Why Do All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Not Receive Negative Perfuming?

If sentient beings, living in the world, can still be influenced and defiled when encountering adverse conditions, giving rise to afflictions, this shows that the manas of sentient beings is conjoined with afflictions and has not eliminated them; hence, upon encountering conditions, they become defiled, and upon encountering conditions, unwholesome karma manifests. The Buddhas, through their cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, have long since eliminated all afflictive defilements such as greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views, as well as all afflictive habit energies, with no residual habits remaining. When they come to this evil world of the five turbidities and come into contact with sentient beings full of afflictions, they are not affected in the slightest by the defilement and contamination of sentient beings' afflictions; their minds remain forever pure and undefiled, because the Buddha eliminated afflictions from the first bhūmi onward, and His mind has already been free of defilement—only the habit energies of afflictions had not yet been fully eliminated. The afflictions eliminated from the first bhūmi onward are those eliminated in both the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; because the seventh consciousness eliminated afflictions, the consciousnesses were transformed into wisdom, and He attained the wisdom of equality, perceiving all dharmas as equal and nondual, without distinction between self and others. Therefore He has no selfish mind, and treats people and affairs with equanimity.

Because the seventh consciousness, the manas, has eliminated afflictions, no matter where it is reborn in later lives, the manas has no afflictions and is not subject to defiling influence. However, when the habit energies of afflictions have not been eliminated, those habit energies may occasionally manifest—this is unavoidable—and the mind consciousness may occasionally be influenced by the environment. Although the mind consciousness may be influenced and display some afflictions, these are quickly eliminated; they do not persist or become entrenched, nor do they influence and contaminate the manas. Because the manas is not subject to defiling influence and itself no longer has afflictions, the afflictions of the mind consciousness are easily eliminated; otherwise, with the mind consciousness controlled by the manas, afflictions would not be easy to eliminate. For bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above, the mind consciousness is no longer subject to defiling influence and does not manifest afflictions; the Buddhas' mind consciousness, even more, is not tainted by the slightest defilement—neither afflictions nor habit energies appear. Seeing forms, they are not greedy; seeing wealth, they are not attached; they do not seek power or status; they are neither hateful nor angry, neither vexed nor agitated; their minds are soft and harmonious, tranquil and ever more tranquil.

The sixth and seventh consciousnesses of ordinary sentient beings, however, possess all afflictions: upon encountering conditions they are defiled, and they almost always comply with their environment, having little resistance to it. Seeing forms, they crave; seeing wealth, they covet; they delight in power and pursue fame and profit. When adverse conditions arise, hatred and anger constantly follow their minds, and their selfishness and self-centeredness are extremely heavy. From this it can be seen that the manas of ordinary sentient beings possesses all afflictions—greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views—and since the mind consciousness follows the manas, afflictions also frequently arise; when encountering defiling conditions, the mind consciousness is easily influenced. Because the manas connects the past, present, and future three lives, and because it possesses all afflictions, the cycle of birth and death continues without end; in the antarā-bhava and at birth in later lives, all afflictions are already present, no different from the previous life, with afflictions life after life without cease.

However, apart from the afflictions of self-view, self-grasping, self-conceit, and self-delusion, which constantly accompany the manas in its ceaseless operation without pause, the other afflictions do not constantly accompany the manas in its operation; rather, they only manifest when conditions are encountered, creating unwholesome karma and leaving behind karmic seeds, thereby perpetuating the birth-and-death cycle of future lives.