesses include: when asleep and dreaming, when unconscious, in the samādhi of no perception, and in the samādhi of cessation. In these four states, the six consciousnesses have ceased and do not exist, yet the physical body remains and its various functions continue to operate—it is not a state of death.
At such times, all the body's operations are sustained by the manas and the eighth consciousness; that is to say, bodily formations can sometimes operate apart from the six consciousnesses. Even when the six consciousnesses are present, some bodily formations are unrelated to them, being sustained and functioning directly by the manas and the eighth consciousness—for example, breathing, blood circulation, the beating of the heart and pulse, cellular metabolism, the absorption, digestion, and excretion of food, nerve transmission, and many other functions and operations.
Because the body faculty is cognized and upheld by the eighth consciousness, and the manas can attend to the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the eighth consciousness and perform indirect cognition, the manas can act directly upon the body faculty as the master, causing the body to have various natural reactions—for example, the fluttering of eyelids while asleep, various neural activities, a runny nose, the activities of internal organs, a child's bedwetting, and so on.
There are also cases where the manas makes decisions directly and the six consciousnesses participate unconsciously in the body faculty's activities. For example: while driving, encountering an emergency and suddenly swerving—the mind consciousness has no time to analyze and judge, only to cognize in time, immediately transmitting the cognized information to the manas; the manas knows the danger and, according to the habitual tendency of self-protection, decides to avoid it. A hand suddenly burned immediately flings away, without the mind consciousness deliberating, analyzing, or judging—only the cognized situation is rapidly transmitted to the manas. An insect falls on the body and is instantly shaken off, without the mind consciousness analyzing—the manas knows it and then habitually takes self-protective measures. Just as a mosquito bites, one immediately slaps it, without the mind consciousness's consideration and choice. A foreign object in the mouth is immediately spat out, without the mind consciousness deliberating and choosing. The foot steps on something and immediately lifts, without the mind consciousness judging and analyzing. In many such situations, the function of the six consciousnesses is not very evident.
In the Hīnayāna, the aggregates refer only to the six consciousnesses, whereas in the Mahāyāna the aggregates are much broader, sometimes including the seventh consciousness as well, because the seventh consciousness is also consciousness and has the functions of consciousness. The seventh consciousness is also in operation, so the seventh consciousness has the volitional formations aggregate; the seventh consciousness also has the feeling and perception mental factors, having the feeling aggregate and the perception aggregate. Within the form aggregate there is also the function of the seventh consciousness; otherwise the form aggregate would not exist. The seventh consciousness can exert corresponding functions upon the five aggregates, so the five aggregates can also include the seventh consciousness, the manas.
In the Mahāyāna, the aggregates can also include the eighth consciousness, for He can aggregate the karmic formations of the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses, generating in the future the retributive results of the five aggregates. Because the eighth consciousness is also consciousness and has the functions of consciousness—only the eighth consciousness's aggregation is not subject to arising and ceasing, is not suffering, differing from the first seven consciousnesses, with great differences from them. The eighth consciousness operates upon all five aggregates, and the five aggregates cannot depart from the eighth consciousness; otherwise the five aggregates would not exist. The eighth consciousness itself has the five universal mental factors, so the eighth consciousness also has feeling, perception, and volitional formations. Of course, the eighth consciousness's feeling, perception, and volitional formations cannot be extinguished; they forever accompany the operation of the eighth consciousness, differing from the aggregate functions of the first seven consciousnesses, with extremely great differences from them.
Ordinary sentient beings before enlightenment and bodhisattvas before attaining the bhūmis cannot engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on these dharmas. In coarse and shallow sūtras and śāstras, these profound dharma meanings are not taught, otherwise sentient beings could not bear them. Therefore we say the content of the Mahāyāna Dharma is extremely broad—that is why it is called "Great"; the scope it encompasses is extremely vast—that is why it is called "Great"; it leads directly to all dharmas of the buddha-stage—that is why it is called "Great"; it can reach ultimate perfection—that is why it is called "Great"; it encompasses the worlds of the ten directions—that is why it is called "Great"; and finally it converges upon the one true dharmadhātu—that is why it is called "Great." Nothing can transcend the one true dharmadhātu.
