What Is the Sixfold Transformation Referred to as the Basis of Defilement and Purity?

The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination: Ignorance conditions volitional formations, volitional formations condition consciousness, and so on. Here, "volitional formations" refer to bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and "consciousness" refers to the six consciousnesses. Therefore, ignorance must refer to the ignorance of manas (the mental faculty). Because of the ignorance of manas, bodily, verbal, and mental actions are continuously produced and function, compelling the six consciousnesses to engage in these bodily, verbal, and mental actions, preventing them from ceasing.

What does this ignorance encompass? It must include all ignorance: the six fundamental afflictions—greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views—as well as the twenty secondary afflictions. Due to these afflictions of ignorance, manas continuously prompts the arising and functioning of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, causing the six consciousnesses to constantly engage in activity. Thus, the six consciousnesses cannot become pure, cannot attain the unconditioned, cannot cease, and the seeds of their actions inevitably remain, giving rise to existence in future lives.

The phrase "the six consciousnesses are called the basis of defilement and purity" also conveys this meaning. Manas is the consciousness upon which the purity and defilement of the six consciousnesses depend. The six consciousnesses rely on the purity or defilement of manas to possess their own purity or defilement. When manas is pure, the six consciousnesses are pure; when manas is defiled, the six consciousnesses are defiled. Therefore, the afflictions of the six consciousnesses originate from manas, and their purity also originates from manas. Thus, resolving the issues of manas resolves the issues of the six consciousnesses, thereby resolving all problems. Consequently, eradicating the afflictions of greed, hatred, delusion, and all other afflictions from manas also eradicates them from the six consciousnesses. If manas is free from afflictions, the six consciousnesses are also free from afflictions; eliminating ignorance from manas eliminates ignorance from the six consciousnesses. Moreover, the afflictive mental factors of manas are certainly no fewer than those of the mental consciousness, and the afflictive mental factors of the mental consciousness are certainly no more than those of manas. The wholesome mental factors of manas are no fewer than those of the mental consciousness, and the wholesome mental factors of the mental consciousness are no more than those of manas. Otherwise, manas would not be the basis of defilement and purity for the six consciousnesses.

All phenomena arise and function entirely because of manas, without exception or special circumstances. Manas is the driving force and fundamental cause for the production of all phenomena in the three realms. Once the ignorance of manas is completely extinguished and there is no remaining vow-power, the five aggregates constituting the world instantly cease. When manas is free from the afflictions of ignorance, the six consciousnesses have no basis for creating karmic actions rooted in ignorance, as they lack autonomy and the capacity to act independently.

All phenomena are interconnected; no phenomenon exists independently or in opposition to others. It is merely a matter of whether, in one's personal practice, one has thoroughly comprehended these phenomena. When not comprehended, this phenomenon is distinct from that phenomenon, and they do not interfere with each other. When comprehension is achieved, all phenomena interpenetrate harmoniously, complementing and supporting each other, becoming intimately connected. When the Buddha Dharma is thoroughly comprehended, from any single perspective, one can validate this phenomenon and also validate that phenomenon, discovering more facts and truths, and wisdom becomes perfectly unobstructed and integrated.