The Smṛti Mental Factor 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 hand, 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 those karmic seeds, it 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, as it transforms and creates a little, the mind can remember how much it has transformed and created and what it has created, and it also deliberates on how to continue transforming and creating in the next step, when to create what, how many seeds of the four great elements to use, and what the proportional structure should be — the mind has it all accounted for. And having it accounted for in the mind is precisely the mental factor of mindfulness; it simply cannot be articulated, being merely not as eloquent as the mind consciousness. As for the dharmas that the eighth consciousness is upholding and transforming but has not yet finished creating, He remembers when to continue creating them, when to create what, and in what location to create them — the eighth consciousness deliberates on all of this, and the mind has it all accounted for. He has these thoughts of mindfulness; all dharmas are brought forth by the mindfulness of 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 samādhi, with no time when he is not in samādhi," the great samādhi of the Śūraṅgama, the vajra jewel samādhi, and so forth — all of these speak of the samādhi of the eighth consciousness, which is extremely solid and firm, with neither exiting nor entering. No dharma can destroy the samādhi of the eighth consciousness, and no dharma can cause the eighth consciousness to exit samādhi, nor can any dharma make the eighth consciousness scattered, dull, or agitated. No worldly samādhi comes even close to one ten-thousandth of the samādhi of the eighth consciousness. If the eighth consciousness intends to actualize wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds and to actualize causes, conditions, and their retributions, no dharma can stop Him. He is not subject to coercion or enticement: "The eight winds cannot move him; he sits upright upon the purple-gold lotus." Among all dharmas, worldly and world-transcending, the eighth consciousness does not cling or seek; He touches none of any benefits, does not even wish to become a Buddha, has no desires and no 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 that can reach the farther shore of birth and death, the great wisdom that can avoid being immersed in birth and death and be liberated from all dharmas, the great wisdom that can discern all dharmas and create all dharmas. The wisdom with which the eighth consciousness truly discerns karmic seeds, and the wisdom by which, in accordance with karmic seeds, it transmits the six great elements to transform and create all dharmas bit by bit or rapidly — even if the sixth and seventh consciousnesses were to become Buddhas, they would still fall far short of it. The great wisdom with which the eighth consciousness truly knows all states — the sixth and seventh consciousnesses can never match it under any circumstances. The wisdom of a Buddha's sixth and seventh consciousnesses may be able to deliberate to the utmost, yet it still cannot compare with the wisdom of the eighth consciousness.