The Mental Factor of Mindfulness (smṛti) of the Eighth Consciousness

The eighth consciousness also has the mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti). For example, while in the mother's womb, the eighth consciousness, on the one hand, discerns karmic seeds, and on the other, outputs the seeds of the four great elements to transform and generate the fetus's material body. Having discerned the karmic seeds, the mind can remember them, and according to the karmic seeds, outputs the corresponding seeds of the four great elements onto the material body. When the eighth consciousness transforms and generates the ears and other organs, with each bit it transforms and creates, it can remember how much it has transformed and created, and it contemplates how to continue transforming and creating in the next step, when to transform and create what, how many seeds of the four great elements to use, and what the proportions and structure should be—all of this is clear in its mind. And this clarity in mind is precisely the mental factor of mindfulness; it is just that it cannot be poured out and expressed, being not as articulate as the mind consciousness. As for the dharmas that the eighth consciousness is currently upholding and transforming and creating, if the transformation and creation is not yet complete, it will remember when to continue the transformation and creation, when to transform and create what, and in what place to transform and create it—the eighth consciousness contemplates all of this, and it is clear in its mind. It has these thoughts of mindfulness; all dharmas are recited forth by the eighth consciousness, just as the Sixth Patriarch said: 真如无念无不念。

The eighth consciousness also has the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi). "The nāga is always in concentration; there is no time when it is not in concentration," the great Śūraṅgama-samādhi, the vajra jewel samādhi, and so forth—all of these refer to the samādhi of the eighth consciousness, which is extremely firm, with neither emerging nor entering. No dharma can destroy the eighth consciousness's samādhi, and no dharma can compel the eighth consciousness to emerge from samādhi, nor can any dharma make the eighth consciousness's mind scattered, torpid, or restless. No worldly samādhi comes anywhere near even one ten-thousandth of the eighth consciousness's samādhi. If the eighth consciousness intends to actualize wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds, to actualize causes, conditions, and their retributions, no dharma can stop Him; He is not subject to coercion or enticement—unmoved by the eight winds, seated upright upon a purple-gold lotus. Among all dharmas worldly and world-transcending, the eighth consciousness does not cling to any, does not pursue any, touches none of any benefit, and does not even wish to become a Buddha—without desire and without seeking, His power of concentration is like a vajra.

The eighth consciousness also has the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā). The wisdom of the eighth consciousness is called prajñāpāramitā, the great wisdom capable of reaching the farther shore of birth and death, the great wisdom capable of not being immersed in birth and death and of being liberated from all dharmas, the great wisdom capable of discerning all dharmas and creating all dharmas. The eighth consciousness's wisdom of discerning karmic seeds as they truly are, and its wisdom of transporting the six great seeds to transform and create all dharmas bit by bit or swiftly—even if the sixth and seventh consciousnesses attained buddhahood, they would still fall far short of it. As for the eighth consciousness's great wisdom of knowing all states as they truly are, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses can in no way match it. The wisdom of the Buddha's sixth and seventh consciousnesses may perhaps be able to deliberate upon it exhaustively, yet it still cannot compare with the wisdom of the eighth consciousness.