宗鏡錄 54.11

54.11

Answer: If it were so, what fault would be entailed? Both entail faults. If the eighth does not first transform the Buddha's sound, and the two consciousnesses of ear and mind then condition the names, phrases, and syllables, then because the first six are inferior in the causal state, they cannot condition them directly, but must first depend on the transformation by the eighth. If the eighth does not first transform them, this would be apprehending dharmas outside the mind, and vijñaptimātra would not be established. If they take the nimittabhāga of their own eighth as substance to condition, then the nimittabhāga transformed by the sixth consciousness would lack names, phrases, and syllables; since there would be no names, phrases, or syllables, the mind could not produce understanding, because the eighth consciousness only transforms into the direct, unmediated sound of the Buddha's fundamental substance, and on this direct sound of the fundamental substance there are as yet no names, phrases, or syllables, because the eighth does not condition them. The answer to this is: in terms of actual principle, the sixth consciousness conditions the nimittabhāga of its own eighth as its object. That is, the sound of the Buddha's fundamental substance and the reflected sound transformed by one's own eighth combine into one sound. Since the World-Honoured One's fundamental sound already possesses names, phrases, syllables, and so forth, when the sixth consciousness conditions the sound of the eighth's nimittabhāga at its own ear sense-base, the three—names, phrases, and syllables—are not absent, because they exist on the Buddha's fundamental sound. For example, people in the world together look at a piece of writing on paper: if a person cannot read, they only see the black and white colors of the paper and ink, and cannot know the differences in meaning and principle; if a person can read, they see the black and white of paper and ink and can also know the differences in meaning and principle within them. Now, the ear consciousness and the eighth are like the illiterate person, while the sixth is like the literate person. Since the sixth conditions the real sound, it can also condition names, phrases, and syllables. Furthermore, sound is that on which they rely, and names, phrases, and syllables are that which rely; names, phrases, and syllables exist dependent on the real sound. Since the real sound exists, its names, phrases, and syllables naturally adhere to and exist on the sound; and because the manovijñāna has the capacity for discrimination, it naturally conditions them. Furthermore, hearing is inference (anumāna): when listening to and hearing the three—names, phrases, and syllables—one infers and generates understanding toward the mental factors (caitasikas). Only the sixth consciousness is endowed with inference. If it conditions names and referents, they are already within the mind.