Explanation of the Mahayana Manifestation of Consciousness Sutra

Original Text: Venerable Protector addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, although sentient beings know that consciousness exists, it is like a treasure locked in a box—unrevealed and unknown. World-Honored One, what is the form of this consciousness? Why is it called consciousness? When sentient beings die, their limbs thrash uncontrollably, their eyes change in appearance, and they lose autonomy. Their sense faculties perish, the fundamental elements disintegrate, and consciousness departs from the body. Where does it go? What is its intrinsic nature? What form does it take? How does it abandon this body and take on another?"

"Their eyes change in appearance, and they lose autonomy"—the eyes become turbid because the visual consciousness is gradually fading from the body. At this time, the storehouse consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) and the mental faculty (manas) are also about to depart one after another. The dying person wishes to see their family and loved ones but can no longer see them; visual consciousness vanishes beyond their control. However, their mental consciousness (manovijñāna) has not yet disappeared—they still possess awareness. At this point, their vision begins to blur until they can see nothing at all; their ears can no longer hear sounds. These functions gradually cease. They know they are dying yet have absolutely no control over it.

Their mental faculty, which was once capable of volition, why can it no longer exert control now? The mental faculty always insisted, "I want this, I don’t want that," seeking to dominate and control. But at this moment, it is powerless. This is called being swept along by karmic currents. When the karmic conditions for death arise, the mental faculty is utterly incapable of control. What, then, is in control? Ultimately, it is karmic force. Where does this karma come from? It arises from the karmic seeds stored in the storehouse consciousness, accumulated through the actions of the five aggregates (skandhas), which then manifest. In other words, the true master is ultimately the storehouse consciousness. Based on the karmic seeds, it generates the corresponding five aggregates; thus, sentient beings have whatever five aggregates arise from it. Therefore, it is the true master.

The mental faculty is merely a false, superficial master. It can only control minor matters; when true mastery is needed, it fails. At the moment of death, the mental faculty does not wish to die, yet it must die nonetheless. When undergoing retribution for evil deeds, it does not wish to suffer, yet it must suffer regardless—it is utterly powerless in these matters. However, the creation of karma by the five-aggregate body is directed by the mental faculty, driven by its ignorance. Thus, the retribution is ultimately determined by the mental faculty.

"Their sense faculties perish, the fundamental elements disintegrate." After the physical body dies, the eye faculty ceases to function. The storehouse consciousness can no longer transform external form into internal form-objects through the eye faculty; at this point, internal form-objects also vanish. Visual consciousness can no longer arise, for consciousness arises from the contact between faculty and object. The material sense faculties (gross sense organs) fail, and the immaterial sense faculties (subtle sense organs) in the brain also fail. Can external form-objects still enter? They cannot, because the faculties can no longer transmit them.

Without internal form-objects, there is no visual consciousness, so the dying person cannot see people. The ear faculty follows the same principle: it too deteriorates. Though the shape of the ear remains, the nerves responsible for transmission cease to function; sound cannot enter. As the ear faculty fails, sound-objects vanish; sounds can no longer be transmitted to the immaterial sense faculty to manifest as internal sound-objects. Auditory consciousness gradually fades. The sounds they hear grow fainter and fainter until they hear nothing at all. The nose faculty also loses its ability to transmit; scent-objects cannot be conveyed, so olfactory consciousness gradually disappears. The same applies to gustatory consciousness. Gradually, the body faculty also ceases to function; the eighth consciousness (storehouse consciousness) no longer transmits touch-objects. Without touch-objects, bodily consciousness gradually becomes inactive, and the entire body slowly loses all sensation.

What is the state of the mental faculty at this time? The mental faculty is also powerless. It is fully aware that this body can no longer be used, yet it still clings on because mental consciousness has not yet ceased. When mental consciousness finally ceases, the mental faculty, seeing no hope left, withdraws from the body. The storehouse consciousness then follows and departs, unable to sustain the physical body alone. The storehouse consciousness is the last to leave—or rather, it departs simultaneously with the mental faculty. If the mental faculty is absent, the storehouse consciousness immediately cannot sustain the body and cannot remain within it. If the storehouse consciousness departs first, the mental faculty cannot persist and must cease. Thus, the storehouse consciousness cannot leave first nor last; it must depart simultaneously with the mental faculty.