Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Section Three: Bhadrapāla Asks Why Sentient Beings Receive the Karmic Fruits of Merit in Future Lives
Original text: 世尊。云何众生。身谢灭已。更生诸入。云何今生。积聚福业。来生得之。今身为福。当来身食。
Explanation: World-Honored One, why is it that after sentient beings' physical bodies die, the six sense bases arise again and there is a new life? Why do sentient beings accumulate meritorious karma in this life and only receive the blessings in the next life—planting merit with the present body and enjoying it with the future body?
After a sentient being's physical body perishes and ceases to function, the five faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body are born again in another womb—how does this come about? The meritorious karma accumulated in this life will yield blessings in the next life. But if a great deal of meritorious karma has been accumulated and the karmic conditions ripen in the present, the blessings will be received in this very life; one does not necessarily have to wait until the next life to receive them—of course, the blessings received in future lives will be far greater than those received now. As long as the karmic conditions appear in this life, the blessings of this life will manifest, and the blessings of the next life will be even greater. The retribution received in this life is called flowering retribution (puṣpa-phala), while the retribution received in later lives is called the fruit retribution. The flower is far smaller than the fruit; the fruit is the heaviest, and the retribution in later lives is the greatest, because only then have the conditions for receiving it fully ripened.
Is the five-aggregate body of the next life the same sentient being as the five-aggregate body of this life? The sentient being is one: the manas and the Ālayavijñāna remain unchanged, yet the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates differ. For example, if in this life one makes offerings of fresh flowers to the Buddha, one's physical appearance in the next life may be very dignified—is that dignified body of the next life the same sentient being as the body of this life? It is still the same sentient being. In the new physical body, the manas and the Ālayavijñāna are still the original ones, unchanged; what changes are the six consciousnesses and the physical body. The manas carries the habitual tendencies along with it, and at that time the habitual tendencies manifested in the sentient being will be the same as in this life. For example, if one was fond of smoking in a past life, one will still be fond of smoking in this life; if one loved composing poetry and painting in a past life, one will still love composing poetry and painting in later lives; if one loved reading books in a past life, one will still love reading in later lives—provided that it is on a similar physical body and the conditions for the habitual tendencies to manifest are complete. If they are not complete, certain habitual tendencies cannot manifest. The manas carries the habitual tendencies and karmic seeds, transmigrating through every life.
From this we can see that sentient beings have similar aspects between past and present lives. For example, if a person was accustomed to being your father in a past life, when he meets you and speaks in this life, he may still speak to you in a fatherly tone. From a dog's behavior one can also see its habitual tendencies from when it was a human in a past life—if a dog behaves quite honestly and kindly, it was also honest and kind when it was a human in its past life. By carefully observing a person's present life, one can roughly know what habitual tendencies he had in his past life, and can also judge his character and temperament in future lives. Knowing that the karmic seeds are continuous and the manas is continuous, when you look at a person you can see at a glance the general situation of his past and future lives.
Even if a person cultivates to become an arhat, his habitual tendencies still remain; his bodily, verbal, and mental actions will likewise follow the inertia of habitual tendencies from past lives and cannot easily be changed. Every sentient being carries its habitual tendencies life after life, bringing them into future lives, and manifests them unconsciously. When sentient beings take rebirth in the womb, they all carry the manas from past lives, and the manas' manifestations are the same as in past lives; generally the changes are not great. If an arhat does not enter nirvāṇa without remainder, he also takes rebirth carrying the seventh consciousness, and will still manifest the pure habitual tendencies of past lives. Therefore, in our study and cultivation of Buddhism, under existing conditions, we should eliminate whatever bad habits we can, and try not to carry them into future lives.
In sentient beings' cycle of birth and death, the habitual tendencies carried by the manas also include emotional attachments. Throughout beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have had every kind of relationship with one another; transmigrating to the next life, they carry all kinds of emotional attachments with them, continuing to cling to emotions, so that birth and death never cease. Sentient beings' cycle of birth and death depends on emotional attachments and craving. For one who has not eradicated craving, at the time of the intermediate state (antarābhava), upon seeing a man and woman in union, lustful thoughts immediately arise and he rushes to join in; then he is seized and constrained, and passively led by karma, he takes rebirth in the womb.
If craving is not eradicated, the manas will carry this habitual tendency to take rebirth, and the wheel of birth and death cannot stop. Especially during the intermediate state, the manas is particularly straightforward—it manifests exactly whatever habitual tendencies it has. The manas does not possess the functions of analysis, reflection, and judgment; afflictive habits fully manifest, and the mind consciousness cannot control them. Because the supreme faculties (indriya) of the intermediate-state body are not well developed, the mind consciousness's power of thinking is rather weak and cannot, through forceful contemplation and analysis, guide the manas; the manas thus manifests entirely according to its own habitual tendencies. In the five-aggregate body, the supreme faculties are well developed, and the mind consciousness, relying on them, has relatively strong powers of contemplation and analysis, and can effectively provide the manas with the information and data it needs; the manas can then be guided, so that its habitual tendencies do not manifest completely.
To control and transform the manas so as to no longer take rebirth and enter the cycle of birth and death, one must eradicate the manas' craving; and to eradicate the manas' craving, one must first eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), and afterwards cultivate the first dhyāna concentration. With the power of meditative concentration, craving can be eradicated. Otherwise, in the intermediate state, the manas will certainly take rebirth because of craving. The manas' afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion can only be eradicated after the view of self has been eradicated—this is the sequence of cultivation. If the view of self has not been eradicated and one only has first-dhyāna concentration, the craving is merely suppressed and cannot be eradicated. When the World-Honored One was in the world, some non-Buddhist practitioners had cultivated very high levels of meditative concentration and appeared to have no sensual craving, but that was only temporarily suppressed by the power of concentration; after taking rebirth in the next life, when the meditative concentration disappeared, the sensual craving would still appear. Therefore, relying solely on the power of concentration to suppress afflictions is not enough; one must have the wisdom of eradicating the view of self. This shows how important eradicating the view of self is. After eradicating the view of self and then cultivating the first dhyāna concentration, combining concentration and wisdom, one can eradicate all afflictions.
On the Mahāyāna path of cultivating the bodhisattva way, after eradicating the view of self, must one also eradicate all afflictions? If all afflictions are eradicated, then at the time of death one must abandon all dharmas of the three realms, enter nirvāṇa without remainder, have no future lives, and thus be unable to study and cultivate the Buddha-dharma. Therefore, bodhisattvas need to retain a little craving and attachment for the dharmas of the three realms—for example, attachment to meditative concentration, or attachment to the Buddha-dharma. As long as a little attachment is retained, one can take rebirth through that attachment and continue to study and cultivate the Buddha-dharma and help those with karmic affinity to cultivate. But the attachment must not be too much: if one retains the craving for sexual desire, then the first dhyāna will disappear, and one will no longer have the realization level of the third or fourth fruit—the fruit stage will regress.
If one wishes to be reborn continuously in the wholesome realms of the three realms to cultivate, one can make a pure great vow; letting the power of the vow take effect will guarantee rebirth in the womb, guarantee the seeds of the three realms, and enable one to be born as a human in the three realms. If one no longer likes anything of the three realms at all, at death the manas can cease, and all dharmas will vanish along with it; then it would be impossible to have a five-aggregate body to study the Dharma and practice the bodhisattva way. Therefore, when attaining the third and fourth fruits, one should retain a little bit of attachment and not eradicate it entirely, and should not take the fruit of the fourth stage. But we are still far from that realm, so for now we need not consider this issue.
After cultivating to the stage of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, one must begin to retain a little attachment and cannot reject everything. When bhūmi-attained bodhisattvas are reborn into this world, they differ greatly from other sentient beings: they do not like worldly dharmas, they like cultivation, and even living in the world feels quite boring to them. Disliking everything about worldly dharmas yet still having to mingle in this world—is that not distressing? So being a bodhisattva is not easy either; being a bodhisattva does not mean being happy and feeling good all the time. He cannot blend in with the crowd and has little in common with sentient beings. Whereas sentient beings living in this world have things they like, things they pursue, and so-called pleasures, the bodhisattva has no pursuit of worldly dharmas and often must go along even when unwilling—thus he often feels distressed in his mind, until he encounters the Buddha-dharma.
Original text: 云何识能。滋长于身。
Explanation: Why can the Ālayavijñāna nourish and grow the physical body? When the Ālayavijñāna takes rebirth again, it enters another fertilized egg. How does the Ālayavijñāna gradually nourish and grow the physical body? "Nourish" means to sustain, maintain, uphold, and transform-generate. With what does it nourish the physical body? It nourishes it with the seeds of the four great elements. After the seeds of the four great elements are delivered, the embryo begins to grow bit by bit. If the Ālayavijñāna did not deliver the seeds of the four great elements, the embryo could not grow. The Ālayavijñāna upholds sentient beings' five aggregates and eighteen realms with the six great-element seeds.
Original text: 云何识入。随身转变。
Explanation: Why can the Ālayavijñāna enter and abide in the physical body, following and operating along with it? After the Ālayavijñāna enters the physical body, how does it follow the body and transform it? The body grows bit by bit, then the body faculty becomes complete, the conscious mind is born, the aggregate of volitional formations and the aggregate of consciousness appear on the body, and the five aggregates begin to operate. How does the Ālayavijñāna follow the body and set it in motion? Because the consciousness abides latent within the body performing its functions—the Ālayavijñāna abides latent within sentient beings' bodies, performing all functions. What functions does it perform? This involves the specific-characteristic wisdom and the wisdom of the varieties of paths; these wisdoms are extremely profound. What functions has the Ālayavijñāna actually performed, and how does it perform them?
That the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla raised so many questions shows that he had wisdom—after all, he had been a Dharma teacher in past lives, teaching sentient beings the Tripiṭaka of sūtras, vinaya, and śāstras, and had accumulated such great merit by expounding the Tripiṭaka for sentient beings. Having encountered the Buddha in this life, he would naturally ask about the profound dharma of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha. His questions were very deep, touching upon the wisdom of the varieties of paths. To what degree did his wisdom reach? Having accumulated such great merit by expounding the Tripiṭaka in past lives, if he had not attained enlightenment and had not cultivated profound wisdom, his teachings would certainly have contained errors, which would have damaged his merit, and his merit would not be as great as it is now; moreover, fundamental errors in teaching would also bring evil retribution. Judging from Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla's merit in this life, there is no issue of evil retribution, so his teaching of the Dharma must have been without problems, in accord with the Buddha's intent.
The wisdom of the varieties of paths is the consciousness-only wisdom attained by bhūmi-attained bodhisattvas—the wisdom concerning the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha. When a bodhisattva understands one part, two parts, three parts, or more of the seeds contained within the tathāgatagarbha, he has the wisdom of the varieties of paths. All dharmas belong to a portion of the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha. When all the functional capacities of the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha have been fully realized, it is called omniscience (sarvākārajñatā); realizing a portion of them is called the wisdom of the varieties of paths. Therefore, consciousness-only is the most profound and difficult to understand within the Buddha-dharma. Having finished studying consciousness-only is the Mahāyāna stage beyond training (aśaikṣa)—there is nothing more to learn, and that is Buddhahood. After finishing the study of all the Chan teachings one can enter the first bhūmi; after finishing the study of consciousness-only one becomes a Buddha. All dharmas are manifested on consciousness; where there is consciousness there are all dharmas, and without consciousness there is nothing at all. Therefore, by studying consciousness-only, one can understand the most ultimate Buddha-dharma.
Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla had encountered two Buddhas, separated by many great kalpas—eighty times 16.8 million years constitutes one great kalpa. This sūtra describes how those two Buddhas taught him, how Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla encountered Śākyamuni Buddha, and how Śākyamuni Buddha gave him a prediction of future buddhahood. If that previous Buddha had not taught him, he could not have cultivated so quickly, and even encountering Śākyamuni Buddha in this life, he could not have received the prediction. Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla should have had the wisdom of the varieties of paths and been at the very least a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, so the dharmas he asked about were all quite profound and crucial.
The operation of the tathāgatagarbha within the body faculty belongs to the part of consciousness-only seed-wisdom that ordinary people cannot expound; it requires extremely deep and subtle consciousness-only wisdom. Without realizing the tathāgatagarbha, one cannot teach these dharmas. In fact, even having realized the tathāgatagarbha, ordinarily enlightened bodhisattvas still cannot expound such profound dharma—this requires consciousness-only seed-wisdom. Only with the realization level of a bodhisattva at the first bhūmi or above, able to observe the operation of the tathāgatagarbha, can one describe the specific operation of the tathāgatagarbha—this is called contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). This kind of contemplative practice is needed all the way until Buddhahood. Therefore, it is extremely important for us now to cultivate meditative concentration well and learn the methods of contemplation and deliberation, for we can benefit from them life after life. Without meditative concentration and without contemplative practice, one must rely on others for knowledge life after life and cannot attain realization. If one knows how to practice contemplation, one is not merely learning knowledge but seeking verification and investigation, and what one expresses is always one's own realization. When studying the Dharma, if one contemplates and deliberates while learning, one can gradually attain realization, and one's wisdom will develop very quickly. Therefore, learning contemplative practice is extremely important.
