How the Seventh Consciousness Transforms Defilement into Purity

The name ālayavijñāna is used by sentient beings before the eighth bhūmi; after the eighth bhūmi, it is renamed and called the vipākavijñāna (consciousness of retributive maturation). The name ālayavijñāna indicates that within sentient beings' tathāgatagarbha there still exist the karmic seeds of afflictions belonging to the seven consciousnesses, as well as seeds of afflictive habits. These seeds are all subject to arising, ceasing, and change; combined with the unborn-and-undying tathāgatagarbha, they constitute the ālayavijñāna, which is neither arising nor ceasing. When the seeds of the seven consciousnesses' arising-and-ceasing karma contained within the ālayavijñāna have been eliminated, and the seven consciousnesses have severed their afflictions as well as their afflictive habits, the ālayavijñāna is renamed the vipākavijñāna.

Cultivation is precisely about transforming the defiled nature of the seven consciousnesses—removing the seven consciousnesses' afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, removing their afflictive habits, removing ignorance, gradually transforming the defiled nature of the seven consciousnesses' minds, and gradually increasing their purity. In this cultivation, one must rely upon the eighth consciousness, clearly recognize the nature of the eighth consciousness, realize the eighth consciousness, and then contemplate the purity of the eighth consciousness and its untainted-and-conditioned nature (anāsravāḥ saṃskārāḥ). The seven consciousnesses will then receive its influence and perfuming, and can gradually draw close to the purity of the eighth consciousness, no longer greedily clinging to the illusory worldly dharmas. The seven consciousnesses can thereby attain liberation and accomplish the Buddha Way. Among these, realizing the eighth consciousness is extremely crucial: only by realizing the eighth consciousness can one know the true reality of the dharmadhātu, sever the grasping at self and the grasping at dharmas, and attain perfect buddhahood.