八識規矩補註 1.18

1.18

此言小乘愚法聲聞，不知根之與識各有種子、現行，以為根、識互生也。根之種、現但能導識之種、現，謂根為生識之緣則可，謂生識則不可，以識自有能生之種子故。以其未除所知障，於法不了，乃智淺心麁，由是不信大乘唯識教也。此注言根、識之種、現各別，恐初學尚疑試更言之。蓋根乃色法，即第八之相分，識乃心法，即第八之見分，此色、心不同也。根雖屬色，以其為第八親相分故，獨具八之執、受二義。執，又有攝、持二義，以第八攝為自體（同是無記）持令不散；受，亦有領、覺二義，領以為境，令生覺受，非外六塵無情之物可比。故第八與五根同是無記性，五識心法三性皆具，此根、識之性不同也；又根能照境，識能緣境，此根、識之用不同也。大抵根無分別，前五識雖有隨念分別而無計度分別，故常混淆而難辨。故佛為愚心者開心說蘊，愚色者開色說處，俱愚者俱開說界。始《華嚴》至《楞嚴》，演此三科不知幾百千過，而阿難尚以心知眼見為言。故佛以門能見否詰之，意謂心以根而見，猶人以燈見物也。以此言之，則根、識之難分可知矣。

This says that the śrāvakas who are foolish regarding the Dharma in the Hīnayāna do not know that sense-base and consciousness each have their own seeds and actual states, and think that sense-base and consciousness mutually generate each other. The seeds and actual states of a sense-base can merely guide the seeds and actual states of consciousness; saying that the sense-base is a condition for generating consciousness is acceptable, but saying that it generates consciousness is not acceptable, because consciousness has its own seeds that are capable of generating it. Because they have not eliminated the cognitive hindrance and do not fully comprehend phenomena, their wisdom is shallow and their minds are coarse; consequently, they do not believe in the Mahāyāna teaching of vijñaptimātra. This note states that the seeds and actual states of sense-base and consciousness are distinct; fearing that beginners might still have doubts, let us try to explain it further. The sense-base is physical form, which is the nimittabhāga of the eighth [consciousness]; consciousness is mental phenomena, which is the darśanabhāga of the eighth [consciousness]; this is the difference between physical form and mind. Although the sense-base belongs to physical form, because it is the immediate nimittabhāga of the eighth, it uniquely possesses the two meanings of appropriating and experiencing of the eighth. 'Appropriating' again has the two meanings of gathering and holding: the eighth gathers it as its own substance (both being avyākṛta) and holds it so that it does not disperse. 'Experiencing' also has the two meanings of receiving and feeling: receiving it as an object and causing sensation and feeling to arise; it cannot be compared to the insentient objects of the external six dusts. Therefore, the eighth and the five sense-bases are equally avyākṛta in nature, whereas the mental phenomena of the five consciousnesses possess all three natures; this is the difference in nature between sense-base and consciousness. Moreover, the sense-base can illuminate an object, and consciousness can cognize an object; this is the difference in function between sense-base and consciousness. Generally, sense-bases lack discrimination; although the first five consciousnesses have recollection-discrimination, they lack deliberate discrimination, so they are often confused and difficult to distinguish. Therefore, for those foolish regarding the mind, the Buddha analyzed the mind and taught the aggregates; for those foolish regarding physical form, he analyzed physical form and taught the sense-fields; for those foolish regarding both, he analyzed both and taught the realms. From the *Avataṃsaka* to the *Śūraṅgama*, he expounded these three categories who knows how many hundreds of thousands of times, yet Ānanda still spoke of the mind knowing and the eye seeing. Therefore the Buddha interrogated him with whether a door can see or not, meaning that the mind sees by means of the sense-base, just as a person sees objects by means of a lamp. Speaking from this, one can know the difficulty of distinguishing consciousness from sense-base.