The Meaning of Consciousness-Only and No External Objects

"Consciousness-only, no realm" means that all dharmas are only consciousness, all are consciousness, and there are no realms and no marks of realms. This belongs to the content of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only, and its meaning is the same as that of the one true dharma realm; it is only that the principle is very profound, not easy to understand, and even harder to contemplate. Those who lack the wisdom of the varieties of paths can at most have a coarse and shallow understanding of it.

The consciousness in "consciousness-only, no realm" is of course not the deluded minds of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are themselves marks of realms, arising and ceasing moment by moment and unable to govern themselves, so they cannot possibly direct the other marks of realms. Only the eighth consciousness can direct all marks of realms. From the perspective of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only, all dharmas are conjured up and held by the eighth consciousness; all are generated by the eighth consciousness using the seeds of the seven great elements, and it constantly alters the seeds of the seven great elements so as to keep all dharmas in correspondence with karmic seeds and in correspondence with retribution.

What does "all dharmas are only consciousness" mean? All dharmas are like golden vessels: the essence of golden vessels is all gold, and apart from gold there is nothing else; seeing a golden vessel is seeing gold. All dharmas are likewise: all are generated and held by the eighth consciousness, and their essence is all the eighth consciousness. When seeing all dharmas, one should see the eighth consciousness; apart from this there is nothing else.

The "realm" in "consciousness-only, no realm" can also be called dharma-marks. The scope of dharma-marks is extremely vast: there are marks of material form, marks of mental dharmas, and marks of dharmas that are neither material nor mental, as said in the Heart Sutra: the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma; the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness; the Four Noble Truths; the twelve links of dependent origination; the bodhisattva's six perfections; the four marks; the Buddha's body; the path to buddhahood; the hundred dharmas of the gate of clarity, the thousand dharmas of the gate of clarity, the hundred million dharmas of the gate of clarity; ignorance; the exhaustion of ignorance; and so forth. All these dharma-marks are the mark of emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha, the eighth consciousness; there is no substantial dharma-mark or realm-mark.

The dharma-marks and realm-marks upon all dharmas are marks generated by the eighth consciousness; therefore there are no realms—everything is the eighth consciousness. This contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) wisdom is quite deep and keen; only the meditative concentration and wisdom possessed after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have been fully transformed into wisdom can observe it directly as it is. Otherwise, with heavy obscuration by ignorance and shallow power of concentration, there will be no wisdom of observation, the true substance of all dharmas cannot be observed through direct perception, and one will fall into the marks of realms, failing to see the true gold. If meditative concentration and wisdom are insufficient—concentration without even the dhyāna of the first jhāna, and wisdom without the transformation of consciousness into wisdom—then all observation will fall into imagination and inference.

The deeper and subtler one's meditative concentration and wisdom, the fewer and shallower the realm-marks one sees when seeing all dharmas; the wisdom of direct perception becomes deeper and more ultimate as one ascends to higher bhūmis, and what one sees becomes truer, until at the buddha-bhūmi one completely sees only the one true dharma realm, with no other dharma left to be seen. For everyone, as long as there are realm-marks seen before the eyes, that is ignorance; the more realm-marks one sees, the heavier the ignorance. Conversely, the fewer realm-marks one sees, the deeper and keener the wisdom.