The Imputed Nature, the Dependent Nature, and the Consummate Nature

The first seven consciousnesses are the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga), the conscious mind that can perceive the six sense objects; they are the perceiver. The object-aspect (nimitta) is the six sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—which are the objects of perception, and also the perceived. The seventh consciousness is the manas, the self-grasping consciousness; it grasps the five aggregates as self or as belonging to self, grasps the eighteen realms as self or as belonging to self, grasps the perceiving-aspect of the first six consciousnesses as self or as belonging to self, and grasps the functions of the eighth consciousness as self or as belonging to self. Whatever it perceives, it grasps; it is the consciousness of universal imputation and grasping, abbreviated as the imputed-grasping consciousness (parikalpita). The first six consciousnesses are of dependent-arising nature (paratantra-svabhāva); they arise depending on the six faculties contacting the six sense objects, and arise depending on the tathāgatagarbha; once they arise, they discriminate the six sense objects.

The manas grasps the discriminating minds of the six consciousnesses as self or as its own functions, and grasps the six sense objects as self or as its own marks. When the manas does not grasp or does not care, even though the six faculties and six sense objects make contact, no conscious mind is produced, and there is no conscious mind to discriminate; or the discrimination by the conscious mind is extremely slight—merely knowing and that is the end of it, without proceeding further. This is the state of no-mind: looking as if one had not seen, hearing as if one had not heard, smelling as if one had not smelled, with no particular feeling toward the six sense objects—for example, when eating without tasting the flavor, because the mind is not on the things one is contacting.

The manas's wisdom for concretely discerning the realms of the six sense objects is rather inferior, and its capacity for discrimination is weak; it mainly relies on the first six consciousnesses to discriminate, and then the results are reported back to it, and it takes countermeasures and actions according to the results of the six consciousnesses' discrimination. If it wants to do something, it must have the first six consciousnesses do it; it can do nothing itself, acting like a chief executive who directs and issues commands, and the first six consciousnesses must then carry them out.

The tathāgatagarbha, on the other hand, is like the president, monitoring all the mental activities and actions of the first seven consciousnesses. The seeds of the seven consciousnesses all come from it, the seeds of the six sense objects all come from it, and all the karmic seeds of wholesome and unwholesome actions come from it. It is like a great storehouse, storing everything that sentient beings need to use, and also storing the seeds for sentient beings to become Buddhas; hence it is called the tathāgatagarbha. This is a general name that can be used from ordinary beings up to the Buddha stage; according to the different levels and stages of sentient beings' cultivation, different names are respectively given, but it is all one mind-substance.

The nature of the tathāgatagarbha is the perfectly accomplished real nature (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva); it can perfectly accomplish all dharmas. Everything of bodily, verbal, and mental actions is accomplished by it; all activities of the five aggregates are accomplished by it; all causes, conditions, and karmic retributions are accomplished by it; the establishment of the world is accomplished by it. What is meant by "perfect" is that it never violates cause and effect; it faithfully fulfills the law of cause and effect, without mistakenly or chaotically accomplishing a single dharma.

When it actualizes cause and effect, it is not subject to command or restriction, and it has no assertions or volition of its own; it does not act as a master—it is a mind that completely accords with conditions. Before sentient beings become Buddhas, there is ignorance and defilement within their tathāgatagarbha; this ignorance and defilement are all karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses, while the tathāgatagarbha itself has no ignorance or defilement. When the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses is extinguished and they have all been transformed into wisdom-consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha can then be called the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), the great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna), suchness (tathatā), and the pure white consciousness.