[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt) › 50.11 # 宗鏡錄 50.11 English (machine translation) 50.11 - **Language:** English ### [50.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.50.11) Answer: Only the six consciousnesses are ceased, because the eighth consciousness sustains the body. A śāstra states: 'A sūtra says: "For one who abides in the cessation absorption, the bodily, verbal, and mental activities all cease without exception, yet life does not cease, nor does it depart from warmth; the faculties do not alter or deteriorate, and consciousness does not depart from the body." If this consciousness did not exist, the consciousness that does not depart from the body for one abiding in the cessation absorption could not exist. The modes of activity of the consciousnesses, eye and the rest, are coarse and agitated; when arising toward cognitive objects, they inevitably cause toil and worry. Loathing and detesting them, one temporarily seeks their cessation, gradually subduing and removing them until reaching the state where they are utterly ended. Abiding in the cessation absorption is established based on this state; therefore, in this absorption, those consciousnesses are all ceased. If one does not accept that there remains a subtle, uniform, constantly pervasive consciousness holding and sustaining lifespan and the rest, based on what could it be said that "consciousness does not depart from the body"? If it is said that later on that consciousness arises again, like an alternate-day fever, and is therefore called "not departing from the body", then it should not be said that mental activity has ceased, because consciousness and saṃjñā and so forth would arise and cease identically; lifespan, warmth, and the faculties would also be like consciousness, resulting in great error. Therefore, it must be granted that consciousness, like lifespan and warmth, truly does not depart from the body. Moreover, if in this state there were no consciousness at all, one would be like tiles and rubble, not counted among sentient beings; how could one be said to abide in the cessation absorption? Furthermore, if the maturational consciousness did not exist in this state, what could hold and sustain the faculties, lifespan, and warmth? Without being held and sustained, they would all disintegrate and perish like a corpse, and there would be no lifespan and so forth. In that case, the subsequent consciousness definitely would not arise again; to what would the statement "does not depart from the body" refer? When maturational consciousnesses abandon this body, apart from taking up another body, they cannot be reborn here. Furthermore, if in this state there were no seed-holding consciousness, the subsequent consciousness would lack seeds; how could it arise? Past and future non-concomitant dharmas are not real entities, as has already been fully proven. Material dharmas and so forth do not exist apart from consciousness; their receiving perfuming and holding seeds has also already been refuted. \[...\] States such as non-conception should be understood as analogous to this. Furthermore, that states such as the cessation absorption are termed "unconscious" does not necessarily mean entirely without citta. The Karmasiddhiśāstra says: "There are two kinds of citta: first, the accumulating-and-arising citta, because it is the locus where immeasurable seeds accumulate and arise; second, the various cittas, because they operate with distinctions in cognitive objects and modes of activity. States such as the cessation absorption lack the second citta and are called unconscious, just as a one-legged horse, lacking one leg, is also called legless."' - [Previous: 50.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.50.10) - [Next: 50.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.50.12) - [Up: 50](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.50) ## Linked texts (1) - [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.50.11) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.50.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.50.11) · Pramāṇa