宗鏡錄 48.9

48.9

Answer: They are mutually cause and result. A sūtra verse says:
'All dharmas are stored in consciousness,
And consciousness is likewise in dharmas;
They mutually constitute result-nature,
And also constantly constitute cause-nature.'
The Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: 'The ālayavijñāna and defiled dharmas are mutually cause and condition, like a wick producing a flame which successively produces burning, and like a bundle of reeds mutually supporting one another.' The commentary explains: '"All dharmas are stored in consciousness" means it is capable of storing them, serving as two conditions for the consciousnesses: first, serving as their seeds; second, serving as their basis. "Consciousness is likewise in dharmas" means it is what is stored; the evolving consciousnesses also serve as two conditions for the ālaya: first, nurturing those seeds in the present dharma; second, successively gathering and planting those seeds in future dharmas, because they mutually produce each other. The metaphors of the lamp wick and bundle of reeds raise the predominant condition (adhipatipratyaya) to illustrate the meaning of the cause-condition (hetupratyaya). Just as the lamp wick and flame successively produce the flame—the inner wick producing the flame is like seeds producing the actualized, and the inner flame burning the wick is like the actualized perfuming the seeds—and just as the bundle of reeds mutually supporting each other acts as simultaneous cause (sahabhūhetu), two dharmas are analogously revealed as a metaphor to illustrate the meaning of the cause-condition.'