大乘起信論裂網疏 4.26

4.26

First, "the perfuming of the consciousness that discriminates phenomena" means that some adhere to the common teaching of the three vehicles, unaware of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses, and solely use the sixth mental consciousness to cultivate the contemplation of the emptiness of persons, destroying the delusions of view and thought to attain nirvāṇa; or they adhere to the gradual teaching of the Mahāyāna, and although they know of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses, yet because their [delusions of] view and thought are heavy and they fear birth and death, they first rely on the sixth consciousness to cultivate the contemplation of the emptiness of persons, and only sequentially cultivate the contemplation of the emptiness of phenomena, and so on—hence it says "according to their own capacity." However, while external ordinary and internal ordinary bodhisattvas certainly head toward bodhi, even those of the two vehicles will also certainly progress from the provisional into the real, and therefore it says comprehensively: "advance toward the unsurpassed path." Second, "the perfuming of the manas" means that either bodhisattvas of the gradual teaching enter the pure ground of the mind, transform the seventh consciousness so that it accords with the wisdom of equality, and naturally flow into the great ocean of nirvāṇa; or bodhisattvas of the sudden teaching from the very beginning contemplate that the stirring mind is itself non-arising and non-ceasing, immediately attaining entry into the aspect of tathatā—as it is said, being able to contemplate all false thoughts as signless is indeed the realization of the Tathāgata's wisdom. Although this mind that is able to contemplate is still the sixth mental consciousness, it takes fundamental ignorance directly as the object of contemplation; therefore it is called "perfuming of the manas."