The Essence of the Heart Sutra
Section Two The True Mind Is Empty and Quiescent, Without the Eighteen Realms
Sutra text: 【（是故，空中）无眼耳鼻舌身意。无色声香味触法。无眼识界乃至无意识界。】
This is a general statement that within the emptiness-nature (śūnyatā) of the tathāgatagarbha there are no dharmas of the eighteen realms. Within the tathāgatagarbha mind there are no six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and manas; no six sense objects of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharmas; and no six consciousnesses from the eye-consciousness realm up to the mind-consciousness realm. The six faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses together are called the eighteen realms; the five aggregates and eighteen realms together constitute a sentient being.
I. There Is No Realm of the Six Faculties Within the Tathāgatagarbha Mind
(1) A Brief Introduction to the Six Faculties
The six faculties are: the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty, and manas.
1. What is the eye faculty?
The eye faculty includes the gross faculty and the supreme faculty (indriya), also called the pure material faculty. The gross faculty of the eye is the grape-shaped organ floating on the surface of the body, which contains the crystalline lens, the retina, and transmitting nerves. The supreme faculty of the eye is a pure material form created by the four great elements, connected to the gross faculty by transmitting nerves, located at the hypothalamus in the hindbrain; it is the visual center, the neurons in the cerebral cortex related to the formation of vision.
The eye's supreme faculty is very important; it is a crucial factor for the arising of the eye consciousness. For example, even if the gross faculty of the eye is completely intact, if the supreme faculty is destroyed, one still cannot see forms, because faculty and object cannot come into contact, the tathāgatagarbha cannot give rise to the eye consciousness, and one cannot see forms—one would then be blind. The supreme faculties of the five faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body are all located in that hindbrain region; if the supreme faculties in this area develop a pathological condition, the person's body goes out of control. If only the gross faculty is destroyed, the physical body still retains some of its functions. But if the supreme faculty is destroyed, no matter how intact the gross faculty is, it cannot function—that person becomes a vegetable.
The gross faculty of the eye was created and fashioned by the tathāgatagarbha. While in the mother's womb, the tathāgatagarbha absorbs the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind from the mother's uterus, fashions the body faculty, and at a certain point fashions the gross faculty of the eye. The eye faculty is composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind: the eye has muscles and vitreous humor, and its firm parts belong to the earth element; the moistness of the eye is the water element; there is temperature within the eyeball, which is the fire element; and there is also the wind element within the eye, so the eyeball can move and rotate, and the visual nerves have transmitting function.
The tathāgatagarbha has great wisdom and can manufacture such a high-precision, light-sensitive eye faculty. It begins fashioning it from the fertilized egg, and it must be fully completed before birth; after birth, it can be used to discern form objects. The physical bodies of sentient beings and all dharmas of the three realms' world are all manufactured by the tathāgatagarbha; He is the true "God."
2. What is the ear faculty?
The ear faculty is also divided into the gross faculty and the supreme faculty, one on each side of the head. It is shaped like a newly rolled leaf, plus the cochlea—this is the outer ear faculty, also called the gross faculty, which everyone can see. The outer ear faculty is composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; within the fertilized egg, the tathāgatagarbha transmitted the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind to fashion the outer ear faculty, producing an ear faculty like that of a human, or like that of an animal, or the ear faculty of some other kind of being.
The flesh and cartilage of the ear belong to the earth element, with the earth element predominant; the blood in the ear belongs to the water element, with the water element predominant; the temperature of the ear belongs to the fire element, with the fire element predominant; the nerve-transmission function of the ear faculty belongs to the wind element. Only under the action of the wind element can the transmitting nerves convey the outer sound object to the supreme faculty in the hindbrain, where the inner sound object is manifested; then the tathāgatagarbha produces the ear consciousness there. If that place is damaged, even if the ear faculty is intact, one cannot hear sounds—one becomes deaf or hard of hearing. That part at the back of the head is the ear's supreme faculty, also called the inner ear faculty, composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; the ear's outer faculty and inner faculty together constitute the entire ear faculty.
3. What is the nose faculty?
The gross faculty of the nose is located at the center of the face, composed of three parts: the external nose, the nasal cavity, and the paranasal sinuses. The supreme faculty, the olfactory center, is located in the piriform lobe within the cerebral hemisphere; the olfactory nerves of the gross faculty are distributed in the nasal cavity and lead all the way to the supreme faculty located in the cerebral hemisphere. The nose faculty is also composed of the four great seeds; the tathāgatagarbha, through the nose faculty, takes in the outer object-aspect of the scent object, and then manifests it as the inner object-aspect of the scent object at the supreme faculty. Once the nose faculty is damaged—whether the outer nose faculty or the inner nose faculty—the tathāgatagarbha cannot give rise to the inner object-aspect of the scent object, the nose consciousness cannot arise, and the scent object cannot be discerned.
4. What is the tongue faculty?
The tongue faculty is the half-moon-shaped thing in the mouth, visible to everyone upon opening the mouth; this is the gross faculty, also composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. When one became a fertilized egg in the mother's womb, the tathāgatagarbha transmitted the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind to form this tongue faculty. As for how the tathāgatagarbha formed the tongue faculty, this needs to be understood bit by bit later when cultivating the wisdom of the varieties of paths; when all these details are fully known, one may have reached the buddha-bhūmi. The tongue faculty has transmitting nerves that lead all the way to the back of the head, also called gustatory nerves; that region at the back of the head is the tongue faculty's supreme faculty, also composed of the four great seeds, the place where the tongue consciousness arises and taste is produced. If an obstruction arises in that region, we cannot taste flavors; whatever we eat has no taste, and we no longer feel like eating.
5. What is the body faculty?
The body faculty refers to our body from head to toe; it is divided into the gross faculty and the supreme faculty, both composed of the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. The gross faculty of the body faculty is rather complex: skin, muscles, bones, internal organs, and so on belong to the earth element, with the earth element predominant; blood, sweat, urine, tears, saliva, and so on belong to the water element, with the water element predominant; the heat and temperature in the body belong to the fire element, with the fire element predominant; the body's movements, breathing, blood circulation, gastrointestinal peristalsis, and functions such as the digestion, absorption, and excretion of food belong to the wind element.
The four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind combine together to form the body; a single class of seed alone cannot constitute any material part of the physical body. For example, muscle is hard in nature and has an earth component; but muscle is also moist, so it has the water element—muscle without the water element would be dry and hard like wood, lacking its proper functions; muscle also has temperature, which is the fire element—without the fire element, muscle would be ice-cold and stiff, unable to move; muscle also has the wind element—without the wind element, cells could not metabolize, we could not breathe, the pores on the skin would be useless, food could not be digested, absorbed, and excreted, and the qi and blood could not flow.
Every tissue or organ of the body is composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind in combination; it is only that the proportions of the four great elements differ in each part. Some parts have the earth element in the majority, some have the water element in the majority, some have the wind element in the majority, and the distribution of the fire element also differs across the body's parts. Different proportions of the four great elements produce different materials. Where the earth element's proportion is greater, bones, muscles, sinews, and blood vessels are formed; where the water element's proportion is greater, the body's various bodily fluids are formed. But whatever the composition or proportion, all contain the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.
The supreme faculty of the body faculty is the somatosensory center, located mainly in the postcentral region of the cerebral cortex, connected to the tactile nerves spread over the body's surface. If the supreme faculty is damaged, we lose the capacity to perceive the body, and the entire body is paralyzed and cannot move. Therefore the supreme faculty is the most important; when accidents happen, we habitually protect the back of the head first—this is also the manas's habitual tendency of clinging to the body accumulated over countless lifetimes.
6. What is the manas?
The manas is a mental dharma; He is formless and without marks, a formless faculty, possessing both the function of a faculty and the role of a consciousness. Among the six faculties, the manas is a special faculty: He is the sixth faculty, also called the seventh consciousness, the manas-vijñāna, being both faculty and consciousness. Unlike the previous five faculties, which are material faculties with form and marks, having location and position, the manas has existed since beginningless kalpas, with no beginning; although unborn, He can cease. When can He cease? When an arhat of the fourth fruit enters the attainment of cessation (nirodha-samāpatti), a portion of the manas's functions can be extinguished—namely the two mental factors of feeling and perception among the mental factors (caittas); when entering Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), the manas is extinguished entirely.
The manas also lacks self-mastery (avaśatā); He exists and operates only by relying on the tathāgatagarbha's continuous transmission of consciousness seeds. Since He is a dharma that can cease, He is a false dharma, not a real dharma. Whatever is subject to arising and ceasing is not a real dharma; all are illusory, empty, and not-self. The manas is also a dharma given rise to and upheld by the tathāgatagarbha; only when the tathāgatagarbha transmits consciousness seeds can He operate with mental factors accompanying Him, and have the various functional roles of consciousness. If the tathāgatagarbha does not output the manas's consciousness seeds, the manas ceases and disappears; therefore the manas is false and unreal.
The manas's nature is constant deliberation (manasikāra), making decisions in every matter, and grasping everywhere; He possesses afflictions such as greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi). Precisely because of His scattered, grasping nature, the mind consciousness becomes scattered and hard to concentrate. When we sit in meditation and need to gather the mind at one point, He is grasping everywhere, dragging the mind consciousness into endless flights of fancy. Sometimes when we have finally entered concentration to some small degree, suddenly some matter pops up in the mind, and the thoughts immediately scatter—this is the result of the manas, unwilling to be idle, grasping everywhere.
All our actions and creations, life after life, are stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha. When the manas operates in contact with conditions and objects, He makes decisions according to the habits he has been conditioned by. Especially in the antarā-bhava stage, when the mind consciousness's function is weak, all actions and creations, all thoughts and reflections, are dominated by the manas's habits; whatever habit one has, one takes rebirth according to that habit. The manas has been operating continuously since beginningless kalpas, never interrupted, with extremely deep and heavy ignorance and afflictions; whatever karmic habits have been infused, the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) manifests those habitual tendencies, very intensely. The sixth consciousness lacks the capacity for rational analysis and deliberation and cannot restrain or supervise the manas, so the manas takes rebirth according to his own habits. Those with the habit of greed go to the ghost realm; those with the habit of hatred fall into hell; those with delusion become animals.
When the mind consciousness is active within the five-aggregate body, if the manas has afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion and is deliberating on what to do, the sixth consciousness can still restrain the manas somewhat through reasoning, can think through and analyze deeply and rigorously the pros and cons of a matter, offer counsel and strategies to the manas, and has a restraining and persuading effect on him. In the antarā-bhava stage, the mind consciousness's awareness is poor; because the supreme faculty it depends on is underdeveloped, the mind consciousness's capacity for analysis and reasoning is weak, its restraining power over the manas is not strong, and the manas acts entirely according to his own habitual tendencies. Whatever seeds were conditioned and stored in past lives, those habits manifest, and then rebirth is taken according to those habits.
The most important and fundamental issue in studying the Buddhadharma is to subdue the manas, because the manas is the master of the five-aggregate body and can direct bodily, verbal, and mental actions. When the manas's views and concepts change, ignorance and afflictions are subdued and eliminated, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions become pure. One may study the principles of the Four Noble Truths and understand that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are not-self, false and unreal; but if only the mind consciousness accepts this principle while the manas does not accept or acknowledge it, one cannot be said to have eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attained the srotāpanna fruit, because the manas deep within does not know that the five aggregates are not-self, and there is still a "self" in the mind. Some people discuss the Buddhadharma eloquently, but the manas deep within does not acknowledge it; then there is no genuine liberating benefit. Therefore academic research cannot substitute for actual practice; what matters most in practice is not how good one's verbal theoretical knowledge is, but truly changing the mind within—truly recognizing that principle, upholding that principle, transforming the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) upon that principle—only then does it have real effect and can ignorance and afflictions be eliminated.
Changing the manas is the most important and crucial link in practice. Merely a shallow understanding from studying the Buddhadharma is not enough; one must also engage in deep and detailed contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). This process can fully condition the manas and let the manas participate in the process of contemplative practice. After the mind consciousness, through repeated analysis and deliberation, truly clarifies the Dharma meaning and no longer has doubts, the manas fully and deeply deliberates on this process and result, deliberates clearly, and has no doubts; then the investigation and contemplative practice conclude, the manas is successfully conditioned and realizes the Dharma, and changes appear in bodily, verbal, and mental actions. If the manas has not been conditioned, one often says one thing with the mouth and does another in practice—paying lip service while the heart differs. For example: Buddhist practitioners all understand that generosity (dāna) brings great meritorious rewards, and that with heavy greed and stinginess one may fall into the hungry ghost realm in future lives. Many people understand this principle, yet when it actually comes to giving, they hesitate because of the manas's stinginess and refuse to give. This is because the manas has not yet understood the benefit of giving for practice; the mind consciousness has not contemplated this principle, and what the manas does not know, he cannot decide upon.
Why is the manas so hard to make recognize truth, hard to realize Dharma, hard to change? One reason is that His discerning wisdom is insufficient: He grasps at everything everywhere, the consciousness is divided into many streams, and His power of discernment is not strong. Another reason is that since beginningless kalpas He has been conditioned with too many wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), the ignorance He contains is too deep, and deeply entrenched habits are very hard to reverse. Sometimes the mind consciousness explains the great principles flawlessly and can even persuade others, yet when it comes to doing things oneself, it is still the same old way, with heavy habitual faults. Therefore in many matters one cannot rely only on others' words but must observe their actions; only when words and deeds are consistent does it show that the manas has been conditioned and has understood the principle. Many people who study and practice Buddhism have this misconception: they think that once they have understood the Dharma meaning, that is enough; they have not penetrated to the level of the manas, have not persuaded and subdued the manas—speaking like a sage, but acting like an ordinary person the moment they do anything. There are also some people whose writings, when read, are full of feeling and reason, giving the impression of noble thoughts and sentiments, yet their actual conduct is completely different. In worldly terms, such people are called hypocritical; in Buddhist terms, such people have only intellectually understood some principles with the mind consciousness, but the manas deep within has not yet resonated with them; their bodily and mental actions are inconsistent with their verbal actions—they can only educate others but cannot change themselves.
(2) Why It Is Said That There Is No Realm of the Six Faculties Within the Tathāgatagarbha Mind
Each of the six faculties has its own functions, which cannot substitute for one another; hence they are called the six faculty realms—six kinds of functional boundaries. The main function of the six faculties is, under the tathāgatagarbha's operation, to take in the myriad dharmas of the six sense objects; only then can the tathāgatagarbha give rise to the six consciousnesses to discern the six sense objects, and only then do sentient beings have the natures of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing. Among the six faculties there are the five material faculties, which are material form, and the mental dharma, the manas, the manas-vijñāna. The tathāgatagarbha is mind, the storing consciousness, containing the seeds of the six faculties and able to give rise to the six faculties by relying on conditions. But there are no six faculties within the tathāgatagarbha mind. If the five material faculties and the manas existed within the tathāgatagarbha mind, then He would have the functions of the six faculties and could by Himself, independently, contact the objects of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharma; there would be no need for eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind to contact the six sense objects, no need to transmit the four great seeds to give rise to the five faculties and transmit consciousness seeds to give rise to the manas, and there would be no physical body or five aggregates—the tathāgatagarbha could by Himself substitute for the functions of the six faculties. In reality the tathāgatagarbha has no six faculties: we cannot see, touch, or contact the tathāgatagarbha's five faculties, nor do we see the tathāgatagarbha having a decision-making nature like the manas, much less any view of self or self-grasping. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha has no realm of the six faculties.
II. There Is No Realm of the Six Sense Objects Within the Tathāgatagarbha Mind
The six sense objects are form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharma objects; the tathāgatagarbha mind has no six sense objects.
(1) The tathāgatagarbha has no form object, because He is formless and without marks. The form object is something material and obstructive composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; it stands opposite the eye faculty and can be discerned by the eye consciousness. The tathāgatagarbha is not composed of the four great elements, is not material form, does not stand opposite the eye faculty, and cannot be recognized by the eye consciousness. The form object is divided into visible colors, shapes, bodily gestures, and non-informative forms (avijñapti-rūpa). Visible colors are the information everyone can see, such as blue, yellow, red, and white, light and shadow, bright and dark, clouds, smoke, dust, and mist; shapes are information such as an object's shape, size, length, and roundness or squareness; bodily gestures are the states in which form objects exist and the movements of sentient beings' bodies, such as walking, standing, sitting, lying down, bending, stretching, bowing, and looking up; non-informative forms are the connotations, spirit, style, beauty or ugliness, age, newness or oldness, and other information manifested on form objects—for example, the majesty of high mountains, the grandeur of waterfalls, the luxuriance of trees, and a person's culture, temperament, cultivation, bearing, gentleness, domineering manner, or rudeness.
The tathāgatagarbha does not possess these forms; these material forms are all not within the tathāgatagarbha mind; therefore the eyes cannot see the tathāgatagarbha, and the eye consciousness cannot realize the tathāgatagarbha. If the tathāgatagarbha had a form-object mark, then one would not need to investigate Chan to find Him; as long as one's eyes were fine, one could directly see the tathāgatagarbha of all sentient beings and realize the tathāgatagarbha right on the eye faculty. But the facts are not so: the tathāgatagarbha is without mark and without form, invisible to the eyes; therefore the tathāgatagarbha has no form-object mark and is not composed of the four great elements. To search for the tathāgatagarbha one cannot use the eyes to see; the eyes cannot see the tathāgatagarbha. One must use the mind's eye of wisdom to discover and realize the tathāgatagarbha—only that is seeing the mind and realizing enlightenment. Entering meditative concentration to investigate Chan, the mind consciousness can become extremely subtle and focused; when the investigation reaches a certain point and a flash of inspiration arises within, one can observe the tathāgatagarbha's operation upon the five aggregates, and the manas simultaneously confirms the tathāgatagarbha's mode of operation; then the two consciousnesses can together directly observe how the tathāgatagarbha operates in fusion with the five aggregates, and one will understand what is the mind that "arouses mind without abiding anywhere."
For example, take the first Chan gong'an of the Saha world: at the assembly on Spirit Mountain, devas offered flowers, and the World-Honored One Śākyamuni held up a flower and displayed it to the assembly, teaching without speaking, silently revealing the supreme Dharma-gate of the true-suchness mind. At that time all remained silent; only the Venerable Mahākāśyapa smiled. Because at the very moment the Buddha held up the flower and displayed it to the assembly, Mahākāśyapa had a single thought of wisdom in correspondence and realized the treasury of the true Dharma eye, the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the ultimate reality without mark, the subtle and wondrous Dharma-gate. Since the true-suchness mind is formless and without marks, the eye consciousness cannot see it; Mahākāśyapa, by wisdom, recognized the Buddha's true-suchness mind and discovered the secret of true suchness's operation. At the moment of discovering this secret, he also knew that his own tathāgatagarbha operates in the same way, and that the tathāgatagarbha of all sentient beings operates and functions in that same way. Then he could further observe how the tathāgatagarbha cooperates with the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses to manifest all the dharmas of the world, and these secrets and connotations gradually all became clear. Continuing to observe and practice, one will understand more of the tathāgatagarbha's essence, marks, nature, and function; prajñā wisdom will become ever deeper and sharper; the wisdom of specific characteristics after enlightenment will become complete, and the wisdom of the varieties of paths will gradually arise.
(2) The tathāgatagarbha has no sound object; He neither speaks nor makes any sound, so if we wanted to use the ear consciousness to listen to the tathāgatagarbha, we certainly could not hear Him. But He manifests the sounds of nature in the universe, as well as various sounds of wind, rain, birds, humans, and animals; in the dharma of sound there is the function manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. Chan Master Xiangyan Zhixian was enlightened by listening to sound. One day, while he was cutting grass and tidying the Chan courtyard, he picked up a piece of tile and stone from the grass and tossed it out; it happened to strike a bamboo, making a crisp sound, and the tile split open—suddenly he was greatly enlightened. The patriarchs who were enlightened by hearing sound were those who, at the very moment when their questioning doubt in investigating Chan was at its most intense, heard some sound, inspiration flashed, wisdom appeared, and they realized the tathāgatagarbha.
(3) The tathāgatagarbha also has no scent object; we cannot smell Him. But the appearance of the scent object has the tathāgatagarbha's functional virtue, and therefore there have been people who realized the tathāgatagarbha and realized ultimate reality through smelling scents. In the Buddha-land of Fragrant Accumulation (Gandhakūṭa), when the Buddha and bodhisattvas sat together eating, the Buddha sniffed the fragrance of the food with his nose, and the bodhisattvas immediately became enlightened; the Buddha merely sniffed with his nose, and the bodhisattvas understood the true mind—just that simple. The sentient beings of that world have keen nose faculties; smelling a scent can bring enlightenment—is that not marvelous?
The sentient beings of our world have relatively keen ear faculties, so beings can be guided through sound, by teaching the Dharma and listening to the Dharma. The sentient beings of other worlds each have their own keen faculties; therefore, when good spiritual friends guide sentient beings of different dispositions, their methods of guidance all differ. Guiding beings to enlightenment through their keen faculties, they can awaken quickly. The Buddha has immeasurable wisdom and many skillful means to enable sentient beings to realize their own tathāgatagarbha, because the tathāgatagarbha pervades all times, all places, and all realms, pervading everything, manifesting everywhere. Although the tathāgatagarbha has no scent object and the tathāgatagarbha cannot be smelled, one can use smelling scents as a condition to find Him. As long as we cultivate the bodhisattvas' six perfections well and then investigate, when one day we truly become enlightened, we will know that these words are not false.
Whether investigating a huatou or a gong'an, if the conditions of merit are complete, one can realize enlightenment quickly. The Chan patriarchs often said that the conditions for awakening are everywhere: the colors of mountains and the sounds of streams, raising a fist or holding up a whisk, even the bustle of the marketplace—all can lead to seeing the mind. If the conditions of merit are not complete, wanting to see the mind is harder than climbing to heaven by who knows how many times. The tathāgatagarbha is manifesting at every moment and in every place, never hiding or concealing; it is only that we lack the eye of wisdom—like the sun's rays shining over the whole earth, yet a blind person simply cannot see them. In the Tang dynasty there was the layman Pang Yun, whose whole family of four were enlightened bodhisattvas. One day, while Pang Yun was sitting in meditation in his thatched hut, he thought of the matter of seeing the mind and suddenly had a realization, saying to himself: "Difficult, difficult, difficult! Like spreading ten dan of sesame oil on the branches of a tree!" His wife, hearing this, found it amusing and replied offhandedly: "Easy, easy, easy! Just like stepping from the bed onto the ground!" Their daughter Lingzhao was outside the hut weaving a bamboo fence, and her parents' exchange fell entirely into her ears; finding it interesting, she called out loudly from outside: "Neither difficult nor easy—the patriarchs' intent on the tips of a hundred grasses."
Therefore, as for the dharma of enlightenment, if you say it is difficult, it is truly difficult; if you say it is easy, it is also easy. It is just that so many Chan investigators lacked the correct method and their knowledge and views of the Buddhadharma were incomplete; they investigated for a whole lifetime and naturally achieved nothing. Without a good spiritual friend's guidance, they did not know in which direction to investigate, what method to use, or how to begin; they pondered bitterly there, and decades of a lifetime passed just like that.
(4) The tathāgatagarbha has no taste object; He is not sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, or bland; no one can taste what flavor the tathāgatagarbha has. But when we are tasting flavors, if the mind is very refined and inspiration and wisdom arise, we can recognize Him—and then the great matter of birth and death can be resolved. The tathāgatagarbha has no taste object, but when we discriminate taste objects, when we savor food and drink, the tongue consciousness and mind consciousness know: this is sour, this is sweet, this is bitter, this is spicy. If we diligently investigate Chan, when the time and conditions ripen, we should introspect: who is tasting the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy flavors? Who knows the taste? How does the taste object appear? In this way questioning doubt arises, and when the conditions are complete, one can discover the mystery within and see the mind and realize enlightenment.
(5) The tathāgatagarbha has no touch object; He is neither soft nor hard, neither thin nor thick, neither smooth nor rough, neither cold nor hot; He has no touch of thirst nor touch of hunger, no touch of itch nor touch of pain, no touch of fatigue nor touch of tranquility (praśrabdhi); we cannot touch Him. But for immeasurable kalpas the tathāgatagarbha has never been apart from our bodies; from the moment of entering the womb, He has continuously upheld the physical body without interruption for a single second or instant, until the end of that lifetime; throughout the long river of sentient beings' lives He has never rested. Whether touch objects or the body consciousness, none can manifest or operate apart from Him.
The tathāgatagarbha operates ceaselessly at every moment, at every moment giving (dāna) to us the dharmas we need; He never feels tired or weary. Who has the mental action of weariness? The aware mind, this false self, has emotions of weariness and can feel thick and thin, soft and hard, cold and hot, and painful touch; the true self, the tathāgatagarbha, has none of these feelings; He has no touch object and does not discern touch objects. But when we are in contact with touch objects, we can realize this tathāgatagarbha that has no touch object. For example, when Chan masters raise their hands to strike people, or kick their disciples with their feet—although these touch objects do not feel comfortable, they can open sentient beings' wisdom, like the key to the gate of the Buddhadharma. Therefore enlightened disciples who are struck and kicked are overjoyed, feeling they have gotten a great bargain; who among the wise would not wish to be kicked a few more times by a Chan master?
(6) There is no dharma object within the tathāgatagarbha. The dharma object corresponds to the manas and is the object discerned by the mind consciousness. On the form object, the dharma-object mark can manifest; when the manas contacts the dharma object, the tathāgatagarbha produces the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness can then discern what dharma it is. Dharma objects can also manifest upon the sound, scent, taste, and touch objects; the dharma objects manifested upon the five sense objects all correspond to the manas. Thus the form object corresponds to the eye faculty, the sound object to the ear faculty, the scent object to the nose faculty, the taste object to the tongue faculty, the touch object to the body faculty, and the dharma object corresponds to the manas. The six faculties can then contact the six sense objects, and the tathāgatagarbha produces the six consciousnesses at the places where faculties and objects contact, to discern the six sense objects, and we can then know the realms of the six sense objects.
There is no dharma object within the tathāgatagarbha, because the dharma object is also form included within the dharma-āyatana, a subtle material dharma composed of the four great elements; the tathāgatagarbha is formless and without marks, utterly empty, and cannot possibly have material form, nor can He have the dharma-object mark that belongs to material form. But the dharma object also cannot appear apart from the tathāgatagarbha, because only the tathāgatagarbha contains the four great seeds and can give rise to the dharma object.
When we sit in meditation, the manas grasps everywhere at dharma objects, dragging the mind consciousness to discern them, and deluded thoughts keep arising in the mind. The tathāgatagarbha never has deluded thoughts and never considers anything, but He constantly cooperates with the manas. As soon as the manas grasps, the tathāgatagarbha manifests the dharma-object mark; the manas's attention (manaskāra) then leads the mind consciousness to discriminate and deliberate, and as a result many dharmas are produced. Events from past lives, even from immeasurable lives ago, the manas can also grasp at, but the mind consciousness, lacking superknowledge, cannot resonate with them or discern them. Things that happened in childhood in this life—for example, who owed me ten cents, or who I quarreled with—can suddenly be remembered while sitting in meditation, though ordinarily one could not recall them and would not think of such things. This is because when sitting in meditation the mind becomes somewhat still, the manas directs less attention toward present directly-perceived realms, and past matters are thereby grasped forth. The manas's grasping nature is formidable: while sitting in meditation he grasps everywhere; while sleeping he also grasps everywhere; after death, in the antarā-bhava, he likewise grasps and clings without cease.
The tathāgatagarbha, the manas, and the mind consciousness—these three consciousnesses in fusion can transform and produce the myriad dharmas. The first consciousness of transformative agency (parināma) is the tathāgatagarbha, the second is the manas, and the third is the six consciousnesses. Among them, the tathāgatagarbha is the first cause that gives birth to the myriad dharmas, directly giving rise to all dharmas; the manas and mind consciousness assist the tathāgatagarbha in manifesting all dharmas, or facilitate the tathāgatagarbha's giving rise to all dharmas. Among the eight consciousnesses, the first five consciousnesses are like employees, responsible for gathering intelligence at the front; they do whatever the manas assigns, each fulfilling his own responsibility, each managing only the item corresponding to himself, unable to overstep boundaries.
The sixth consciousness, this accountant, besides working together with the five consciousnesses, also has its own separate work, including planning, intending, remembering, reasoning, analyzing, judging, and so on—calculating back and forth, constantly offering counsel and strategies to the manas, this general manager. The tathāgatagarbha, this chairman of the board, does not manage the specific household affairs of the five aggregates; He allocates and coordinates the seven staff members from an overall perspective. The manas, this general manager, however, points fingers everywhere yet cannot do a single specific task. The eight consciousnesses thus fuse together to form a corporation, each fulfilling his responsibility, moving throughout the three realms, six paths, and ten Dharma realms.
The tathāgatagarbha, this chairman of the board, although not managing the five aggregates' household affairs, in substance personally attends to everything great and small; firewood, rice, oil, and salt—He takes care of them all, and He is responsible for everything the household needs. On the surface it seems He manages nothing, like an absentee shopkeeper. But in fact He is like a waiter, following the conditions of the seven consciousnesses, following them like a bit-part errand boy. Whatever the manas wants done, the tathāgatagarbha carries it out; the tathāgatagarbha has never thought of doing anything—He simply complies. Although the tathāgatagarbha complies with the seven consciousnesses, everything is nonetheless under His control. All dharmas are produced by Him, accomplished by Him; without Him there is nothing—He is the great patriarch of the family. His function is extremely complex: every minute, every second, every instant He is giving (dāna) and making offerings to us, never feeling tired or annoyed, and never demanding any return. He cooperates with the five aggregates in cultivating merit; when the five aggregates ascend to heaven to enjoy pleasures, He does not know what pleasure is. When the five aggregates commit the great evil of the five rebellious deeds, He also cooperates and complies; when the five aggregates fall into hell to suffer extremely heavy suffering, He does not discern what suffering is. But wherever the five aggregates go, He follows; in fact, He goes there first—it is He who created the six paths.
What has been explained above is that the tathāgatagarbha has no form, sound, scent, taste, touch, or dharma objects, and does not possess the connotations of the six sense objects.
III. There Is No Realm of the Six Consciousnesses Within the Tathāgatagarbha Mind
Sutra text: 【无眼识界乃至无意识界。】The tathāgatagarbha has no eye-consciousness realm, no ear-consciousness realm, no nose-consciousness realm, no tongue-consciousness realm, no body-consciousness realm, and no mind-consciousness realm; within the tathāgatagarbha mind there are none of these six consciousness-minds, and He cannot directly perceive the realms of the six sense objects. The six consciousnesses are also called the aggregate of consciousness—the aggregation and collecting function of the consciousness-mind; their function is discrimination and discernment.
(1) The tathāgatagarbha has no eye-consciousness realm. The eye consciousness discriminates form objects; the tathāgatagarbha never discerns form objects. When gold, silver, and jewels are laid out before Him, the tathāgatagarbha does not know they are gold, silver, and jewels; therefore He will not give rise to greedy craving or wish to take them for Himself, and thus will not create karmic actions; there are no karmic seeds and no karmic retribution. Facing filthy things, He also does not know they are filthy, will not give rise to disgust, and will not avoid them or try to dispose of them; therefore the tathāgatagarbha is equally impartial toward every kind of form-object mark, without afflictions such as liking and disliking, and creates no karmic actions. The form-object realms seen by the eye consciousness are all the inner object-aspect (nimitta) of material form manifested by Him; the eye consciousness itself is also a consciousness-mind given rise to by the tathāgatagarbha, used to see forms; and although the tathāgatagarbha has the nature of seeing, He does not discriminate the specific appearances of material forms, not knowing tall or short, fat or thin, large or small, square or round, beautiful or ugly.
(2) The tathāgatagarbha has no ear-consciousness realm; He never discriminates sounds. No matter what sound comes, the tathāgatagarbha cannot hear it; facing beautiful, melodious music, the tathāgatagarbha will not appreciate it, cannot discriminate what music it is, and does not know whether it sounds good or bad; therefore He has neither joy nor aversion. Sounds are discriminated by the ear consciousness and mind consciousness; music is appreciated by the mind consciousness. The tathāgatagarbha has no ear-consciousness function, therefore He does not discriminate sound objects: if you curse Him, He will have no reaction and will not give rise to anger; if someone praises Him, He will not be pleased, because He cannot hear and thus has no feelings of suffering or pleasure. He does not face the six sense objects and does not know the six sense objects, so He has no reaction whatsoever to the realms of the six sense objects. But when we listen to sounds, when we discriminate, know, and feel, we can find the tathāgatagarbha right at the moment the ear consciousness is operating, and then prajñā wisdom will arise.
If the tathāgatagarbha had the function of the ear consciousness, He could distinguish the beautiful melodies of music, and the mind would not be pure; He would create karmic actions of greedy craving, and upon encountering harsh sounds would feel aversion, the mind would again not be pure, and He would create karmic actions. If both the true mind and the false mind created karmic actions, one result would be that sentient beings would go mad, with terrible retribution; the other result would be that the tathāgatagarbha could no longer operate normally, fairly, and impartially, and the law of cause and effect would have to change. Precisely because the tathāgatagarbha has no ear consciousness, even when the Buddha teaches the supreme wondrous Dharma, the tathāgatagarbha cannot hear it; therefore He does not study the Buddhadharma. He has no eyes and cannot read books; no ears and cannot listen to the Dharma; no body and cannot bow to the Buddha; no mind consciousness and cannot think; nor can He undertake any practice in accordance with the Dharma. Yet He has perfectly accomplished all things; He is originally a Buddha, complete with all dharmas, and so needs no further practice.
(3) The tathāgatagarbha has no nose-consciousness realm. When a stench comes, He does not know it is foul; when a fragrance comes, He does not know it is fragrant—He is truly one who cannot tell fragrance from stench; therefore He creates no karmic actions while smelling scents, and His own mind is forever pure and undefiled. Who discriminates these scent objects? The nose consciousness and the sixth consciousness discriminate them together. When the first five consciousnesses discriminate, the sixth consciousness must discriminate simultaneously with them; if the sixth consciousness does not participate, the five consciousnesses cannot function alone. The mind consciousness discriminates the deep and detailed connotations—the dharma object—upon the realms of the five sense objects, while the first five consciousnesses can only discriminate coarse, superficial outlines. For example, when the eyes see forms, our eye consciousness discriminates visible colors such as bright and dark, and blue, yellow, red, and white, while the sixth consciousness discriminates information such as length, shape, size, quality, and newness.
When we look at a person, the eye consciousness recognizes the other's skin color and the colors of their clothing, while the sixth consciousness discriminates height and build, gender, age, appearance, temperament, learning, cultivation, and so on, and then further discriminates whether the other studies and practices Buddhism, what Dharma-gate they practice, to what degree they have practiced, what their mental disposition is like, what their afflictions are like, and so forth. The sixth consciousness discriminates very finely; the eye consciousness only discriminates colors, which is rather coarse. When we listen to sounds, the ear consciousness only discriminates whether it is moving or still, whether the sound is grating or not, while the sixth consciousness discriminates much more: the sound's coarseness or fineness, distance, category, connotations, source, and so on. Where the sound comes from, what object produced it—all this is the sixth consciousness's responsibility to discriminate; if the sixth consciousness does not discriminate along with it, the ear consciousness cannot function alone; that is, if the first five consciousnesses function, they must necessarily function simultaneously together with the sixth consciousness.
The eye consciousness and mind consciousness function simultaneously; the ear consciousness and mind consciousness function simultaneously; the nose consciousness and mind consciousness function simultaneously; the tongue consciousness and mind consciousness function simultaneously; the body consciousness and mind consciousness function simultaneously. Among the first six consciousnesses, only the mind consciousness can function alone, discriminating dharma objects: what the mind thinks of, reflects on, and remembers is the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) in the scattered state; there are also the solitary consciousness in dreams and in meditative concentration. However the first six consciousnesses operate, they cannot do so without the cooperation of the seventh consciousness, the manas, and the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha.
(4) The tathāgatagarbha has no tongue-consciousness realm; He does not taste flavors and does not discriminate taste objects. When we eat, the tathāgatagarbha, having no tongue consciousness, cannot discriminate and never knows sour, sweet, bitter, or spicy; therefore He has no craving or aversion, creates no karmic actions, and has no retribution. Who discriminates these taste objects? The tongue consciousness and mind consciousness discriminate them. Although the tathāgatagarbha does not discriminate taste objects, this does not mean He plays no role in the process of the tongue consciousness discerning taste objects; the tathāgatagarbha has His unique discerning nature—otherwise the appearances of food and taste objects would not arise, nor would the tongue consciousness and mind consciousness be produced. So in the process of the tongue consciousness and mind consciousness discriminating sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy flavors, the tathāgatagarbha's figure is still manifest. If the opportunity ripens, then while eating, one can find the tathāgatagarbha and realize Him.
The five aggregates and eighteen realms belong to worldly dharmas; the tathāgatagarbha has no dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen realms and does not belong to worldly dharmas; using the method of seeking worldly dharmas, we cannot find Him. Although He is not within the eighteen realms, He has also never left the eighteen realms; if He left the eighteen realms, the world of the eighteen realms would all perish. In every realm His figure is manifested, and no realm can be apart from Him. In the process of our eating, all eighteen realms manifest their respective proper functions, and behind each realm there is the tathāgatagarbha's upholding function; for those whose conditions are ripe, it is easy to find the tathāgatagarbha and to see the mind and become enlightened. Discovering Him and finding Him requires extremely refined mental activity of the mind consciousness; investigating Chan to see the mind is precisely using the false mind to seek the true mind, using the sixth consciousness to search out and discover this tathāgatagarbha. Without the arising of the sixth consciousness-mind, without detailed contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) upon the five aggregates and eighteen realms, the tathāgatagarbha cannot be found.
Since the false minds, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, are deluded and confused, with ignorance, not knowing that within one's own mind there is the tathāgatagarbha with its wisdom and virtuous marks that neither arise nor cease, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses must, through investigating Chan, discover and realize the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore enlightenment is using the false mind to seek the true mind; enlightenment is the sixth and seventh consciousnesses becoming enlightened—it is the mind consciousness finding the tathāgatagarbha and understanding the tathāgatagarbha's functions, and the manas simultaneously realizing the tathāgatagarbha; what becomes enlightened are the mind consciousness and the manas. The sixth and seventh consciousness-minds have been deluded and confused since beginningless kalpas, not recognizing the truth; now, having found the tathāgatagarbha and knowing the tathāgatagarbha's merits and functions, they understand the principle and become enlightened.
The true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, does not need enlightenment; He is originally not deluded, not muddled, and has no ignorance, so He need not break through beginningless ignorance, nor would He go looking for Himself—placing a head on top of a head. The tathāgatagarbha does not need to practice, because He neither receives precepts, nor keeps precepts, nor violates precepts; He neither cultivates merit nor commits sins. Do not think that although He has helped the five aggregates give away much money and wealth, He does not receive that meritorious reward. Although He has helped the five aggregates kill and commit arson, that karma was not created by Him, and He does not undergo that retribution. These principles, for those who have never studied or encountered the tathāgatagarbha dharma, are unacceptable upon hearing them—they truly cannot understand. Therefore, unless one's Buddhist practice has reached a certain level, one cannot truly believe, accept, and understand the Mahāyāna Dharma.
(5) The tathāgatagarbha has no body-consciousness realm; He cannot feel cold and heat, painful touch, hunger and thirst, warmth and fullness; He does not feel fatigue, tranquility (praśrabdhi), or comfort; He does not feel roughness or smoothness, ease or obstruction. Therefore whatever touch object the tathāgatagarbha encounters, whatever comfortable or harsh environment He meets, His mind is always suchness, immovable (tathatā-acalita); He is not turned by states and creates no karmic actions; His own mind is pure. When the body consciousness and mind consciousness feel touch objects, the tathāgatagarbha only silently cooperates behind the scenes.
(6) The tathāgatagarbha has no mind-consciousness realm; He cannot discern the various dharma-object realms, cannot remember or anticipate the future, cannot analyze, plan, or scheme, cannot investigate, observe, inquire, or deliberate—all these are functions of the mind consciousness, and the tathāgatagarbha can do nothing about it. If the tathāgatagarbha had these functions, the mind would not be pure, would not be the self-natured pure mind, and could not normally and orderly cooperate with the five aggregates' operation. Whenever the mind consciousness appears, it has the function of discriminating and discerning dharma objects; even in most states of meditative concentration and in dreams it can discern, and there is always a "knowing"—knowing the marks of the six sense-object realms. The tathāgatagarbha has no consciousness nature; He does not know the dharma objects upon the five sense objects, does not know the dharma objects in concentration, and does not know the dharma objects in dreams.
Of all the eighteen-realm dharmas spoken of above, the tathāgatagarbha has none; He does not have the functions of these eighteen realms. But whenever these eighteen realms perform their corresponding functions, it is all the result of the tathāgatagarbha's cooperation. The five aggregates and eighteen realms themselves cannot accomplish anything, because the five aggregates and eighteen realms have no self-nature and depend entirely on the tathāgatagarbha for their maintenance and operation. Although there are no eighteen-realm dharmas within the tathāgatagarbha mind—no six faculties, He is not the six faculties; no six sense objects, He is not the six sense objects; no six consciousnesses, He is not the six consciousnesses—yet He also has everything and is everything, because all dharmas are given rise to by Him and are all His functions.
Although the five aggregates are complete with worldly dharmas, the five aggregates are nothing at all; not a single dharma is a real self, with real self-nature existing. Although they can create many karmic actions, in fact the five aggregates can do nothing at all—like a robot: everything it does is not done by itself; it requires humans to design many programs and to have electric current passing through before it can passively complete some pre-designed tasks. The five aggregates are just like this.
Within the tathāgatagarbha there are no five aggregates or eighteen realms; He is not a sentient being. Although He is not a sentient being, sentient beings are nevertheless made by Him; apart from Him there are no sentient beings. The tathāgatagarbha is also not a Buddha; apart from Him there is no other Buddha. He is nothing at all, yet He is everything; everything is Him. He is indifferent to everything; saying He is this or is not this—He cares not at all. He would not say, "I am everything; everything is mine"—He has no such mental action, no such concept. The tathāgatagarbha has no ignorance and afflictions, and therefore need not practice; the five aggregates and eighteen realms have all kinds of ignorance and afflictions, and therefore must practice, so as to leave suffering and attain happiness, leave far behind upside-down dream-thinking, escape the sentient-being body, and accomplish the buddha-way.
The tathāgatagarbha does not study Buddhism and does not become a Buddha; the five aggregates study Buddhism and become Buddhas—but when buddhahood is attained, it is not the present five aggregates and eighteen realms, which have already been replaced countless times; only the manas and the tathāgatagarbha have not been replaced, still being the original ones, while everything else is newly arisen. The tathāgatagarbha does not become a Buddha by Himself; He is not interested in the matter of becoming a Buddha, nor interested in the matter of practice. The mind consciousness and manas are interested in this matter; they want to practice, want to transform defiled natures, knowing they have transmigrated for too long, feeling it too painful, not wanting to be sentient beings any longer, not wanting to transmigrate through birth and death any longer, and so they decide to practice. When the mind consciousness feels suffering, the manas decides to practice; the tathāgatagarbha is indifferent—whether one practices or not has nothing to do with Him, yet without His cooperation sentient beings cannot practice either.
At the time of seeing the mind and seeing the nature, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses understand a truth: the five aggregates are false, unborn, and not-self; the tathāgatagarbha is real and eternal, originally existent, not born later. From then on the mind consciousness is no longer deluded and confused, taking the false as true. But the tathāgatagarbha has no mental activity of the mind consciousness and does not face dharma objects, so He does not understand this fact and principle; whether or not the mind is seen has nothing to do with Him; He need not seek Himself and does not want to understand Himself. It is the mind consciousness that has all along been investigating Chan seeking Him. The tathāgatagarbha is indifferent to this, yet He participates in all these affairs of investigating Chan and seeing the mind—unrelated to every affair, yet participating in every affair; in nonaction, yet always in action; in action, yet always in nonaction; does nothing, yet nothing is left undone.
At the time of realizing the fruit and eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), it is the sixth and seventh consciousnesses that sever the wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) of taking the five aggregates as self, no longer regarding the five aggregates and eighteen realms as self and what belongs to self; once the views are turned upside right, there is right knowledge and right view, knowing that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are not self, not different from self, and not located within each other. The fruit is attained by the five aggregates; the tathāgatagarbha does not realize the fruit and does not attain the fruit. The tathāgatagarbha has never had a view of self, nor does He regard any self as real; He has no such thought or concept, and so does not need to eradicate the view of self. He has no mental activity of an aware mind, no mental activity resembling the five aggregates and eighteen realms, no mental activity of worldly dharmas. In fact, the tathāgatagarbha does have His own unique mental activity, only it differs from the mental activity of the seven consciousnesses of the five-aggregate world. The more of these dharmas one realizes, the more one's practice advances, until finally attaining ultimate buddhahood. In sum, the tathāgatagarbha has not a single one of the realms of the five aggregates and eighteen realms; the tathāgatagarbha does not fall within the scope of the five aggregates and eighteen realms, and He does not have the functions and roles of the five aggregates and eighteen realms. But apart from the tathāgatagarbha, the five aggregates and eighteen realms would not exist, and there would be no functions or roles at all.
