宗鏡錄 73.27

73.27

答。唯第八識。是諸異熟之根本。若無此識。生死不成。由前七轉識有間斷。非主故。此識亦名執持識。能執持種子根身。初一念。有執趣結生相續義。即是界趣生義。此執趣結生。不通果位。八地已上。不通執趣結生也。今但取執持種子根身義。故名執持義。此通一切位。此是生位。最初攬胎成體。乃至死時。前諸識悉皆惛昧遷謝。唯異熟識。最後執受身分。捨執受處。冷觸便生。壽煖識三不相離故。冷觸起時。即是非情。雖變亦緣。而不執受故。由此為凡為聖。常作所依。捨生趣生。恒為其主。

Answer: Only the eighth consciousness is the root of all ripenings. If this consciousness did not exist, birth-and-death could not be established, because the preceding seven evolving consciousnesses have interruptions and are not primary. This consciousness is also named the 'appropriating consciousness' (ādānavijñāna), as it is able to hold and maintain the seeds and the sense-facultied physical body. In the first moment, it has the sense of grasping rebirth and connecting lives in succession—that is, the sense of realms, destinies, and modes of birth. This grasping rebirth and connecting lives does not extend to the fruit stage; from the eighth bhūmi upward, grasping rebirth and connecting lives no longer applies. Here we only take the sense of holding and maintaining the seeds and the sense-facultied physical body, hence it is named the meaning of 'holding and maintaining'. This extends to all stages. This is the stage of birth: initially grasping the womb to form a physical body, up until the time of death, when all the preceding consciousnesses become darkened and pass away; only the ripening consciousness is the last to hold and appropriate the physical parts of the body. Where it relinquishes its appropriation, cold touch immediately arises, because lifespan, warmth, and consciousness are inseparable. When cold touch arises, it is insentient matter; although it is transformed and also perceived, it is no longer appropriated. Therefore, for ordinary beings and noble ones alike, it constantly acts as the basis, and in relinquishing a birth and proceeding to a birth, it is ever the master.