宗鏡錄 52.4

52.4

Answer: The term 'self' denotes the meaning of autonomy and the meaning of being the master of all things, serving as the support for all dharmas. Caittas are not like this and cannot be the self, because only the king of mind is the support. This seventh consciousness constantly grasps it as an inner self; because it is not form and the like, it is not grasped as an outer self. If it takes only the consciousness as object, then it only gives rise to [the idea of] self, and there is no 'what belongs to a self'. Owing to the momentum of the expression 'self', the treatise speaks the words 'what belongs to a self'; it is not that, separate from the self, an additional grasping of what belongs to a self arises. It solely grasps the eighth [consciousness] as the 'self of the self'. The former self of the five aggregates as a provisional entity is the self taken as object by the sixth [consciousness]; the latter self is what is reckoned by the seventh. Or, the former self is the preceding thought-moment and the latter self is the succeeding thought-moment—both being reckoned by the seventh. Or, it is reckoned in a single thought-moment: this very one is [the self]—this is reckoned solely by the seventh. Or, the former is the substance and the latter is the function of the consciousness. Upon a single self-view, it is also doctrinally spoken of with the two expressions 'self' and 'what belongs to it'; in reality there is only one self-view. As for 'in many places it is only said that there is self-view': the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra states: 'Because of this manas, self-view, conceit, and so forth are constantly associated together.' The Prakaraṇāryavācāśāstra states: 'Because of this mental faculty (manendriya), it is constantly associated with self-view, self-conceit, and so forth.' As for 'because the graspings of self and what belongs to a self do not arise together': their mental modes (ākāra) and cognitive objects are both distinct; therefore they cannot arise simultaneously, for there is no such state of affairs. If it is in the stage where the basis has already been transformed, with wholesome mental states and so forth, it is permissible; however, because they are not grasping, this cannot serve as a parallel. In the two graspings of person and dharma, their object is one. If one has not yet aroused the antidote to sever its grasping of a self, this is called the state prior to the transformation of the basis, wherein it takes only the ālayavijñāna as object. From the first bhūmi onward, once the basis has been transformed and one enters the uncontaminated mind, it also takes tathatā and all other dharmas as objects. The non-learners and others of the two vehicles take only the maturation consciousness (vipākavijñāna) as object. As for 'realizing the ten kinds of equality': the Buddhabhūmisūtra states: 'First, sovereign delight and affection for all marks; second, experiencing the dependent origination of all things; third, being far removed from distinct marks and non-marks; fourth, vastly rescuing with great loving-kindness; fifth, great compassion that is non-dependent; sixth, manifesting according to what sentient beings delight in; seventh, the teachings of self-love for all sentient beings; eighth, the world and tranquility being entirely of one single taste; ninth, the worldly dharmas of suffering and pleasure being of one single taste; tenth, the ultimate culmination of cultivating and planting immeasurable merits.' That is, one knows the distinct inclinations and cognitive understandings of sentient beings in the ten bhūmis, and can give rise to the image of the enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya). The treatise states: 'In the stage prior to the transformation of the basis, it constantly and closely cogitates upon the characteristic of the grasped self; in the stage after the basis has been transformed, it also closely cogitates upon the characteristic of non-self.' This is because the seventh, manas, takes cogitation as its own nature. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha states: 'Cogitation is manas'—that is, the svasaṃvittibhāga. The discernment of the previous eighth consciousness is its mental mode (ākāra). Now, since it is called manas, we know that this is precisely the mental mode of the seventh, which is the darśanabhāga. Its essential nature is difficult to know, so it is made apparent through its mental mode. In reality, cogitation is merely its mental mode, while its substance is subsumed under the consciousness aggregate. Prior to the first bhūmi, the learners of the two vehicles constantly and closely cogitate upon the characteristic of a self, knowing it to be the contaminated manas; in the stage after the basis has been transformed, because it also closely cogitates upon the characteristic of non-self, it is likewise named manas.