華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 1.59

1.59

Seventh, regarding antidotes, cessation and non-cessation: The Liang translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "When the four virtues are perfected, the fundamental consciousness is completely extinguished." Now, regarding cessation, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: "Only the marks of the mind cease; the substance of the mind does not cease." The interpretation says: The marks of the mind are empty, therefore nothing ceases; this is called cessation. Thus the Daśabhūmika-śāstra says: "How does it cease? Like space, in this way it ceases." Question: At what stage do the marks of the ālaya end? Answer: They end at the first bhūmi. Why? The Daśabhūmika-śāstra says: "The transformation of the support across the ten bhūmis is because it relies upon the permanent body, not like the knowledge of the impermanent mental consciousness which relies upon impermanent conditioned phenomena." Relying on this textual proof, one relinquishes the ālayavijñāna at the first bhūmi. If we rely on the initial teaching, one relinquishes the ālayavijñāna at the final mind of the tenth bhūmi. Why? Because across the tenth bhūmi all hindrances are suddenly extinguished. Question: What is taken as the beginning of the ālaya? Answer: A single thought of ignorance arising directly before one is the beginning of the ālaya. How is this known? The Prakaraṇāryavācā says: "Beginningless conceptual proliferation and the latent tendencies of ignorance serve as the primary cause." Furthermore, the Awakening of Faith says: "A single thought of ignorance is non-enlightenment; enlightenment is non-movement." Movement entails suffering; the result is not separate from the cause; the ripening of the ālaya serves as that result; hence it is its beginning.