The True Meaning of the Eighth Consciousness Giving Rise to All Dharmas

The eighth consciousness gives rise to all dharmas, and this "all dharmas" refers to all dharmas that a sentient being's own seven consciousnesses can cognize, contact, and see. All dharmas that a sentient being's own seven consciousnesses cannot cognize, cannot contact, and cannot see are not necessarily dharmas born of one's own eighth consciousness. However, as for all dharmas that one's own seven consciousnesses can cognize, contact, and see, there is not one that is not a dharma personally born and manifested-by-reliance (托显) by the sentient being's own eighth consciousness. If one's own eighth consciousness does not give rise to dharmas and does not manifest dharmas, then one's own seven consciousnesses cannot cognize or contact dharmas, much less see them, and thus cannot know of the existence of dharmas. 

Of all the dharmas that one's own seven consciousnesses can cognize, contact, and see, one part is born by one's own eighth consciousness using the seeds of the seven great elements within its own mind, and another part cannot be born by one's own eighth consciousness using the seeds of the seven great elements; rather, after other sentient beings' eighth consciousnesses have given birth to dharmas using the seeds within their own eighth consciousnesses, one's own eighth consciousness cognizes them and then manifests them by reliance, and only then can one's own seven consciousnesses cognize, contact, and see them. For example, when the seven consciousnesses see another person's five-aggregate body, that other person's five-aggregate body is born by that person's eighth consciousness using seeds; one's own eighth consciousness could not possibly give birth to it, but one's own eighth consciousness can cognize and contact it, and then present the other person's five-aggregate body, and thus one's own seven consciousnesses see the other person's five-aggregate body. 

All the dharmas that one's own seven consciousnesses can cognize, contact, and see include the five-aggregate bodies of other sentient beings who are distinct from oneself, as well as the receptacle-world of the three realms, including the true suchness dharma-nature realized when one possesses the wisdom of the varieties of paths, the operational characteristics (行相) of the eighth consciousness, the operational characteristics of the seven consciousnesses, the mental factors (caittas) of the eight consciousnesses, and of course also the mental factors and various mental activities of other sentient beings' eight consciousnesses. All of these dharmas, taken as a whole, include the direct object condition (ālambana-pratyaya) of the seven consciousnesses and the indirect object condition, including the dharmas personally born by the eighth consciousness using the seeds of the seven great elements, and the dharmas personally born by other sentient beings' eighth consciousnesses which the eighth consciousness merely illuminates and sees. That portion of dharmas personally born by other sentient beings' eighth consciousnesses is not dharma born by one's own eighth consciousness using the seeds of the seven great elements within its own substance, but rather dharmas indirectly manifested and manifested-by-reliance. 

In summary, when the eighth consciousness gives birth to all dharmas, there is a precondition for all these dharmas: they are dharmas connected with one's own eight consciousnesses; dharmas with no connection are not within the scope of all dharmas born by one's own eighth consciousness. The eighth consciousness is not a dharma that is born, so one's own eighth consciousness cannot give birth to one's own eighth consciousness, nor can it give birth to another person's eighth consciousness, or the mental factors and operational characteristics of another person's eighth consciousness; another person's eighth consciousness and its mental factors can only be dharmas manifested by one's own eighth consciousness, which can only be illuminated, seen, and manifested by reliance, but not born. The same is true of another person's five aggregates: they can only be illuminated, seen, and manifested by reliance, but not born. Only after one's own eighth consciousness has illuminated, seen, and manifested them by reliance can one's own seven consciousnesses cognize, contact, and see them, and what is seen is not dharma with real substance. Dharmas with real substance are the dharmas born by one's own eighth consciousness using the seeds of the seven great elements or the five great elements.