八識規矩補註 2.29

2.29

Because the Hīnayāna does not understand that this consciousness exists, the Mahāyāna masters of treatises cited three sūtras and four verses, as well as five teachings and ten lines of reasoning, to prove its existence. The Abhidharma-sūtra, the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra, and the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra are three Mahāyāna sūtras that are not mutually accepted. The Āgama of the Mahāsāṃghika, the Vibhajyavāda [texts] of the Sthaviravāda, and the Ekottara-āgama of the Mahīśāsaka and the Sarvāstivāda—these four Hīnayāna [teachings] are mutually accepted. Therefore the verse on the ten proofs states: "The mind that holds seeds and is maturation; / the realms and births, possessing appropriated [faculties], consciousness; / birth-and-death, conditioning, depending on food; / the mind of the cessation attainment, defilement and purity." / This verse fully encompasses ten meanings. The Mahāyānābhidharma-sūtra says: "The element from beginningless time / is the equal support of all phenomena; / because of it, there are all destinies / and the realization of nirvāṇa." / The intrinsic nature of this eighth consciousness in the verse is subtle, so it is displayed by means of its functions: the first half shows the function of the eighth consciousness as cause and condition; the second half shows its function of serving as a basis for transmigration and cessation. Now, "element" (dhātu) means cause, which is to say that the seed consciousness has continuously succeeded itself from beginningless time to directly produce all phenomena; "support" means condition, which is to say that the grasping-and-holding consciousness from beginningless time serves as a basis for all phenomena, meaning that it can hold all seeds, thus serving as that upon which active phenomena depend. This proves the "mind that holds seeds." "Because of it, there are all destinies": because this eighth consciousness exists, it holds all phenomena conducive to transmigration, causing all sentient beings to transmigrate through birth-and-death. Although afflictions, karma, and phenomena are all transmigration, because destinies are the superior fruit, they are specifically spoken of; or the phrase "all destinies" applies across both that which can [transmigrate] and that which is [transmigrated]. This is its function of serving as a basis for transmigration. "And the realization of nirvāṇa" means: because this consciousness exists, it holds all phenomena conducive to cessation, causing practitioners to realize nirvāṇa. This either speaks only of that which can realize, since attaining the path and nirvāṇa does not exist in dependence upon this consciousness; or it speaks of that which is realized, as it is what practitioners truly seek; or both are spoken of together, because both are subsumed within the category of cessation. The words of the second half of the verse indicate that even uncontaminated phenomena are also manifested in dependence on this eighth [consciousness]. That sūtra also speaks in verse: "Because it stores all phenomena / and is the consciousness of all seeds, / it is therefore called the ālaya; / to the superior ones I have revealed it." / This means that this fundamental consciousness is endowed with all seeds; therefore it can store all defiled phenomena, and based on this the name ālaya is established. From beginningless time until the Immovable Ground when self-grasping is absent, this consciousness is called ālaya, translated as "storehouse consciousness"; thus it is named according to its function. The Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra states: "The ādānavijñāna is profoundly deep and subtle, / all its seeds are like a torrential flow; / I do not reveal it to the foolish and ignorant, / fearing they would discriminate and grasp it as a self." / Ādāna is rendered in Tang Chinese as "holding and maintaining" (zhichi), which is the eighth consciousness, in the sense of its being able to hold seeds, the physical body, and the vessel world at their initial arising. Because this consciousness is able to hold the seeds of all phenomena so that they are not lost, able to appropriate the physical sense faculties and their bases, and also able to seize rebirth in continuous succession, the name is established by being endowed with these three meanings. Those of no [Buddha-]nature cannot plumb its depth, so it is called "profoundly deep"; those inclined toward quiescence cannot penetrate it, so it is called "subtle." It is the real seed-condition of all phenomena; struck by conditions, it immediately gives rise [to them]. The waves of the evolving consciousnesses are continuously uninterrupted; thus it is called "like a torrential flow." Fearing that those foolish and ignorant would discriminate and cling to it, falling into the evil destinies and obstructing the arising of the noble path, our World-Honoured One did not reveal it to them; it was only revealed to the Mahāyāna bodhisattvas. This verse also proves the meaning of holding seeds; it is not the case that the first six evolving consciousnesses have this meaning. Furthermore, the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra states: "Just as the ocean encountering a favorable wind / raises diverse waves / whose functioning rolls on in the present / without any interruption—(this is the metaphor)— / so too is the ocean of the storehouse consciousness: / struck by the wind of objects, / it constantly raises the waves of consciousnesses, / whose functioning rolls on in the present (this is the application to the Dharma)." / This verses the eighth; it is not that the evolving consciousnesses have this meaning. Since it speaks of the "ocean of the storehouse consciousness" and also says "it constantly raises the waves of consciousnesses," how could the first six arising-and-ceasing consciousnesses be equated with this? The above citations are four Mahāyāna verses that comprehensively explain the meaning of the "mind that holds seeds" in the verse of ten proofs. Furthermore, in the Āgama of the Mahāsāṃghika, it is referred to with esoteric intent as the fundamental consciousness (mūlavijñāna), because it is that upon which the evolving consciousnesses depend; again, in the sūtras and Vibhajyavāda of the Sthaviravāda, it is referred to with esoteric intent as the factor-of-existence consciousness (bhavaṅgavijñāna)—"existence" (bhava) means the three existences, and "factor" (aṅga) means cause—and only this eighth [consciousness] is constant and pervasive throughout the three realms as the cause of the three existences. Moreover, the Mahīśāsaka speak of the "aggregate lasting to the end of birth-and-death" (asaṃsārikaskandha), for apart from this eighth consciousness there is no other aggregate-phenomenon that extends to the boundary of birth-and-death without interruption; further, the Ekottara-āgama of the Sarvāstivāda also secretly speaks of it as the ālaya, speaking of "delighting in the ālaya" and so forth; because they speak of the name ālaya, it is definitively this eighth consciousness: in the four teachings of the Hīnayāna cited above, this eighth consciousness is clearly present. Why do they stubbornly cling to it being only the first six consciousnesses? Furthermore, the sūtra states that because it gathers and produces the seeds of defiled and pure phenomena, it is called "mind" (citta); if this consciousness did not exist, that mind holding seeds could not exist. This is because the various evolving consciousnesses have interruptions during the cessation attainment and the like; because their categories—faculties, objects, mental application, wholesomeness, and so forth—easily alter and arise; and because they are not firmly abiding, they are not perfumable and cannot hold seeds; only this eighth consciousness is uniform, constant, and uninterrupted, firmly abiding and perfumable like sesame flowers and the like. It corresponds to the meaning of "mind" spoken of in that sūtra; this also proves that the eighth is named "mind," matching the "mind that holds seeds" in the first line of the verse on the ten proofs. It also says that there is a maturation mind (vipākacitta) induced by wholesome and unwholesome karma; if this consciousness did not exist, that maturation mind could not exist, because only the true maturation mind requites the lead-karma pervasively and without interruption. That maturation mind is indeed the eighth consciousness; this word "mind" (xin) applies to the sense of the four characters "holding seeds and is maturation." The above has explained the meaning of the first line of the verse on the ten proofs.