Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Chapter Five: Consciousness Generates the Five Aggregates Like a Seed Sprouting
Original text: 复次贤护。身死识迁。犹如种子。弃在地中。四大摄持。苗茎枝叶。渐次迁化。识为念受。善不善等。四法摄持。弃身迁化。亦复如是。
Explanation: Again He said: Bhadrapāla, after the five-aggregate body (pañca-skandha) of sentient beings dies, the Ālayavijñāna departs and moves onto another material body, just like a seed buried in the ground. The four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—sustain and hold the seed, and the seed takes root and sprouts; after taking root and sprouting, the sprout, stem, branches, and leaves gradually grow out. Likewise, the Ālayavijñāna is sustained and held by four dharmas—the manas's power of mindfulness, the realm of feeling and perception, wholesome karma, and unwholesome karma—and abandons the material body and moves onto another material body; it is also like this.
Original text: 贤护白佛言。世尊。云何善不善法。摄持于识。佛言贤护。譬如妙颇梨宝。随所处物。若黑若白。宝色随物。成白成黑。善不善法。摄持于识。亦复如是。随所摄持。成善不善。迁化受报。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, what is meant by wholesome and unwholesome dharmas sustaining and holding the Ālayavijñāna? The Buddha said: Bhadrapāla, it is like a wondrous crystal jewel (sphaṭika) that changes its color according to the objects it touches: if it touches a black object, the wondrous crystal jewel turns black; if it touches a white object, the wondrous crystal jewel turns white. The color of the wondrous crystal jewel manifests different hues according to the different objects it contacts.
Likewise, it is the same with the wholesome and unwholesome dharmas created by the five-aggregate body being able to sustain and hold the Ālayavijñāna: when the five aggregates create wholesome karma, the Ālayavijñāna holds the seeds of wholesome karma and manifests the retribution of sentient beings' wholesome karma; when the five aggregates create unwholesome karma, the Ālayavijñāna holds the seeds of unwholesome karma and manifests the retribution of sentient beings' unwholesome karma. The Ālayavijñāna transmigrates through the six realms in accordance with sentient beings' wholesome and unwholesome karma, causing the five-aggregate body to undergo retribution.
Original text: 贤护复白佛。此身云何。禀受于识。佛言贤护。此识无积无聚。亦无生长。譬如芽生。非种不变而生。亦非种坏而生。然芽生时。种则变毁。贤护。于意云何。其芽所在。止于何处。子耶枝耶。茎柯叶耶。止树头耶。贤护白佛言。不也。世尊。芽无所止。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla again said to the Buddha: How does this material body receive the sustaining of the Ālayavijñāna? The Buddha said: Bhadrapāla, the Ālayavijñāna Himself does not create karmic actions; He does not accumulate karmic actions, nor does He gather in all dharmas, and He Himself neither grows nor changes. For example, when a seed is planted in the ground and a bud sprouts, the birth of the plant's bud does not occur from a seed that undergoes no change; rather, the seed changes and slowly disappears, and then the bud grows out. The birth of the plant's bud is also not born from a seed that has rotted and decayed; yet when the bud is born, the seed undergoes change and is finally destroyed and disappears.
Bhadrapāla, what do you think? When the plant's bud is born, where does it rest? Does it rest on the seed, on the branch tips, on the stem and leaves, or on the treetop? Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla answered the Buddha: It is not so, World-Honored One; the bud does not rest on the seed, the branches and leaves, or the treetop.
Original text: 佛言。如是贤护。识之在身。止无处所。非眼非耳。鼻舌身等。种生芽时。如识微觉。乃至花结合时。如识有受。含开花发。时至结果。
Explanation: The Buddha said: It is so, Bhadrapāla. It is the same when the Ālayavijñāna enters sentient beings' bodies: He has no location; He is not in the upper, lower, or middle parts of the material body, nor inside or outside it, nor in the eye, ear, nose, tongue, or body. When the seed produces the bud, it is like the Ālayavijñāna perceiving sentient beings' karmic seeds; when flower buds appear on the sapling, it is like the Ālayavijñāna entering the womb and receiving the material body of the next life; when the flowers bloom and fruits are produced, it is equivalent to the Ālayavijñāna having created a complete material body. On the next life's material body composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, the eye faculty, nose faculty, ear faculty, tongue faculty, and body faculty then grow forth.
When the seed changes and disappears, a bud grows out. It is like a tree: from the tree bud grow the trunk, branches, leaves, and seeds, but the seed has long since disappeared; the tree bud cannot rest on the original branches, trunk, or treetop. When the seed produces the tree bud, it is like the Ālayavijñāna gradually bringing forth the nature of awareness on the material body; and when the bud grows into a great tree and is about to flower and bear fruit, it is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna containing sentient beings' feelings and perceptions, and then generating sentient beings' feelings and perceptions.
Original text: 如识有身。识之生身。遍身肢体。求识所止。莫得其所。若除于识。身则不生。
Explanation: After the Ālayavijñāna enters the womb and the five faculties are fully formed, the eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness are born, and sentient beings have feelings; this corresponds to the seed flowering and bearing fruit. From the tree's flowering until it bears fruit is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna having finished transforming and creating the entire material body. After the Ālayavijñāna gives birth to the material body, He has no location on the present material body: He does not dwell in the head or the limbs of the material body, nor in the eye, ear, nose, tongue, or body. The Ālayavijñāna pervades every part of the material body from head to toe, yet one cannot find exactly where in the material body the Ālayavijñāna is; He has no specific location on the material body, but every part of the body and limbs is under the Ālayavijñāna's sustaining function—from head to toe, all are transformed, created, and upheld by Him. If the Ālayavijñāna were to leave, the body would immediately stop growing and instantly be destroyed; without the Ālayavijñāna, there would be no birth or existence of the material body.
Original text: 如树果熟。堪为将来。树之种子。非不熟者。如是报熟身死。识种便现。因识有受。因受有爱。
Explanation: Just as when the fruit on a great tree ripens it can serve as the seed of a future great tree—when the seed ripens, in the future another great tree can grow from it; if the fruit does not ripen, there will be no seed of a future great tree. By the same principle, when sentient beings' karmic retribution ripens, the material body of this life will perish, the karmic seeds in the Ālayavijñāna will manifest, and then the material body of the next life will be born. When the karmic seeds contained in the Ālayavijñāna ripen in their conditions and manifest, the next life's material body appears. Because the Ālayavijñāna contains the seeds of the six consciousnesses, the six consciousnesses are born on the material body, and there are the feelings of the six consciousnesses. After sentient beings have feelings, craving and love arise.
This is the chain of birth and death among the twelve links of dependent origination: ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ); volitional formations condition consciousness; consciousness conditions name-and-form; name-and-form conditions the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana); the six sense bases condition contact; contact conditions feeling; feeling conditions craving; craving conditions grasping; grasping conditions existence; existence conditions birth; birth conditions aging, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa). When sentient beings' wholesome karmic retribution ripens, they should ascend to the heavens and the human body will perish; when unwholesome karmic retribution ripens, sentient beings should descend into the three evil realms, and the human body will also perish. When karmic retribution ripens, death does not necessarily come only in old age; one may possibly die even when very young.
Original text: 系著于爱。便生于念。识摄取念。随善恶业。与风大并。知念父母。因缘合对。识便托之。
Explanation: Sentient beings are bound by craving and love, and various thoughts arise; thus there are thoughts and ideation. The Ālayavijñāna accords with the manas's thoughts and, in accordance with the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma, gives birth to the intermediate-stage body (antarābhava). In the intermediate stage, the manas wants to take rebirth and is mindful of the father and mother; the Ālayavijñāna, blown by the winds of wholesome and unwholesome karma, drifts to the place where the parents unite. When the parents' karmic conditions are complete, the Ālayavijñāna, following the manas's thought, enters the mother's womb, and the Ālayavijñāna then takes up and sustains the embryo.
When the manas in the intermediate-stage body wants to take rebirth, following the karmic seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma, together with the karmic winds and karmic conditions, the six consciousnesses encounter the parents of the future life, and seeing the parents uniting, they rush toward them. When the conditions are complete, the Ālayavijñāna at this time enters the mother's womb—this is the process of the intermediate-stage Ālayavijñāna taking rebirth. Because sentient beings have seeds of craving and love stored in the Ālayavijñāna, in the intermediate stage the seeds of craving and love manifest; the manas is bound and attached by craving and love, and following its own craving, desire-thoughts arise and it engages in the realm of desire; the manas is thus confined in the mother's womb, without freedom.
Original text: 如人面影。现之于镜。非净非明。面像不现。镜明面对。影像乃现。镜中之像。无受无念。而随人身。屈伸俯仰。开口谈谑。行来进止。种种运动。贤护。影像现谁之力也。贤护白佛言。是人之力。由有面故。而有面影。影像之色。如面之色。根具不具。咸悉如面。
Explanation: It is like a person's face appearing in a mirror: if the mirror is not clean or not bright, the face cannot appear in the mirror. When the mirror is clean and bright and the face faces the mirror, the facial image can appear. The image in the mirror has no feelings and no thoughts, yet it follows the body of the person outside the mirror in performing various movements—bending and stretching, lowering and raising the head, opening the mouth to talk and jest, coming and going, stopping and proceeding—all kinds of movements. Whatever the person outside the mirror does—whether speaking or gesturing and moving—the mirror simultaneously shows the same movements and forms. The Buddha asked Bhadrapāla: when the image in the mirror appears, whose power is it?
Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: it is the power of the person. Because there is a person's face, the shadow of the face appears on the mirror, and the image appears in the mirror. The facial appearance in the mirror is exactly identical to the facial appearance outside the mirror; whether the person's image in the mirror has complete or incomplete six faculties is consistent with whether the person outside the mirror has complete or incomplete six faculties.
Original text: 佛言。面为影因。镜为影缘。因缘和合。故有影现。由识因故。有受想行。及诸心所。父母为缘。因缘和合。而有身现。如彼身镜。镜中之影。身去影灭。身持影像。或别现于。水等之中。识弃此身。持善恶业。迁受余报。亦复如是。
Explanation: The Buddha said: The face of the person outside is the cause for the appearance of the shadow in the mirror, and the mirror is the condition for producing the shadow; when the cause and condition are complete and conjoined, the shadow can appear. The Ālayavijñāna is the cause for the birth of sentient beings' next-life five-aggregate body of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, and the cause for manifesting the various consciousnesses and their mental factors; the parents are the condition for the birth of the five-aggregate body. When cause and conditions thus conjoin, the next life's five-aggregate body appears. It is like a body facing a mirror, where a bodily shadow appears in the mirror: when the body appears before the mirror, the shadow appears on the mirror; when the body departs, the shadow on the mirror disappears—the external material body determines the image in the mirror. When the body leaves the mirror and stops before a river or lake, the shadow again appears in the river or lake water; the body is the cause, and the water and the mirror are the conditions; when cause and conditions are complete, the shadow appears.
Likewise, the Ālayavijñāna is the cause, and sentient beings' wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds are the condition; when cause and conditions conjoin, the next life's five aggregates are produced. The Ālayavijñāna abandons this life's five-aggregate body and, carrying the wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds, migrates onto the next life's five-aggregate body to receive the retribution of the next life's five aggregates—just like the body leaving the mirror and going before the river water.
Original text: 又如尼瞿陀乌昙婆等。种子虽小。能生大树。树复生子。子弃故树。更生新树。故树经久。质力衰微。味液销竭。干枯腐朽。
Explanation: It is also like the Indian trees such as the nyagrodha and udumbara: although their seeds are very small—perhaps not even as large as a fingernail—when planted in the ground they can grow into towering great trees. After the tree grows up, it again bears fruit, and the fruit contains seeds; the seeds leave the original great tree and are buried in the ground again, and can grow into new great trees. In the end, the original old tree, its growth rings too many, has aged wood and a dried-up life force, and can no longer produce tree seeds; the tree's flavors and saps are all exhausted, the moisture and sap in the trunk gradually dry up, and the old tree withers and rots.
Original text: 如是诸小生类。其识弃身。乘己之业。或受种种。诸类大身。又如大麦小麦。乌麻菉豆。及摩沙等。种种子实。皆以种故。牙茎花实。生长成熟。如是由有识故。随迁生类。即便有觉。
Explanation: Just as the tree seed leaves the tree and grows a new tree, so too with tiny living beings such as ants and bacteria: their Ālayavijñānas abandon their own material bodies and, carrying the karmic seeds they have created, may receive the material bodies of various large-bodied beings; thus small animals may become large animals, and their blessings may increase somewhat. The tinier the animal, the smaller its blessings and the lower the functions of its consciousness-mind; for example, earthworms, flies, mosquitoes, and ants are all beings of very low blessings, with many limitations on their functions.
It is also like how every plant has its fruit: because of their seeds, sprouts, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits can grow and finally ripen—for example, barley, wheat, sesame, mung beans, and māṣa, and so on. Likewise, because sentient beings' bodies have the Ālayavijñāna, in accordance with sentient beings' karma, He migrates into the next life's material body; sentient beings then have a new five-aggregate body, and thereafter have awareness and cognition.
Original text: 又如蜂止花。爱乐恋著。唼吮花味。以自资养。蜂弃此花。更处余花。或弃香入臭。或弃臭入香。随其所在。莫不自爱。恋结贪着。
Explanation: It is also like a bee alighting on a flower, delighting in and clinging to the flower in order to sip the flower's flavor and nourish itself. The bee abandons this flower and flies to other flowers; or it abandons fragrance and alights on a foul odor; or it abandons the foul odor and flies onto fragrance. Wherever they are, they delight themselves, lingering in and craving the various flower fragrances. The Ālayavijñāna is also like this: because of the meritorious karma of the sentient beings He sustains, He obtains a deva's material body, and the deva enjoys the supremely blissful fruit of retribution.
The bee is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna, and the flower is a metaphor for the five-aggregate body. The Ālayavijñāna goes from one material body to another, but the Ālayavijñāna does not crave or cling to the five aggregates. The bee goes from one kind of flower to another—fragrant flowers and foul-smelling flowers—sipping nectar to nourish itself, and thus has craving and attachment.
The Ālayavijñāna has no retribution; He does not undergo the retribution of any wholesome or unwholesome karma. What actually undergoes the retribution of wholesome and unwholesome karma is the seventh consciousness; the seventh consciousness continues into future lives, and the fruits are all received by the seventh consciousness. But He Himself has no feeling other than neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), without painful or blissful feelings; painful retribution is still received by the six consciousnesses. When this life's six consciousnesses cease, new six consciousnesses are born on the new five-aggregate body, and the new six consciousnesses receive the new retribution.
Original text: 识亦如是。以福业故。获诸天身。受胜乐果。或弃天身。以恶业故。获地狱报。受众苦果。轮回迁转。为种种身。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is also like this: because sentient beings' blessings and merit are complete, a deva's body is born, and sentient beings, with the deva's body, enjoy the retribution of supreme bliss. When the meritorious karma is exhausted, the Ālayavijñāna leaves the deva's body and, in accordance with the unwholesome karma created in past lives, undergoes the unwholesome retribution of hell, receiving the numerous painful fruits of hell. Sentient beings thus transmigrate ceaselessly through the six realms, giving birth to various material bodies and receiving various retributions. Sentient beings' transmigration relies on the karmic seeds stored in the Ālayavijñāna; whichever karmic seed ripens first, sentient beings migrate and receive retribution in accordance with that karmic seed.
The flower that the bee lingers on is a metaphor for the five-aggregate body; flowers have fragrance and foulness, and the five-aggregate body has wholesome and unwholesome karma—not only receiving the five-aggregate bodies of the three evil realms, but also receiving the five-aggregate bodies of the three good realms. Although the bee loves and clings to the flower, the Ālayavijñāna does not love or cling to the five-aggregate body; rather, it is sentient beings who love and cling to the Ālayavijñāna. Especially the manas likes the Ālayavijñāna; the manas does not know that there is an Ālayavijñāna, but He regards all the Ālayavijñāna's functions as His own. Hence, in the Hīnayāna teachings there are the four kinds of Ālaya: the love of Ālaya, the joy of Ālaya, the delight in Ālaya, and the enjoyment of Ālaya. Because of various craving fetters and love fetters, sentient beings transmigrate through a thousand turns, then manifest various material bodies and receive various retributions.
Original text: 识如郁金。红蓝芬陀利等。其子皆白。破其子中。不见牙花。不见异色。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is like various different flowers such as turmeric, safflower, and puṇḍarīka: the seeds of these flowers are all white; if you break or split open their seeds, you can see neither the flower's bud nor its colors. But when the seeds are planted in the ground and irrigated with water, flower buds grow; as the buds grow in accordance with seasonal conditions, flowers bloom, flourishing and luxuriant, red or white, brilliantly colorful. Neither the flower's color nor its bud is in the seed, yet apart from the seed there would be no flower bud or future flower color.
Original text: 种之于地。以水润液。便有牙等。顺时滋长。花果敷荣。或赤或白。种种之色。色与牙等。不在子中。然离于子。皆不得生。
Explanation: After the seed is planted in the ground and watered, it takes root and sprouts; thus the seed grows in accordance with the season—growing stems, putting forth branches, flowering, and bearing fruit, with flowers and fruits red or white, complete with various colors. The seed does not contain the flower's color or its bud, but by planting the seed and letting it grow, the flower bud and flower color come to be. If the flower bud and flower color were apart from the seed, they could not grow; only with the seed can the flower grow. If the seed changes or is destroyed, it cannot flower or bear fruit. When new seeds form, they can again be planted and bear fruit, thus revolving round and round without end. Different seeds produce different flowers and different fruits.
The seed is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna, and the bud and flower are metaphors for the five-aggregate body beginning from the fertilized egg. In the Ālayavijñāna one cannot find the five-aggregate body or retribution, but when conditions are complete, the Ālayavijñāna can give birth to the five-aggregate body and retribution. The Ālayavijñāna contains the six great seeds of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness, and can generate sentient beings' five-aggregate body; but the six great seeds cannot be separated from the seed of the great element of vision in the tathāgatagarbha. When the great element of vision in the tathāgatagarbha cooperates with the six great seeds, these seven great seeds conjoined can give birth to sentient beings' five-aggregate body; there must also be the karmic seeds of the karma sentient beings have created. Earth, water, fire, and wind, plus the great element of space, form the living environment of the container world and form the material body; the great element of consciousness forms the seven consciousnesses; when sentient beings' five aggregates are complete, retribution manifests. Therefore, sentient beings' five aggregates cannot be born apart from the Ālayavijñāna.
Original text: 识弃身已。肉身容貌。诸根诸入。识中不见。因缘和合。识以妙视妙闻。声触味法。及以念入。知已所造。善恶等业。以取身报。如蚕作茧。自作自缠。于中迁化。
Explanation: After the Ālayavijñāna abandons the material body, the material body and facial appearance, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body faculties, as well as form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma, do not exist in the Ālayavijñāna; in the Ālayavijñāna there are no six faculties or six objects, no material body or facial appearance. Yet when conditions are complete, the Ālayavijñāna, in accordance with the wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds created by sentient beings and the manas's thoughts toward the five-aggregate body, again manifests sentient beings' five-aggregate body: the material body and facial appearance arise, the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses are complete, sentient beings again have the nature of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, and retribution manifests. It is like the spring silkworm making its cocoon, binding itself by itself, transmigrating through birth and death ceaselessly within the binding.
The five-aggregate body is the retribution body, the karmic-retribution body; when sentient beings have karmic retribution, they must come to the six realms to undergo it. The Buddha also has three bodies, among which the Sambhogakāya is the retribution body, the retribution induced by the wholesome dharmas the Buddha cultivated over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas—all supremely excellent wholesome retribution. The bodhisattva's body is also a retribution body, primarily wholesome retribution, far more excellent than ordinary people's retribution bodies. Ordinary people's retribution bodies are retribution bodies induced by the karma created since beginningless kalpas—always more unwholesome karma and less wholesome karma, hence more unwholesome retribution and less wholesome retribution. As soon as this retribution body is born, it is like the silkworm making its cocoon, binding itself; sentient beings' retributions are all self-created and self-received, binding themselves within the six realms, unable to escape. The "migrating-transforming consciousness" refers to the Ālayavijñāna, which constantly migrates from the current material body onto the next life's retribution body; the "repository consciousness" also refers to the Ālayavijñāna, which contains sentient beings' wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds and contains all the seeds of retribution.
Original text: 识亦如是。识自生身。还自缠裹。自弃舍身。更受余报。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is also like this: after giving birth to sentient beings' various material bodies, He Himself is wrapped within sentient beings' karmic retribution, and then abandons the material body to receive the next life's retribution body.
"The consciousness gives birth to the body itself and wraps itself"—in fact, the Ālayavijñāna does not bind Himself; it is sentient beings' five aggregates that create karma themselves and bind themselves. What creates karma is the seven consciousnesses creating karma, the deluded mind creating karma; then the Ālayavijñāna gives birth to the deluded mind to receive retribution, and the seven consciousnesses bind themselves with wholesome and unwholesome karma. But at the same time, the Ālayavijñāna is bound to sentient beings' one retribution body after another, unable to receive a more excellent retribution body.
The Ālayavijñāna leaves the current material body and gives birth to another retribution body, letting the five-aggregate body receive retribution. Does the Ālayavijñāna Himself undergo binding or not? He also undergoes binding: He is originally a great and magnificent Buddha, but because sentient beings create karma, He is defiled by these seeds and must undergo the binding of these karmic seeds; He must transform, create, and sustain the bodies of beings in the three evil realms and cannot sustain a Buddha's body—this is also a kind of binding. But He does not bind Himself; He is bound by the karma created by sentient beings, and He Himself is still at ease.
Although the Ālayavijñāna Himself is very much at ease, not undergoing retribution and not bound by karmic obstructions, from the external appearance He still undergoes binding: influenced by sentient beings' karmic seeds, He must manifest the retribution body of hell or an animal-realm body, cannot freely be a Buddha, cannot manifest a Buddha's body, and cannot manifest a deva-realm being's body. Although the Ālayavijñāna Himself is liberated, He cannot go to sustain other better material bodies; in this respect, He is bound.
The eighth consciousness at the Buddha-ground is the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), not containing the defiled seeds of the seven consciousnesses, whereas sentient beings' Ālayavijñāna is a defiled consciousness, containing the defiled seeds of the seven consciousnesses. If sentient beings create wholesome karma, the Ālayavijñāna is also bound by wholesome karma and must give birth to a deva's material body, bound by heavenly retribution and wholesome retribution; if a bodhisattva creates wholesome karma and ascends to heaven to enjoy blessings, he is also bound by wholesome karma. Sometimes one cannot refuse that retribution even if one does not want it: as a human, receiving the retribution of wholesome karma, sometimes one is bound so that one cannot have one's way—for example, wanting some tranquility (praśama) but unavoidably being surrounded by many people, without ease. Wholesome karma is also a kind of feeling; all feeling is suffering, but the Buddha's retribution contains no suffering, no affliction, because the Buddha's retribution is outflow-free (anāsrava).
Original text: 由有种故。有色香味。识弃舍身。随其所迁。诸根境界。受及法界。皆悉随之。
Explanation: Because there are seeds, there are the six object-realms of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma. After the Ālayavijñāna abandons the current material body, the seeds of the six object-realms migrate with the Ālayavijñāna onto another material body. On the other material body, the eye faculty's realm of form appears, the ear faculty's realm of sound appears, the nose faculty's realm of smell appears, the tongue faculty's realm of taste appears, the body faculty's realm of touch appears, and the manas's realm of dharma-objects appears; thus the six consciousnesses are born accordingly, and the realm of feeling and perception is born accordingly. When the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses—the eighteen realms—all appear, this is a complete sentient being.
Original text: 如如意珠。随其所在。乐具皆随。如日所在。光明皆随。识亦如是。随其所迁。受觉与想。及法界等。皆悉随之。
Explanation: It is like the wish-fulfilling jewel (cintāmaṇi): wherever it is, instruments of joy appear, for it can manifest at will according to people's wishes. The Ālayavijñāna is like the wish-fulfilling jewel: wherever He appears, sentient beings' realm of dharmas appears with Him—the realm of feeling and perception, the realm of the six faculties, the realm of the six objects, and the realms of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness—all appear with Him; thereafter sentient beings' five aggregates are complete and the eighteen realms are complete. Just as wherever the sun is there is light, wherever the Ālayavijñāna is there are the five aggregates and eighteen realms, and the various functions of the five-aggregate body all manifest following the Ālayavijñāna. As long as the Ālayavijñāna operates, the realm of feeling and perception, the realm of perception, and the other realms of dharmas will all appear accordingly, because the Ālayavijñāna has seeds and can manifest the realms of dharmas according to the seeds.
Wherever the Ālayavijñāna goes, the seeds of the five aggregates and eighteen realms follow. It is only that when the Ālayavijñāna reaches the formless realm heavens, He cannot manifest the complete functions of the five aggregates and eighteen realms; He manifests the realm of dharmas in accordance with karmic seeds. Beings in the formless realm have no aggregate of form and no five faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, so there are no five objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch; there is only the manas, there are dharma-objects, and there is the mind consciousness. When the Ālayavijñāna reaches the form realm heavens, beings have no nose faculty and no tongue faculty, no smell object or taste object—lacking four realms of dharmas—but the functions of the five aggregates are still complete.
Form-realm devas have much pleasant feeling and very little painful feeling; devas have the suffering of conditioning (saṃskāra-duḥkha) and the suffering of destruction (vipariṇāma-duḥkha), but not the suffering of suffering (duḥkha-duḥkha)—except that when desire-realm devas die there is the suffering of suffering: when the five signs of decay appear, their minds are very distressed. As long as the conscious mind operates, there is the suffering of conditioning and the suffering of destruction; the suffering of suffering is not necessarily present. But in the human realm and the three evil realms, sentient beings all have the suffering of suffering: birth, aging, sickness, and death are themselves suffering; bodily disability and incomplete six faculties are also suffering; suffering that is itself suffering is called the suffering of suffering. The material body gradually aging is the suffering of conditioning; the conscious mind gradually weakening and bit by bit operating is the suffering of conditioning; the disappearance of pleasant feeling is the suffering of destruction. The suffering of animals is the problem of securing food and warmth; hell beings undergo suffering every instant, always trying to find ways to escape these painful feelings.
Original text: 识弃舍身。摄一切性。色因为身。无骨肉身。有诸根故。有受妙念。知取善恶。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna abandons the material body and sustains the dharma-nature; wherever He goes, He carries the seeds of the realm of dharmas and manifests all dharma-natures. The cause of material-form seeds can form the material body: from the initial boneless, fleshless fertilized egg, a material body with five faculties is finally formed. Because there are the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, the six consciousnesses are born; with the six consciousnesses there are feeling and thought, and one can know wholesome and unwholesome, discriminate wholesome and unwholesome, and grasp wholesome and unwholesome.
The "knowing" here refers to the knowing of the six consciousnesses, including the eye consciousness's seeing, the ear consciousness's hearing, the nose consciousness's smelling, the tongue consciousness's tasting, the body consciousness's touching, and the mind consciousness's awareness. "Sustaining all natures" means the Ālayavijñāna contains the dharma-natures of all dharmas; these dharma-natures include the natures of feeling, perception, thought, volitional formations, and consciousness, as well as the dharmas of the six faculties and six objects and the dharmas of the five aggregates—all of which the Ālayavijñāna contains and embraces.
Original text: 如枣石榴。庵罗庵勒。鼻螺渴竖。劫必他等。种种之果。或辛或苦。或酸或甜。或醎或涩。味力各别。消熟所资。其功不一。及果坏已。味力随种。迁化而生。
Explanation: Like jujubes, pomegranates, āmra, āmalaka, piyāla, kṣudra, kapittha, and other various fruits, their flavors and potencies are each different—pungent or bitter, sour or sweet, salty or astringent, each with its own flavor. After being eaten and digested in the stomach, they nourish the body differently, and their merits are each different. When these fruits decay, the fruit flavors migrate with the seeds, and when conditions are complete, they will be born again.
The Ālayavijñāna, like the seeds of these fruits, does not decay; the material body is like the fruit, and awareness, feeling, and thought are like the fruit's flavor. The Ālayavijñāna carries the seeds of feeling, perception, awareness, and thought, migrates onto another material body, and again gives rise to feeling, perception, awareness, and thought, giving rise to the five aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness; as long as there is the Ālayavijñāna, the five aggregates will manifest again. The flavor-potency is also a metaphor for the five-aggregate body; the decay of the fruit is a metaphor for the decay of the material body and the five aggregates, but the seed does not decay—that is, the Ālayavijñāna does not decay. Although the current material body decays, the Ālayavijñāna contains the seeds of the five-aggregate body, and in the next life the five aggregates will be born again.
Original text: 如是识种。随其所迁。受念善恶。咸悉随之。识弃此身。受余报身。故名为识。知善恶业。知业随我。知我持业。迁化受报。故名为识。身之所为。咸悉知之。故名为识。
Explanation: Thus the seeds of the six consciousnesses, following the Ālayavijñāna, migrate onto the next life's material body; the realm of feeling and perception and the realm of mindfulness also migrate with the six consciousnesses' seeds, and the wholesome or unwholesome nature of the six consciousnesses also migrates with the six consciousnesses' seeds. The Ālayavijñāna abandons the current material body and sustains the next life's retribution material body, hence it is called "consciousness." The Ālayavijñāna can discern sentient beings' faculty-body and container world, and discern karmic seeds, so at the time of sentient beings' death, the Ālayavijñāna knows sentient beings' wholesome and unwholesome karma and will give birth to the next life's retribution body of wholesome or unwholesome karma. The Ālayavijñāna also knows that the karmic seeds follow Him, that He carries the karmic seeds and gives birth to the next life's five-aggregate body; because the Ālayavijñāna has this knowing nature, He is also called "consciousness." Whatever the material body does, the Ālayavijñāna knows it all; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is also called "consciousness."
The "knowing" of wholesome and unwholesome karma and the "knowing" that karma follows Me—one is the knowing of the mind consciousness, and the other is the knowing of the Ālayavijñāna. The knowing that knows the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma must be the Ālayavijñāna's knowing, because the mind consciousness, without having transformed consciousness into wisdom and lacking supernatural powers, cannot discern seeds. The Ālayavijñāna discerns sentient beings' wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds, but does not discern the specific wholesome or unwholesome karmic deeds and their attributes; He does not know whether this karmic seed is wholesome or unwholesome, nor whether sentient beings should receive wholesome or unwholesome retribution—this is not the Ālayavijñāna's knowing nature but the mind consciousness's knowing nature. What can discriminate sentient beings' wholesome and unwholesome karmic retribution is the mind consciousness; even the manas cannot discriminate it. At the time of death, the mind consciousness knows that its own wholesome and unwholesome karma will follow into the next life, will manifest with the five-aggregate karmic seeds, and will receive their retribution.
The Ālayavijñāna's knowing is utterly different from the knowing of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses: the Ālayavijñāna's knowing is a knowing without a discriminating mind; He does not know the conventional nature of dharmas but only their essential substance, whereas the sixth and seventh consciousnesses know only the conventional nature of dharmas and not their essential substance.
Original text: 譬如风大。无形可取。无质可持。以因缘故。作诸事业。表有风大。持冷持热。运香运臭。摇振林木。或鼓扇摧击。如是识无形质。非视听所取。以因缘故。识相具显。由识持身。身知苦乐。光色充盛。行来进止。言笑欢忧。事业照着。当知有识。
Explanation: For example, the wind element has no shape or form that can be grasped—the hand cannot grab it—and no material substance that can be held. When conditions are complete, the formless, immaterial wind can nevertheless perform many deeds; then one knows the wind element has appeared. For example, wind can bring cold air and hot air, can carry fragrances and foul odors, can blow down trees and houses, can fan and strike down objects, and so on. Through these phenomena, one knows there is the wind element: when the wind blows, there are hot winds and cold winds, carrying fragrances and foul odors; when the wind blows, tree trunks sway, or it fans and strikes objects.
The Ālayavijñāna is also like the wind: formless and colorless, without material obstruction, invisible, inaudible, ungraspable. When conditions are complete, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the five aggregates operate, and the characteristics of the Ālayavijñāna manifest. With the Ālayavijñāna sustaining the five-aggregate material body, the five-aggregate body can know suffering and bliss. When the five-aggregate body is active—radiant in spirit, lustrous in countenance, joyful songs and laughter, coming and going, stopping and proceeding—all kinds of endeavors can be accomplished, all because of the Ālayavijñāna's sustaining function. Therefore it can be known that the Ālayavijñāna can perform all endeavors within sentient beings' bodies.
