大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 17.64

17.64

Regarding the Commentary's "However, it may be endowed with four conditions or eight conditions": this generally explains the meaning of hearing by combination in the Great and Lesser Vehicles. Above, "combination" meant only combining the sense-base and consciousness; here it takes being endowed with conditions, hence it says "four or eight." However, those four or eight are conditions that generate consciousness; if one considers the capacity to hear together with the generated consciousness, then there are five or nine, which is why the Commentary says "etc." As for "or four": this is the Lesser Vehicle, [namely] (1) space, (2) the sense-base, (3) the object, and (4) attention. Thus the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: "At that time the ear-base is not impaired, the sound is in a place where it can be heard, attention desires to hear, and when sentience, dust, and intention combine, ear-consciousness is born; following the birth of ear-consciousness, mental consciousness is born, and only then can it distinguish the various causes and conditions, and only then can sound be heard." Explanation: "sound is in a place where it can be heard" refers to space. The second is attention. "Sentience" is the sense-base; thus the Madhyamakaśāstra names the chapter on the six sense-bases the "Chapter on the Six Sentientes." The ancients said: "The sense-base containing the meaning of consciousness is designated as sentience." "Dust" is the object. "Intention" is the mental sense-base. Adding this makes five that generate ear-consciousness. As for "following the birth of ear-consciousness, mental consciousness is born," this is the simultaneous mental consciousness discriminating; it is not a condition. If it is in terms of discriminating the sound-dust, then the simultaneous mental consciousness is also a condition. "Through various causes and conditions it is able to hear" summarizes the above. As for the eight conditions, four are added on top of the previous four, namely: (1) space, (2) the sense-base, (3) the object, (4) attention, (5) the fundamental support, the eighth consciousness, (6) the defiled-pure support, the seventh consciousness, (7) the discriminating support, the sixth consciousness, and (8) seeds. The seed is the cause-condition support; all conditioned phenomena rely on this support, because apart from this cause-condition they are never born. The discriminating support is the sixth consciousness. The defiled-pure support is the seventh consciousness. The fundamental support is the eighth consciousness; "base" refers to the same-object support. Fascicle 4 of the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi says: "Because the co-arising supports of these five consciousnesses definitely number four, namely the five material bases and the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses; for lacking any one of them, [consciousness] definitely does not operate, because the same-object, discriminating, defiled-pure, and fundamental supports differ. As a verse says: 'Eye-consciousness arises from nine conditions, / ear-consciousness only from eight, / the three of nose, tongue, and body from seven, / the latter three from five, three, and four. / If one adds the immediately preceding [condition], / add one to each of the former.'" Explanation: as for the nine conditions of the eye, light is added, because there is no sight in darkness. For the ear, light is already excluded; for the seven, space is further excluded, because these three know in contact. "The latter three" refers to the sixth, seventh, and eighth. For the sixth consciousness, with five conditions, defiled-pure and discriminating are further excluded. The discriminating is the generated consciousness itself, while the defiled-pure is the supporting base. For the seventh consciousness there are either three or four; four means defiled-pure is excluded, because defiled-pure is the generated consciousness itself, and while in the previous six consciousnesses it was excluded in terms of being the base, here in this seventh it is [the consciousness itself]; the eighth is also excluded, because the eighth is general. As for three, the object is further excluded, because the object is the base itself. As for three [for the eighth], this refers to the eighth consciousness having only seeds, attention, and the sense-base; or four, adding the object. The various explanations above have been introduced as convenient points of elucidation.