人天眼目 4.23

4.23

This is sentient beings: they all possess the six consciousnesses. Adding an empty consciousness is named the seventh consciousness. When consciousness is unobtainable, it is named the eighth consciousness. It is also called the eight princes, the eight liberations, and the eight great persons. Altogether there are four times eight, thirty-two marks. This is the mark of fruition, the wisdom of causes, and the merit of retribution; it is also called the eight consciousnesses. The two consciousnesses, the seventh and the eighth, are not separated from each other; therefore they come as the vanguard and leave as the rearguard, down to reminiscing on the past, clinging to conditions in the present, and pondering the future. With the three subtle, six coarse, five consciousnesses, six defilements, and the seventh consciousness, they distinguish that and this, right and wrong. The eighth, the ālayavijñāna, is called white and pure; fundamentally it has no blemish, no Buddha and no sentient beings, no you and no me. An ancient worthy said: “The ālaya is white and pure, fundamentally without delusion; / when the three subtle aspects differentiate, the six coarse appear. (The explanation of the three subtle and six coarse is found below under the seventh, manas, of the four wisdoms in the Miscellaneous Records of the Lineage.) / Eighty-four thousand [defilements] are produced from this; / throughout the trichiliocosm’s sandy realms one becomes an ordinary person. / The dream-mind's fetters were fundamentally non-existent; / how could the diseased eye's sky-flowers truly be real? / In the turn of a palm, the ten virtues are accomplished; / just as before, in the Red River one retrieves the dark pearl.” The eighth consciousness is also called the storehouse consciousness. If one is an awakened person, the sixth and seventh are transformed in the causal stage, and the fifth and eighth are perfected in the fruitional rank. The sixth consciousness transforms into the wondrous observing wisdom; reflecting back upon the eighth consciousness, it becomes the immovable wisdom. Being empty, without inside or outside, it is called the great round mirror wisdom, which is of one essence. The wisdom of equality of nature is their comprehensive designation. With the wondrous observing wisdom, one gathers the preceding six sense faculties, six sense objects, six consciousnesses, eighteen realms, down to the eighty-four thousand defilements, and transforms them into the wisdom of accomplishing actions; all return to the great round mirror wisdom, which is of one essence. The fifth consciousness is the memory-retaining consciousness; it transforms into the wisdom of accomplishing actions. The wisdom of accomplishing actions transforms into the wondrous observing wisdom. The wondrous observing wisdom transforms into the wisdom of equality of nature. The wisdom of equality of nature transforms into the great round mirror wisdom; they are of one essence. As for the masters of the Characteristics school, if someone questions which consciousness transforms: the transformation takes place in that very consciousness (one version reads: “if someone questions which consciousness is able to transform”). According to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the Buddha instructed Mahāmati: in the beginning, middle, and end of the night, always with the wondrous observing wisdom purify the manifesting flow, and let consciousness transform the six faculties into the wisdom of accomplishing actions. Just as when a hand turns palm upward, one should not ask where the downturned hand is, and just as when ice becomes water there is no sudden difference, therefore it is said: “The defilements are identical to bodhi.” Relying on the Treatise on the Hundred Dharmas and the Treatise on Consciousness-Only, one should only grasp their meaning and not cling to words and phrases. The verse by the Great Master the Sixth Patriarch says: “The great round mirror wisdom’s nature is pure; / in the wisdom of equality of nature, the mind has no sickness. / The wondrous observing wisdom sees without effort; / the wisdom of accomplishing actions is identical to the round mirror. / Five and eight, six and seven, transform in fruition and cause; / it is only transforming their names, with no substantial nature. / If at the place of transformation one retains no affection, / in the midst of myriad activities one perpetually abides in the nāga samādhi.” (Six is wondrous, seven is equal, transforming on the causal ground; five accomplishes, eight is great, perfected in the fruit.)