Explanation of the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Revelation of Consciousness

Original text:贤护。众生身死。识持受觉法界。以至他生。因父母缘。而识托之。受觉法界。皆随于识。亦复如是。如从花胜力。而鼻有嗅。从嗅胜力。而得香境。又如从风身胜力。得风色触。因风胜力。香得至远。如是从识有受。从受有觉。从觉有法。遂能了知。善与不善。

Explanation: The Buddha said, "Bhadrapāla, when sentient beings' physical bodies die, consciousness carries the seeds of the feeling, perception, and dharma realms to the next life. Through the conditions of the father and mother, consciousness takes refuge in the fertilized egg, and nāma-rūpa arises. The feeling, perception, and dharma realms all migrate along with the Ālayavijñāna into the physical body of the next life, and it is also like this. Just as it is because of the surpassing power of fresh flowers that the nose has the capacity of smelling, and because of the nose's surpassing power of smelling that the fragrant sense-object can be smelled. Likewise, it is because of the surpassing power of the wind element that contact between wind and the flower's form occurs, and because of the wind's surpassing power, the flower's fragrance is carried far away. In the same way, from consciousness there is feeling; from feeling there is perception; from perception there is dharma; and thus one comes to know what is wholesome and what is unwholesome."

The Ālayavijñāna contains the seeds of the feeling, perception, and dharma realms. When the conditions ripen, it outputs the karmic seeds of feeling and perception along with the seeds of the six consciousnesses; feeling and perception then appear, and sentient beings have the functions of feeling and perception. The seeds of the body faculty first give rise to the body faculty in dependence on the conditions of the father and mother, and then the seeds of consciousness are also successively born and begin to function. The seeds of the four faculties—eye, ear, nose, and tongue—are born in dependence on the body faculty; and in dependence on the conditions of the six faculties and six sense-objects, the seeds of the six consciousnesses also begin to exert their functions. In this way, the feeling, perception, and dharma realms arise once again.

Because flowers have fragrance and the nose faculty possesses the function of smell, relying on the smelling nature of the nose faculty and the power of the nose consciousness, we are able to smell the fragrant object of the flower. When the nose faculty takes in the scent-object of the flower's fragrance, faculty and object make contact, and the nose consciousness is born and discerns the scent-object—that is, it takes in the appearance of the scent-object, and thus perceives the flower's fragrance. Through the functions of the nose consciousness and the mind consciousness, the appearance of the scent-object is grasped and the fragrant object is obtained. Only with consciousness can something be obtained; without consciousness, nothing can be obtained. "Obtaining" means grasping at appearances, the meaning of grasping (upādāna).

Because the wind element itself possesses the power of conveyance, wind and form make contact; once the wind and the flower touch, the flower's fragrance drifts elsewhere. By the same principle, the Ālayavijñāna also has the function of transmitting seeds. After a person dies, the Ālayavijñāna makes contact with the karmic seeds and carries the five aggregates to another physical body in another world. Because of the wind's propulsion, the flower's fragrance can drift to a very distant place. Similarly, it is because of the Ālayavijñāna that the seeds of the feeling, perception, and dharma realms can be transferred to another physical body. The wind element is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna, the flower is a metaphor for the body faculty, and the flower's fragrance represents the seeds of the feeling, perception, and dharma realms and of the five aggregates. The nose faculty has the capacity of smelling because of the function of the nose consciousness; only then can we smell fragrance and have awareness. This shows that feeling and perception are the functions of the six consciousnesses. The six consciousnesses can take in the six sense-objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma, and the six sense-objects can manifest upon the mind consciousness.

Original text:贤护。众生身死。识持受觉法界。以至他生。因父母缘。而识托之。受觉法界。皆随于识。亦复如是。如从花胜力。而鼻有嗅。从嗅胜力。而得香境。又如从风身胜力。得风色触。因风胜力。香得至远。如是从识有受。从受有觉。从觉有法。遂能了知。善与不善。

Why can the six consciousnesses take in the six sense-objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma? Because there is a physical body with six faculties, and because there is the tathāgatagarbha, the Ālayavijñāna, the Ālayavijñāna can transmit the six sense-objects over; the six consciousnesses arise in dependence on them, feeling and perception appear, and the sense-object realms manifest. This shows that the Ālayavijñāna can transform and generate the six sense-objects, and can also transform and generate the six consciousnesses; only the six consciousnesses can take in the six sense-objects. From the Ālayavijñāna, feeling can arise; from feeling there is awareness; with awareness, appearances can manifest. For example, when the Ālayavijñāna transmits a sound over, faculty and object make contact and the ear consciousness arises; the ear consciousness hears the sound and there is feeling; with feeling there must be sensation, and the sound manifests upon the ear consciousness. Because there is the nose consciousness, the scent-object can be discerned and can manifest. From perception there is dharma: because there is awareness, the dharmas of the six sense-objects appear. Dharma represents the six sense-objects, and perception represents the six consciousnesses.

The awareness of the six consciousnesses means: the eye consciousness can see, the ear consciousness can hear, the nose consciousness can smell, the tongue consciousness can taste, the body consciousness can feel, and the mind consciousness can know—this is called perception. What dharmas are there from the eye consciousness? The form sense-object appears. Without the eye consciousness, could you know that a form sense-object exists? When the eye consciousness takes in the form sense-object, the form sense-object appears. For example, only with the eye consciousness can one take in the appearance of a cup on the table; without the eye consciousness, could that appearance of the cup be taken in? Then one would not know there is a cup. Only when the eye consciousness appears can the cup be discerned; the eye consciousness takes in the appearance of the cup—this is the eye consciousness taking in the form sense-object.

Another example: because there is the ear consciousness, sounds can be heard, and the ear consciousness takes in the sound sense-object. Without consciousness, could anything be taken in? This process of taking in is the process of perception (saṃjñā): one is the function of knowing, and the other is the function of grasping appearances. Perception is the mental factor of perception (saṃjñā-caitta), and can also be called the aggregate of perception. The aggregate of perception first discerns; after discerning, it knows what this is—that is the taking in; after discriminating, it grasps the appearance, and then assigns a name to it. This is the entire process of perception. With the nose consciousness, the scent-object can be taken in; with the body consciousness, one can take in such touch-objects as the warmth of sunlight, hunger, thirst, and fatigue. Because there is the mind consciousness, which takes in the dharma sense-object, one can know all dharmas, and thus knows wholesome and unwholesome, conflicts/disputes/gossip, good and bad.