大乘法苑義林章 3.13

3.13

Regarding identifying their essential nature: Fascicle 4 of the Cheng weishi lun briefly offers two explanations. First, Master Nanda and others say: they are solely seeds; there are no distinct manifest, clear-matter five faculties. This has four meanings: first, solely the seeds of the seeing portion of the five consciousnesses; second, solely the seeds of the image portion of the five dusts; third, taking the seeds of both the seeing and image portions, these three all being Master Nanda's interpretations; fourth, Bodhisattva Dharmapāla provisionally offers a rescue, saying: taking the sovereign karma seeds that induce the five consciousnesses is what is named the five faculties. Fascicle 4 of the Cheng weishi lun says: "The five consciousnesses, the eye and the rest, do not have distinct eyes and so forth as their co-arising supports, because the five faculties, the eye and the rest, are simply seeds." The verse in the Viṃśikā says: "Consciousness arises from its own seed / and evolves appearing as the semblance of an object; / to establish the internal and external bases, / the Buddha spoke of them as ten." It goes on to extensively cite a verse from the Ālambanaparīkṣā, saying: "The meaning of that verse is: the capacity for matter, which is the seed on the maturation consciousness that can generate the matter-consciousnesses such as the eye, is called the five faculties; there are no distinct eyes and so forth. The seed and the matter-consciousness are perpetually causes for each other, because the perfume and the seed alternately act as cause." Furthermore, it says: "There are those who, seeking to avoid the errors previously stated, align with that view and offer another rescue, saying: the sovereign karma seeds in the maturation consciousness that can induce the five consciousnesses are named the five material faculties; they are not the seeds acting as cause and condition that generate the five consciousnesses." Second, the orthodox view of Dharmapāla and others is that there is distinctly manifest clear matter serving as their five faculties. Hence the Cheng weishi lun says: "The co-arising supports of the five consciousnesses are definitely of four kinds, namely the five material faculties, and the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses; for if any one of them is lacking, [the consciousness] will certainly not function." The Abhidharmasamuccaya and others say: "What is the eye faculty? It is clear matter derived from the four primary elements, which serves as the support of the eye consciousness, as its essence; and so on up to the body faculty, which takes clear matter serving as the support of the body consciousness as its essence." The Cheng weishi lun says: "Here we speak provisionally of the uncommon support." The Abhidharmasamuccaya also says: "The eye element refers to the eye that has previously or presently seen visible matter, and its seeds accumulated in the maturation ālaya consciousness; that is, taking both the manifest and the seeds together is called the eye element. The other four elements are also like this." Question: What is the difference in meaning between the eye element and the eye faculty? Why does the faculty take only the manifest and not speak of seeds? Answer: Maintaining and causing are called 'element', so seeds are also named 'element'. Sovereign power is named 'faculty', so seeds are not subsumed under 'faculty'. Question: If the manifest faculty increases the manifest consciousness, and manifest matter obtains the name 'faculty', then since the seed of the faculty increases the seed of the consciousness, it should likewise be subsumed under the manifest faculty. The Abhidharmasamuccaya says: "Because from the seed of the faculty the manifest faculty is generated, only then does the seed of the consciousness generate the manifest consciousness." Answer: Being derived from the primary elements, its functional capacity is sovereign; thus the manifest obtains the name 'faculty'. Seeds are not derived from the primary elements, and their function is not sovereign; therefore, they are not subsumed under 'faculty'. Question: The manifest eye arises based on the primary elements, and being an eye it is also called a faculty. The primary elements are also the support for the seed of the faculty; why is the eye seed not subsumed under faculty? Answer: This is said according to the evident characteristics, where seeds are not faculties. Based on principle and relying on the texts, seeds are also subsumed under faculties. Hence the Viniścaya says: "The five faculties, the eye and the rest, apply to both the manifest and seeds."