華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 1.62

1.62

Tenth, reduction to the ultimate nature of non-nature: This gate of consciousness-only subsumes all phenomena into consciousness-only. Either there are only three consciousnesses, or only one consciousness—the so-called fundamental consciousness—or only eight consciousnesses, or only nine consciousnesses, or only eleven consciousnesses, or only four consciousnesses. This is the consciousness-only of the Triyāna; this is said based on the shared teaching. Or there are only ten consciousnesses, up to manifold kinds; this is the consciousness-only of the Ekayāna; this is said based on the distinct teaching. In general, consciousness-only has two kinds: first, consciousness-only of understanding; second, consciousness-only of practice. As with consciousness-only of the mental consciousness, the first accords with practice, and the second accords with understanding; with consciousness-only of the fundamental consciousness, the first accords with understanding, and the second accords with practice, as explained extensively in the commentary. One should know that according to the gate of consciousness-only, there are no distinct phenomena outside of consciousness. Furthermore, relying on the treatise text, knowing that external objects do not exist is penetrating the true; knowing that there is only consciousness is penetrating the conventional. It is clear that knowing consciousness is not the true. Thus the treatise says: "Manifestly realizing the first bhūmi, one clearly attains consciousness-only." If one knows consciousness-only, it is still an objective realm, and not yet the true reality. Therefore, the Laṅkāvatāra says: "The mind is like an actor; thought is like the clown; the five consciousnesses are their companions; and false conceptualization is the audience watching the play." Relying on this sūtra text, although one knows it is consciousness, one still cannot escape conceptual proliferation. Furthermore, the Treatise on Buddha-Nature says: "All falsity is like the son of a barren woman bathing in mirage-water, clad in a robe of tortoise hair, wearing shoes of hare's horns, donning a crown of sky-flowers, entering a gandharva city, and sporting with illusory maidens." The meaning is that merely giving rise to mind and seeing phenomena are completely non-existent. As illustrated above, one should know that the principle revealed by the holy teaching is that all phenomena are non-existent, and only the true suchness of the real nature of non-self is taken as ultimate. This is the meaning of the Triyāna. When such phenomena are subsumed by the inexhaustible teaching, that is the ultimate, exhaustive principle of the Ekayāna.