The Eighth Consciousness Pervades All Places

The eighth consciousness pervades all places; it pervades all dharmas within the world of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha). Wherever there are dharmas of the world of the five aggregates, the eighth consciousness is certainly there upholding them. If the eighth consciousness no longer upholds a certain dharma, that dharma ceases and no longer appears.

The eighth consciousness neither arises nor ceases; it is formless and without characteristics, neither coming nor going. On each dharma there is no mark of coming or going, yet by observing the mark of arising and ceasing (utpāda-nirodha-lakṣaṇa) of the dharmas of the world of the five aggregates, one can know the coming and going of the eighth consciousness. When a dharma appears, it indicates that the eighth consciousness has arrived within that dharma; when a dharma ceases, it indicates that the eighth consciousness has departed from that dharma. In fact, it is not that the eighth consciousness comes and goes within dharmas; rather, the eighth consciousness uses seeds to give birth to the dharma, and then the dharma carries the eighth consciousness's function of upholding it. When the eighth consciousness no longer upholds the dharma and withdraws the seeds, the dharma departs from the eighth consciousness and ceases.

Likewise, the eighth consciousness has never come into the five aggregates, nor has it ever departed from the five aggregates. Rather, the eighth consciousness uses seeds to give birth to the five aggregates, and then the five aggregates cannot be separated from the eighth consciousness and become connected with it. When the eighth consciousness withdraws the seeds and no longer upholds the five aggregates, the five aggregates vanish and perish, becoming separated from the eighth consciousness. Throughout all of this, the eighth consciousness never comes or goes and has never moved; it is the appearances of the world of the five aggregates that come and go, gathering with and dispersing from the eighth consciousness. Therefore it is said that the eighth consciousness neither comes nor goes, and there is no such thing as time, space, or distance with respect to it.