Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra

Chapter 2: How Does the Ālayavijñāna Transfer from the Body and Take on a Body

Section 1: Bhadrapāla's Question About the Ālayavijñāna's Transfer from the Body

Original text: 贤护白佛言。世尊。众生虽知有识。如宝闭在箧中。不显不知。世尊。不知此识。作何形状。何故名识。众生死时。手足乱动。眼色变异。制不自由。诸根丧灭。诸大乖离。识迁于身。去至何所。

Explanation: Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, although sentient beings know that they have the Ālayavijñāna within their bodies, just like a jewel hidden away in a small box that cannot be revealed, they themselves do not know of this. World-Honored One, we do not know what shape this mind consciousness has, or on account of what it is named "consciousness." When sentient beings die, their hands and feet thrash about from the pain, the look in their eyes dims and loses its composure, and gradually they are no longer masters of themselves. At this time the five faculties gradually perish, and the four great elements separate from one another. The Ālayavijñāna then leaves the material body—where does He go?

Consciousness generally refers to the six consciousnesses, and there is also the seventh consciousness; apart from these, there is also the unborn and unceasing Ālayavijñāna. Of these two consciousnesses—the mind consciousness and the Ālayavijñāna—which one is the jewel described here? Because the mind consciousness cannot manifest all dharmas, the mind consciousness is not the maṇi jewel; this jewel that can be called the maṇi jewel refers to the Ālayavijñāna, which contains the seeds of all dharmas and can give birth to all dharmas.

That the Ālayavijñāna is like a jewel shut inside a box—this box refers to a five-aggregate body of the box-like kind. Because it is hidden within the five-aggregate body, this jewel is not easily discovered by sentient beings. In actual fact, this jewel is radiating brilliant light at every moment; it is only that sentient beings themselves cannot see it. It is not that the jewel does not manifest, but rather that sentient beings' minds are obscured by the afflictions of the five aggregates; it is because sentient beings' minds possess ignorance that creates obscuration that they cannot see this treasure within their own bodies—it is not that the jewel has shut itself up and hidden away. Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla asks what form and appearance the Ālayavijñāna has: Does this consciousness have a shape? Does it have length or shortness, squareness or roundness, size, and color? Is it like the six sense objects among worldly dharmas, possessing sound, color, form-appearance, scent objects, taste objects, touch objects, and dharma objects? What are His characteristics and appearance, and why is He called the Ālayavijñāna?

When sentient beings die, the Ālayavijñāna must leave the body in accordance with karma and then form the karmic retributive body of subsequent lives. Some sentient beings, at the time of death, thrash about with their hands and feet from the pain; these are sentient beings who created unwholesome karma. Their death-appearance is rather unsightly, and dying is rather painful for them; because of the pain, their hands and feet thrash and struggle without cease. The four great elements in the eyes disintegrate and the eyeballs become turbid. At this time the Ālayavijñāna and the manas must also depart one after another. The dying person, wanting to look once more at his family members and relatives, can no longer see them; the eye consciousness vanishes without his being able to control it, but at this time his mind consciousness has not yet vanished and still has knowing. Then vision begins to grow blurry and dim, until in the end he can see nothing at all; the ears too can no longer hear sounds. These functions gradually all cease, and though he knows he is about to die, he has absolutely no say in the matter.

His manas could originally exercise some measure of control, so why can it no longer be in charge at this time? The manas has all along been thinking "I want this, I do not want that," wanting to grasp this and control that, yet at this time it can no longer control anything. Because the power of karma is truly too immense, it has no choice but to transmigrate in accordance with karma; when the karmic conditions for death appear, even the manas can do nothing about it. What, then, is truly in charge? In fact, it is still the Ālayavijñāna: whatever the Ālayavijñāna manifests in accordance with karma, He departs in accordance with that—the power of karma is as great as a mountain. And where does this karma come from? It becomes manifest from the karmic seeds that the Ālayavijñāna has gathered and stored from the five aggregates' creation of karma. Whatever kind of five aggregates the Ālayavijñāna produces according to the seeds of karmic power, that is the kind of five aggregates sentient beings have, and the manas has no choice but to accept them. Therefore, the Ālayavijñāna is the true master.

The manas is only a false master who appears to be in charge on the surface; He can only, in accordance with conditions, make decisions concerning certain minor matters, but when the truly great matter of birth and death requires someone to be in charge, He can no longer be in charge. At the time of approaching death, the manas does not want to die, yet He must die all the same; when unwholesome retribution is to be received, He does not want to receive it, yet He must receive the unwholesome retribution all the same—about all this He can do nothing whatsoever. However, the creation of karma by the five-aggregate body is decided by the manas being in charge; it is brought about by the manas's ignorance, and so in the end the retribution is still determined by the manas.

After the material body dies, the eye faculty no longer functions, and the Ālayavijñāna can no longer manifest form objects through the eye faculty; at this time the internal form objects also cease to exist, and the eye consciousness cannot continue to arise. When faculty and object contact, consciousness arises; when the gross sense faculties in front fail and the supreme faculty (indriya) at the back of the head also fails, can external form objects still come in? They can no longer come in, because the faculties can no longer perform their function of transmission. Without internal form objects there is no eye consciousness, and so he can no longer see people.

The ear faculty likewise must decay and perish. Although the shape of the ears is still there, the transmitting nerves can no longer function, and sounds cannot be transmitted in. When the ear faculty is ruined, sound objects vanish as well; sounds can no longer be transmitted to the supreme faculty to be manifested as internal sound objects, and the ear consciousness gradually disappears. The sounds he hears grow fainter and fainter, fainter and fainter, until finally he can hear nothing. The nose faculty can no longer perform its transmitting function; scent objects cannot be transmitted over, and the nose consciousness gradually disappears. The tongue consciousness follows the same principle. Gradually the body faculty too ceases to function; the Ālayavijñāna no longer transmits touch objects, and without touch objects the body consciousness also gradually ceases to function, and the whole body slowly loses all sensation.

At this point the manas too has no recourse; He knows perfectly well that this body can no longer be used, yet He still holds on, because the mind consciousness has not yet ceased. When the mind consciousness too ceases, the manas feels that not a shred of hope remains, and so He withdraws from the body, and the Ālayavijñāna follows and departs. Neither of the two can singly uphold the material body. It is said that the Ālayavijñāna is the last to leave, but in fact He is not the last to leave—He departs simultaneously with the manas. If the manas were not present, the Ālayavijñāna would at once be unable to uphold the body and could not remain in the material body; if the Ālayavijñāna were to leave first, then the manas could not exist either and would have to cease. The Ālayavijñāna cannot leave first, nor can He leave last; He must depart simultaneously with the manas.

Then is the Ālayavijñāna the first to arrive in the material body? No, neither. The Ālayavijñāna cannot singly uphold the material body, nor does He have any inclination to uphold it; influenced by the manas's mental factor of volition (cetanā), He complies with the manas and in an instant enters the fertilized egg to uphold it, entering the mother's womb simultaneously with the manas. Because the manas and the Ālayavijñāna are inseparable, like form and shadow—the Ālayavijñāna and the manas are inseparable, like form and shadow, unable to part even for a single instant—when the two enter the mother's womb and when they leave the material body, there is no sequence of one before the other. If there were such a sequence, it would mean the two could separate from each other; then the manas could exist independently and the Ālayavijñāna could also operate independently, and this would violate the intrinsic natures of the Ālayavijñāna and the manas.

The seeds of the four great elements come forth from the Ālayavijñāna. When the Ālayavijñāna is to leave the material body, He certainly must withdraw all the seeds of the four great elements; only thus can the seeds within the Ālayavijñāna neither increase nor decrease, so that when conditions are met they can continue to be transmitted outward to give birth to all dharmas. Before a sentient being approaches death—even long before it—the Ālayavijñāna already knows, because He can discern karmic seeds and knows the time of death, even the exact time. He will gradually alter the seeds of the four great elements, making the body emit foul odors and making its functions weaken; only when the final breath is near does the disintegration of the four great elements truly begin, as He withdraws the seeds of the four great elements. When they have all been withdrawn, the material body becomes a rigid corpse, devoid of any liveliness.

The first five consciousnesses no longer manifest, and the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) and the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) vanish soon after. Because the four great elements of the supreme faculty disintegrate, the solitary consciousness also gradually disappears; at this point one is in the precise stage of death. In the process of dying, for those who have done wholesome karma it may be relatively brief and free of pain, while for those who have created unwholesome karma the dying may take longer and they endure more of the suffering of death. The duration of this process may be several hours—six or seven hours, or eight hours—and for some people it takes more than ten hours.

The process of the six consciousnesses vanishing one after another is also the process of the four great elements gradually separating, and at this time one feels extraordinary pain. The seeds of the four great elements separate one by one, and after separating they return into the Ālayavijñāna, while the Ālayavijñāna no longer outputs the seeds of the four great elements. The body gradually loses its warmth, because the fire element among the seeds of the four great elements has separated out, and the body slowly turns ice-cold; the earth element, water element, and wind element also separate out one after another, returning into the Ālayavijñāna.

However, those who have done wholesome karma do not feel pain at this time; this is the retribution brought about by doing wholesome karma. Perhaps in the snap of a finger he has already been reborn in the heavenly realm. But so long as he has not yet eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), he still remains attached to the three realms; it is only because he has done wholesome karma and has wholesome retribution that he goes to the heavenly realm to enjoy blessings. At this time heavenly music may sound, and heavenly parents are awaiting him. For those who obtain wholesome retribution, the eight consciousnesses do not take so long to leave the material body—in the snap of a finger they ascend to the heavens, and so they do not undergo pain. For those reborn into the human realm, the time of dying and breathing the last breath is relatively longer, not so brief, but there is not much pain.

The more unwholesome karma one has created, the more pain one feels when the four great elements disintegrate at the end of life; at the approach of death one's hands and feet thrash about, showing that one is struggling in agony. But these pains can no longer be expressed: the mouth cannot move—the tongue, mouth, and teeth all belong to the body faculty, and when the body faculty fails, he cannot speak. At this time, if someone touches him, he will feel extraordinary pain and soreness, and may give rise to a mind of resentment and anger; once the mind of resentment arises, he may perhaps follow that resentful mind and fall into the hells. Therefore, during the period right after a person has just died, one must not touch him; at that time one must not bathe him or change his clothes—one must wait until he is completely dead before attending to these matters. How long does it take for a person to be completely dead? Perhaps eight hours, perhaps more than ten hours; the time is not fixed. Generally, for those bound for the three evil destinies, the body after death is stiff and cold, and the complexion is not good to look at: the complexions of beings in the hells are blackish, and those of the ghost realm are bluish.

Finally, when all six consciousnesses have entirely ceased, there are no more five aggregates (pañca-skandha). When the manas can no longer make use of the five-aggregate body and cannot direct and control the six consciousnesses, He feels there is no more hope with regard to the material body, and has no choice but to abandon it, going to take rebirth once again, to find Himself a body once more—and thus there is the intermediate-state body (antarābhava). This is the process of the various faculties perishing. "The great elements falling away from one another" refers to the disintegration of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind (in fact there is also the space element); it is the process of the seeds of the four great elements dispersing one by one. Originally earth, water, fire, and wind were combined together to form the material body; now they have all disintegrated, and the life-functions of the material body vanish. Although the flesh body still exists, it can no longer move—the material body is just like a piece of wood.