宗鏡錄 50.17

50.17

Answer: Although it is one consciousness, three are spoken of according to differences in meaning. The treatise says: "Three are spoken of according to differences in meaning, just like the four right exertions, and so forth." The commentary explains: "The material dharmas of the nimittabhāga of the ālayavijñāna obtained by the body-faculty are called warmth. The seeds of this consciousness are called lifespan, because they are able to sustain consciousness. The actively functioning consciousness is consciousness. Therefore they are called three dharmas, spoken of according to differences in meaning; it does not mean that they possess separate substances. Consequently, when the body relinquishes warmth, it does not necessarily relinquish the remaining two, as in birth in the formless realm. When the remaining two are relinquished, warmth is necessarily relinquished along with them. Yet now these three are spoken of distinctly according to meaning, but are only one single substance. Just as the four right exertions are spoken of as four substances according to the distinction in meaning of wholesome and unwholesome dharmas already arisen or not yet arisen, yet are only a single substance—just as with the wholesome and unwholesome dharmas already arisen or not yet arisen in the four right exertions, which are spoken of as four substances according to distinctions in meaning, yet are merely a single mental factor of virya."