Śrāvakas Cannot Realize the True Self, the Eighth Consciousness

Faith is not the same as realization; having faith in the Buddha's words is not the same as realizing the Buddha's words. Having faith that the five aggregates are without self does not equal realizing that the five aggregates are without self; having faith that the eighth consciousness is the true self does not equal realizing that the eighth consciousness is the true self. Of course, faith also has levels: at the shallow level it is the faith of the mind consciousness, and at the deep level it is the faith of the manas. Even if the manas has faith, it still does not equal realization. The gap between faith and realization may be very large or very small, depending on who is doing the believing.

Because śrāvakas have faith in the Buddha's words, they know there is a true self, the undying eighth consciousness, but due to the limitations of their mental capacity they cannot realize it; once they do realize it, they become bodhisattvas who have seen the path of the Mahāyāna. A śrāvaka is not the same as a bodhisattva. If a śrāvaka makes the resolve not to enter nirvāṇa without remainder, he can be a bodhisattva of the common teaching (tongjiao), but not a bodhisattva of the separate teaching (biejiao); only after realizing the eighth consciousness does he become a bodhisattva of the separate teaching.

When śrāvakas hear the Buddha's words, they know at that moment that there is an eighth consciousness which is the true self, but they do not know anything more detailed. They have no actual contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the eighth consciousness; they do not know what the true relationship between the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness is, nor do they know how the eighth consciousness gives rise to and sustains the existence and functioning of the five aggregates.

After śrāvakas have faith in the Buddha's words, they engage in detailed and subtle contemplative practice in meditation on the impermanent, suffering, empty, and selfless nature of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms, and finally reach the conclusion that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are indeed suffering, empty, impermanent, and without self. In this way they eliminate the self-view that takes the five aggregates as self, attain purity of the Dharma eye, and gain an initial capacity for liberation and its benefits.

Because śrāvakas have never actually contemplated the eighth consciousness and lack the ability to do so, they cannot reach a definitive conclusion as to whether the five aggregates are realized to be the eighth consciousness or not the eighth consciousness. Only after Mahāyāna bodhisattvas realize the eighth consciousness can they, as they truly are, contemplate that the self of the five aggregates and eighteen realms is an illusory self subject to arising and ceasing, and is indeed not the eighth consciousness. Before that, it is all faith in the Buddha's words—believing that what the Buddha taught is true and real.

When bodhisattvas attain the patience with the non-arising of dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti) and the wisdom of the varieties of paths, they can gradually and truthfully observe that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are in fact the eighth consciousness, part of its functioning. They can directly observe how the eighth consciousness specifically projects forth seeds of consciousness and seeds of the four great elements, how it projects forth karmic seeds, forming the continuous functioning of the five aggregates and eighteen realms. Only then do they gradually realize that all dharmas are the eighth consciousness, that sentient beings already abide in the one true Dharma realm, and that all dharmas are the eighth consciousness, true suchness. Before that, it is all similar understanding, inference, speculation, imagination, and faith in the Buddha's words, and cannot be called realization.

Because śrāvakas have not actually contemplated the eighth consciousness and have not realized it, they cannot reach the conclusion that the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness are neither identical nor different. This definitive conclusion can only be reached by Mahāyāna bodhisattvas who have realized it. If a śrāvaka could reach this definitive conclusion, he would immediately become a Mahāyāna bodhisattva of true meaning, a bodhisattva of the separate teaching.

When śrāvakas, through contemplative practice and investigation, realize that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are empty, this emptiness does not refer to the empty nature (śūnyatā) of the eighth consciousness. Śrāvakas lack this wisdom and can only realize the kind of emptiness that is destruction and ruin—an emptiness that is not ultimate. Only Mahāyāna bodhisattvas can realize that the five aggregates are the empty nature of the eighth consciousness, contemplating the five aggregates in their entirety as the empty nature of the eighth consciousness. That would mean entering the bhūmis with the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only, with very, very deep contemplative wisdom and very, very deep meditative concentration.

Without actually realizing the eighth consciousness, one cannot observe directly whether the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness or not. Unable to observe the functioning of the eighth consciousness within the body of the five aggregates, one cannot discern whether the five aggregates and the eighth consciousness are different or not different. What is imagined does not equal realization; what is inferred does not equal realization; having faith in the Buddha's words and repeating the Buddha's words does not equal realization.

If one takes logical reasoning and inference as realization, then at the time of death the trouble will be very great. At that point one will discover that everything is not as one usually imagined and believed. No matter how frantically one scrambles then, it will be of no avail. What is most terrifying is that, because one no longer has faith in the principles one previously studied and accepted, a mind to slander the Buddha's Dharma will arise, and one will then proceed to the evil destinies. Even Mahāyāna bodhisattvas, whose main practice is the study of the Mahāyāna, if they have not realized the Mahāyāna Dharma, cannot truthfully observe what relationship the five aggregates actually have with the eighth consciousness, or how exactly the five aggregates are different or not different from the eighth consciousness. Reasoning cannot substitute for realization. Otherwise, worldly people with a bit of cleverness could all realize the eighth consciousness and all become Mahāyāna bodhisattvas—there would be no need to take refuge in the Three Jewels, no need to cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and all of the Buddha's preparatory practices would be useless.