Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 51

Original text: 「又前說末那恒與阿賴耶識俱轉乃至未斷。當知常與俱生任運四種煩惱一時相應。謂薩迦耶見。我慢。我愛。及與無明。此四煩惱。若在定地若不定地。當知恒行不與善等相違。是有覆無記性。」

Explanation: This passage is from the original text of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, and many people have misunderstood it. They all believe that the manas has only these four afflictions—self-view, self-love, self-conceit, and ignorance—meaning there are only four afflictive mental factors. In fact, that is not what the original text means. Even if it did mean that, then the single affliction of ignorance would encompass all afflictions, and the manas of ordinary beings would possess all afflictions in full.

What is meant here is that the manas operates together with these four afflictions constantly, at every moment, never separating even for an instant. "Constantly operating" (恒行) means operating perpetually without ceasing. The manas also has afflictive mental factors that do not operate constantly—these do not run together with the manas at every moment, do not exist at every instant, but sometimes manifest and sometimes do not. Apart from these four afflictions, all others are non-constant afflictions. Thus the afflictive mental factors of the manas are divided into two parts: one part manifests and exists constantly, while the other part occasionally manifests alongside the manas.

The manas has the affliction of ignorance, and ignorance encompasses all afflictions. All afflictions belong to the afflictions of the manas; the afflictions of the manas give rise to the afflictions of the mind consciousness, which then creates all kinds of afflicted karma. Only by eliminating the afflictions of the manas is the elimination of afflictions ultimate. If the manas does not have a certain affliction, then there is no need to eliminate it, and one's cultivation is spared some trouble and obstruction.

Whether or not the mind consciousness has afflictions is a matter of no consequence, because the mind consciousness is a dharma that ceases; once the mind consciousness ceases, its afflictions vanish, leaving only the manas. As long as the manas has no afflictions, sentient beings will not undergo birth and death in saṃsāra; but if the manas has afflictions, birth and death in saṃsāra become inevitable. Why do countless people insist on making a big fuss over the mind consciousness? It is because these people can only gain some understanding of the mind consciousness, do not understand the manas at all, and even less can they observe the mental activities of the manas. That is why theories centered on the mind consciousness are everywhere, and sentient beings are pitifully misled.

These four afflictions, at the stage of ordinary beings, operate and manifest at all times without ever having been severed, while other afflictions come and go. After the elimination of self-view, the affliction of self-view is gone, but the other three afflictions continue to operate constantly. After the fourth fruit, all four afflictions disappear completely; the mind becomes pure, and there are no longer any constantly operating afflictions (except for the ignorance pertaining to the Mahāyāna dharma), though habitual tendencies still remain—only they no longer operate constantly. The six root afflictions are the trunk of a tree, and the twenty secondary afflictions are its branches and leaves; once the trunk falls, the branches and leaves will soon wither and vanish entirely.

The ignorance-affliction of the manas encompasses all afflictions. Among them, the affliction of hatred cannot operate constantly; it comes and goes. If hatred operated constantly, the consequences would be unimaginable—neither oneself nor others could bear it. The poison of hatred would soon destroy the physical body, one's life would not last long, and everyone around would suffer boundlessly, with no pleasant feeling at all. Although the text here does not specifically state that the manas has or lacks the affliction of hatred, the manas absolutely does have the affliction of hatred. If it did not, we would not need to cultivate the elimination of hatred. It would not matter if the mind consciousness had the affliction of hatred, for the mind consciousness is constantly ceasing; once it ceases, its afflictions are gone. As long as the manas has no hatred, everything would be just fine. But the facts are not so.

The language of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra is extremely concise, and it is very difficult to fully grasp its meaning; it requires both literary competence and realization attained through cultivation—only a combination of the two will do. True reliance on the Dharma means relying on facts. As long as something is factual, sooner or later it can overcome all statements that do not accord with facts, bringing out the power of truth. Even the Dharma taught by the Buddha must be verified through one's own contemplative practice to see whether it is actually so. All the dharmas the Buddha taught must ultimately be realized by us in full before we can become Buddhas. Without realizing and verifying them, one cannot obtain the corresponding wisdom. Merely memorizing the Buddha's words does not solve the problem; what the Buddha said cannot represent our own realization. At the final stage of cultivation, one must rely on the complete truth of all facts—not even relying on the Buddha. The Dharma the Buddha taught must be realized by oneself; only after realizing it all can cultivation be considered thoroughly accomplished.

The Dharma the Buddha taught in the Sahā world amounts to merely as much as the soil under a fingernail, while the Dharma he did not teach is as abundant as the soil of the great earth. We must study and cultivate all dharmas, realize them all, and know the truth of all facts. And this truth of facts cannot be obtained by relying on a person; it must be personally realized.

This passage from the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra also carries another important meaning. The text says that the four afflictions—self-view, self-love, self-conceit, and ignorance—operate constantly, whether one is in meditative concentration or not. Although they operate constantly, they do not contradict the eleven wholesome mental factors. This means that the manas possesses afflictive mental factors while at the same time also having wholesome mental factors present and operating; the two do not conflict. Here the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra states that the manas is associated with the eleven wholesome mental factors, whereas some Bodhisattva treatises say that the manas is not associated with wholesome mental factors. The two treatises contradict each other, and of course the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra by Bodhisattva Maitreya should be taken as authoritative.