Selected Lectures on the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra
Lecture on the Third Fascicle of the Cheng Weishi Lun (Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra)
Original text: 阿赖耶识为断为常。非断非常。以恒转故。恒。谓此识无始时来。一类相续常无间断。是界趣生施设本故。
Explanation: Is the Ālayavijñāna subject to cessation or is it permanent? The answer: it is neither ceasing nor permanent. Why is it said that the Ālayavijñāna is neither ceasing nor permanent? Because the Ālayavijñāna has its own consciousness seeds; after its own consciousness seeds are output, they form the continuous operation of the mind-body of the Ālayavijñāna. The Ālayavijñāna's own consciousness seeds are output moment by moment, arising, ceasing, and changing moment by moment; only then does the mind-body of the Ālayavijñāna exist and operate, and only then can the various functions of the Ālayavijñāna be formed. Even in the state of nirvāṇa without remainder of an arhat, the Ālayavijñāna's own consciousness seeds are still constantly being output and undergoing arising, ceasing, and change, forming an unextinguished Ālayavijñāna; only then can the mind-body operate and not perish.
Because the Ālayavijñāna has its own consciousness seeds arising and ceasing moment by moment, it is said that the Ālayavijñāna is not permanent. Although the consciousness seeds arise and cease moment by moment, the Ālayavijñāna thus formed has never been extinguished for even a single instant, which shows that it is also unceasing. The functions of the Ālayavijñāna exist constantly and will operate forever, forever manifesting the myriad dharmas of the world; therefore it is unceasing. The Ālayavijñāna's own seeds are always output moment by moment, arising and ceasing moment by moment, and the stored karmic seeds also constantly arise, cease, and change; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is also not permanent.
"Because it perpetually revolves" (以恒转故): because this Ālayavijñāna is forever operating, forever revolving, it has never stopped—not for a single instant. Because it is forever revolving and operating, it is said to be neither ceasing nor permanent. From the beginningless kalpas, when there was no beginning, the Ālayavijñāna has been operating and revolving, always existing, always functioning. Therefore it has always been continuous. The Ālayavijñāna is constantly without interruption; it is forever operating, and therefore it is called constant, because it has never perished; thus it is said to be constantly without interruption, never extinguished for even a single instant.
Therefore this Ālayavijñāna is the fundamental basis of us beings of the three realms—the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm—and of the beings of the six paths of rebirth, as well as of the four births of womb, egg, moisture, and transformation. It is the root of all sentient beings; because there is the Ālayavijñāna, there is the world of the three realms, there are the beings of the six paths, there are the four births of womb, egg, moisture, and transformation, and there are the Four Sages and Six Ordinary Beings. All sentient beings and all dharmas take the Ālayavijñāna as the fundamental basis of their establishment. Without the Ālayavijñāna there would be no world of the three realms, no world of the five aggregates of sentient beings, and no Four Sages and Six Ordinary Beings.
Original text: 性坚持种令不失故。转。谓此识无始时来。念念生灭前后变异。因灭果生。非常一故。可为转识熏成种故。
Explanation: The nature of the Ālayavijñāna firmly abides; it can hold seeds so that all seeds are not lost or corrupted. What does "nature firmly abiding" mean? The Ālayavijñāna is the vajra mind (vajra-citta) spoken of in the Diamond Sutra. This vajra mind never perishes; no person and no force whatsoever can destroy the Ālayavijñāna or demolish it. Why can it not be demolished? Because it does not correspond to any worldly dharma; therefore the perceiving minds of worldly sentient beings cannot destroy it, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of sentient beings cannot destroy it, the material forms of the world cannot destroy it, and all dharmas combined—material and mental—cannot destroy it; therefore its nature firmly abides. Moreover, because it is a mind-body originally unborn and unceasing, it has never perished for a single instant since beginningless kalpas, perpetually revolving and continuous, without beginning or end; therefore it cannot be demolished. And because it is without form and without mark, it cannot be destroyed. Its nature is extremely firm and hard, never lost or corrupted—this is what is meant by its indestructible vajra nature.
Holding all seeds: since the Ālayavijñāna is the indestructible vajra mind whose nature firmly abides, it can preserve and store all the karmic seeds of sentient beings, which will never disappear or perish. These seeds are not only the seeds of the seven great elements it inherently contains; mainly there are the karmic seeds created by sentient beings: including seeds of wholesome karma and unwholesome karma, as well as seeds of neutral (avyākṛta) karma that is neither wholesome nor unwholesome. All the karmic seeds of sentient beings are stored within the mind-body of the Ālayavijñāna; once stored there, unless the sentient being receives the corresponding retribution and the corresponding law of cause and effect is fulfilled, the seed will not be eliminated; otherwise it does not perish.
If this cause, condition, and retribution is not fulfilled, the seed will not be eliminated and will remain in the Ālayavijñāna. However, part of such a seed can be eliminated through repentance. For example, part can be eliminated by realizing emptiness (śūnyatā), by realizing the patience of non-arising and the patience of the non-arising of dharmas—but not all can be eliminated. Thus the Ālayavijñāna must be extremely solid, unable to disintegrate or perish, so that it can preserve the stored karmic seeds from being lost, disintegrating, or perishing.
"Transformation" (转) means that this consciousness, from beginningless time, arises and ceases thought after thought, changing from before to after. That is, this consciousness has always been operating, never stopping. The Ālayavijñāna, from beginningless time, arises and ceases thought after thought. What does "arising and ceasing thought after thought" mean? It means that the Ālayavijñāna itself also has consciousness seeds arising and ceasing moment by moment, thereby forming this unborn-and-unceasing Ālayavijñāna, ensuring that the Ālayavijñāna is never extinguished and operates forever. Saying "arising and ceasing thought after thought" also means that the karmic seeds of sentient beings stored in the Ālayavijñāna arise, cease, and change thought after thought—part disappearing, part being stored in. While the Ālayavijñāna is fulfilling the karmic results of sentient beings on one hand, it continues to store their new karmic seeds on the other, so that the karmic seeds constantly arise, cease, and change.
Therefore the karmic seeds of sentient beings also arise and cease thought after thought, changing from before to after. The Ālayavijñāna arises, ceases, and changes thought after thought—why? One reason is its own consciousness seeds; the other is the seeds of karma created by the seven consciousnesses arising, ceasing, and changing within it. When the Ālayavijñāna fulfills one karmic result of a sentient being, that result is one fewer; when new karma is created, more karmic results are added, so the karmic seeds constantly arise, cease, and change. Sentient beings differ in degrees of purity and defilement of mind. Thus seeds change from defiled to pure, and from pure to defiled, arising, ceasing, and changing thought after thought; this is how sentient beings transmigrate through birth and death. In one life they do good and ascend to heaven; in another they do evil and fall into evil paths, revolving endlessly in birth and death.
"The cause ceases, the result arises; because it is not permanent and not one." Because the seeds in the Ālayavijñāna are always arising, ceasing, and changing, once cause and effect are fulfilled the seeds are gone. When new karma is created, seeds are added again; the seeds in the Ālayavijñāna are always arising, ceasing, and changing, making the Ālayavijñāna arise and cease thought after thought and change from before to after, never remaining in its original state. Thus the Ālayavijñāna of a sentient being in this life, the Ālayavijñāna of the next life, the Ālayavijñāna after enlightenment, the Ālayavijñāna after entering the first bhūmi, and the Ālayavijñāna at different stages of realization all differ in content. Because the seeds within it arise, cease, and change—this phenomenon of arising-ceasing and change is precisely the ceasing of causes and arising of results in the seeds. The karmic seed is the cause: as soon as a karmic action is completed, it is stored in the Ālayavijñāna as a seed; the seed is a seed at the causal stage, and when conditions ripen in the future, it will produce a result.
When a certain seed is output and fulfills the karmic result of a sentient being, that is the arising of the result. Once the retribution is produced and the karmic result fulfilled, the cause of that seed ceases—this is called "the cause ceases, the result arises." The Ālayavijñāna is thus not eternally constant and uniform; it is always arising, ceasing, and changing. So for us Buddhist practitioners, the bodhisattvas who have seen the mind and seen the nature—their Ālayavijñāna is always changing, always becoming purer and purer; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is "not permanent, not one." It will not forever keep its original state; the defiled will not always be defiled, the pure will not always be pure, the karmically obstructed will not always be karmically obstructed; it will not remain forever defiled without becoming pure, and it will not be forever unchanging.
The Ālayavijñāna can be perfumed by the seven transforming consciousnesses. After the first seven transforming consciousnesses create karma, they store the seeds in the Ālayavijñāna, giving the Ālayavijñāna a characteristic of arising and ceasing. Thus the Ālayavijñāna can be perfumed and stained by the seven transforming consciousnesses; the seven transforming consciousnesses influence the Ālayavijñāna. Originally the Ālayavijñāna itself is the pure tathāgatagarbha, but when the defiled seeds of the seven transforming consciousnesses are stored into it, the Ālayavijñāna acquires this arising-ceasing characteristic of seeds arising, ceasing, and changing, of causes ceasing and results arising. It is perfumed by the seven transforming consciousnesses; after perfuming, these become karmic seeds stored in the mind-body.
Original text: 恒言遮断。转表非常。犹如暴流。因果法尔。如暴流水。非断非常。相续长时。有所漂溺。此识亦尔。从无始来。生灭相续。非常非断。漂溺有情。令不出离。
Explanation: "Constant" (恒) negates cessation. This "constant" means not extinguished, meaning "always so," never having been interrupted—that is "constant." "Transformation" (转) indicates non-permanence. This "transformation" means flowing and turning—flowing along with the seven transforming consciousnesses in the cycle of birth and death, fulfilling the causes, conditions, and retributions of sentient beings along with the seven transforming consciousnesses. Causes cease and results arise; the seeds stored within constantly arise, cease, and change; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is also not permanent. The Ālayavijñāna's own consciousness seeds arise, cease, and change without stop; the consciousness seeds of the produced seven consciousnesses also arise, cease, and change without stop; the karmic seeds also arise, cease, and change without stop—making the Ālayavijñāna as a whole constantly arising, ceasing, and changing. Although its own nature is pure and undefiled, the seeds it contains arise, cease, and change; therefore, overall, it is not permanent.
"Like a raging torrent; cause and effect are thus by nature." The Ālayavijñāna is like a raging torrent, carrying its seeds moment by moment, continuously flowing and turning, wave after wave surging forward, constantly fulfilling the various causes, conditions, and retributions of sentient beings. After the seven consciousnesses of sentient beings create karmic actions, the seeds are stored in the Ālayavijñāna; then when conditions ripen they are output again, fulfilling the karmic seeds. While the karmic seeds are being fulfilled, the seven consciousnesses of sentient beings create karma again; after creating karma, karmic seeds are stored again; after being stored, when conditions ripen they are output again, fulfilling cause and effect once more. Thus the causes and effects of sentient beings continue in succession, making the Ālayavijñāna, like a raging torrent, flow, operate, and function without cease, constantly arising, ceasing, and transforming—like a raging torrent that has never paused for a single instant.
The Ālayavijñāna is like a raging torrent—neither ceasing nor permanent. If it were ceasing: from beginningless kalpas it has been flowing and operating along with the seven consciousnesses, never extinguished for a single instant; even in nirvāṇa without remainder it is still operating, never resting for a single instant. If it were permanent: yet its own consciousness seeds arise, cease, and transform moment by moment without stop, and the karmic seeds it contains also constantly arise, cease, and change within the mind-body. Some karmic seeds disappear, some increase; from defiled to pure, from pure to defiled, always changing without stop—causes ceasing, results arising, constantly fulfilling the causes, conditions, and retributions of sentient beings, never stopping.
"Continuing for a long time, there is drifting and drowning." Since beginningless kalpas, because the Ālayavijñāna has been flowing along with the seven consciousnesses through the birth-and-death cycle of the six paths, the duration of this flowing is incalculable; only the Buddha's wisdom can know the number of kalpas. Throughout such distant kalpas, sentient beings have constantly undergone all kinds of karmic retributions of birth and death—causes and effects, effects and causes—drifting and flowing in succession for long periods in the ocean of birth and death, with no knowing when it will end in the future. Sentient beings thus drown in the ocean of saṃsāra and karma they themselves have created, unable to extricate themselves. Because the Ālayavijñāna always complies with the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses and cooperates with them in creating karmic actions, constantly fulfilling causes, conditions, and retributions—storing seeds, outputting seeds, fulfilling cause and effect—it lets sentient beings drift and drown in the cycle of the six paths, enduring immeasurable suffering with no end in sight. Until one day, when the suffering becomes unbearable, they reflect on themselves and begin to awaken, study Buddhism and cultivate the Path, subdue afflictions, and transform defilement into purity, slowly saving themselves; only then is there hope of being drawn out of the ocean of saṃsāra and karma and attaining liberation.
The great ocean of the world is unfathomably deep; wave after wave surges, and all who enter are swept away and drowned by the waves—birth and death are terrifying. The Ālayavijñāna is likewise: from beginningless kalpas, seeds arise and cease while itself continues unbroken, flowing and turning without rest. Within it are stored the immeasurable, boundless karmic seeds of sentient beings' birth and death, causing the karmic ocean of sentient beings to be vast and boundless, constantly raising one great wave of birth and death after another—wave after wave, billows rolling, swallowing sentient beings, their heads surfacing and sinking, hard to escape.
Original text: 意显此识无始因果。非断常义。谓此识性无始时来。刹那刹那果生因灭。果生故非断。因灭故非常。
Explanation: "The meaning is to show that this consciousness has causes and effects from beginningless time, and is neither ceasing nor permanent." The exposition above has already shown that the Ālayavijñāna, from beginningless kalpas, has constantly fulfilled the causes and effects of sentient beings—causes ceasing and results arising; when a result arises, its cause ceases—constantly arising, ceasing, and changing. This shows that the Ālayavijñāna is neither annihilated nor eternally uniform. Because the Ālayavijñāna has, from beginningless kalpas, constantly fulfilled the causes, conditions, and retributions of sentient beings: the causes of beings' karma are stored as karmic seeds, and when conditions are met in the future they are output again, fulfilling beings' karmic results; when the karmic result arises, the cause of the karma ceases and the seed disappears. At the same time, the five aggregates of sentient beings create new karma and store new karmic seeds, which will fulfill new karmic retributions in the future. Thus the Ālayavijñāna has always been fulfilling the law of cause and effect—causes ceasing and results arising, results arising and causes ceasing—without cease.
That it can constantly fulfill the retributions of sentient beings shows that the Ālayavijñāna is neither ceasing nor permanent. The Ālayavijñāna is neither ceasing nor permanent. Why not ceasing? Because its own nature firmly abides, unceasingly giving birth to all the myriad dharmas of the three-realm world of sentient beings, unceasingly producing the five-aggregate bodies of sentient beings life after life. It has always been generating its own functions, never perishing, never interrupted. Why is it not permanent? Because the seven transforming consciousnesses it produces arise and cease again and again; the karmic seeds within it arise and cease again and again; the causes, conditions, and retributions it fulfills arise and cease again and again; all the dharmas it produces arise and cease again and again. And its own consciousness seeds also arise and cease moment by moment; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is also not eternally unchanging.
"The nature of this consciousness, from beginningless time, moment by moment, results arise and causes cease. Because results arise, it is not ceasing; because causes cease, it is not permanent." The nature of the Ālayavijñāna, from beginningless kalpas, has fulfilled causes, conditions, and retributions moment by moment. When a karmic result of a sentient being is produced, the cause of that karma ceases and the karmic seed disappears. After a karmic seed is formed and stored in the Ālayavijñāna, when conditions ripen the seed is output again to fulfill the being's cause and effect. Results mostly arise only in future lives when conditions ripen; when the future-life result is born, it shows that the Ālayavijñāna still exists and has not been extinguished—only then can there be later retribution.
The Ālayavijñāna is the principal consciousness that fulfills the retributions of sentient beings, the principal consciousness that stores and outputs seeds, the cause that produces all the myriad dharmas of the three-realm world, the principle and root from which all dharmas arise through conditions. When the Ālayavijñāna fulfills the retribution of a sentient being, the karmic seed ceases. That seeds cease shows that the Ālayavijñāna is not permanent; the seeds it contains constantly arise, cease, and change and cannot maintain constancy; therefore this Ālayavijñāna is neither ceasing nor permanent. It is said to be unceasing because it continues into future lives without interruption, constantly fulfilling beings' karmic retributions. It is said to be not permanent because the seeds it contains arise, cease, and change.
Original text: 非断非常。是缘起理。故说此识恒转如流。过去未来既非实有。非常可尔。非断如何。断岂得成缘起正理。过去未来若是实有。可许非断。如何非常。常亦不成缘起正理。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is neither ceasing nor permanent; it is the originating cause of all the myriad dharmas of the world, the source of all dharmas, the principle upon which the arising of all dharmas depends. The arising of the myriad dharmas of the world is precisely the fulfillment of beings' karmic causes and retributions, and thus the world of sentient beings continues in birth and death without interruption. The causes, conditions, and retributions fulfilled by the Ālayavijñāna, the three-realm world it produces, the Buddha-lands of the ten directions, the universe as the vessel-world, and the five aggregates and eighteen realms of sentient beings it produces—all arise through causes and conditions, all are conditioned origination (pratītyasamutpāda). Only because there is the Ālayavijñāna can there be conditioned origination; only because of the karmic seeds stored in the Ālayavijñāna can there be conditioned origination—arising when conditions are met. Therefore the principle of conditioned origination is the principle-body of the Ālayavijñāna upon which conditioned origination depends.
Because of this principle of conditioned origination, it is said that the Ālayavijñāna perpetually revolves like a raging torrent. It must fulfill all the causal laws of sentient beings, so it must constantly manifest and operate; it cannot be extinguished for even a single instant. Otherwise, the myriad dharmas could not arise through conditions, all karmic seeds would cease and not appear, the world of sentient beings would never appear again—forever silent, empty, and void. Since all dharmas of the past and future are not truly existent and must depend on the Ālayavijñāna to manifest, the Ālayavijñāna must truly exist and be dependable; only by relying on it can all dharmas of the past and future worlds arise continuously. If the Ālayavijñāna were annihilated, there could be no conditioned origination of any dharma in the world.
If all dharmas of past and future were truly existent, real, unborn and unceasing, then the cessation of the Ālayavijñāna could be allowed, because all dharmas would not need the Ālayavijñāna to manifest them but could guarantee their own eternal existence by themselves. Then the Ālayavijñāna would be useless and could be discarded. But since all dharmas of past and future have no self-nature, are arising-ceasing, illusory, and unreal, and yet are constantly being born and manifesting, they must depend on the Ālayavijñāna to arise; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is not annihilated. If the Ālayavijñāna were eternally unchanging, the karmic seeds stored within it would have to remain forever uniform, without any change.
If the karmic seeds in the Ālayavijñāna had no arising, ceasing, or change, the five-aggregate world of sentient beings would have no arising, ceasing, or change, remaining eternally uniform—whatever state it was in, it would remain in that state forever. Those with animal bodies would forever have animal bodies, forever in the animal path, because the seeds do not change. Those with hell bodies would forever have hell bodies, because the seeds do not change. Those with deva bodies would forever have deva bodies, because the seeds do not change; then there would be no cycle of the six paths. If the Ālayavijñāna were eternally unchanging, no dharma of the world would ever need to be produced again. The world of sentient beings would have no arising or ceasing, no birth-death cycle of the six paths; beings would not be beings but would all become Buddhas at the fruition stage without karmic conditions of birth and death. We plainly see this principle does not hold; therefore the Ālayavijñāna is also not permanent.
If the Ālayavijñāna were permanent and unchanging, then when beings create wholesome karma, the Ālayavijñāna would not record and store the karmic seeds; when they create unwholesome karma, it would not record and store the seeds; when they create karma neither wholesome nor unwholesome, likewise it would not store the seeds; beings would have no causes, conditions, and retributions, and no seeds manifesting in future lives; beings would then be annihilated, or enter nirvāṇa, never to be born again. In that case there would be no conditioned dharmas in the world, nothing would be produced, and the world of sentient beings would perish. Therefore the Ālayavijñāna is not permanent; there must be seeds arising, ceasing, and changing for the five-aggregate world to arise continuously. When beings cultivate to the Buddha stage, the seeds no longer change, and the Ālayavijñāna becomes eternally unchanging; its name is changed to the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). In the undefiled consciousness there are only wholesome karmic seeds, no unwholesome seeds; the Buddha has only wholesome retribution, no unwholesome retribution. But the Ālayavijñāna of sentient beings must be neither ceasing nor permanent; it cannot be eternally unchanging—otherwise no conditioned dharmas could be born, and no three-realm world could manifest.
Original text: 此识与几心所相应。常与触作意受想思相应。阿赖耶识无始时来。乃至未转。于一切位。恒与此五心所相应。以是遍行心所摄故。
Explanation: "This consciousness" refers to the Ālayavijñāna. With how many mental factors does it correspond? It constantly corresponds with the five mental factors of contact (sparśa), attention (manaskāra), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). From beginningless kalpas, in all stages, the Ālayavijñāna has always, eternally corresponded with these five mental factors. "All stages" means: the stage of ordinary beings, the stage of non-Buddhists, the four approaches and four fruits of the Two Vehicles, the stage of pratyekabuddhas, the stage of bodhisattvas before the bhūmis, the stage of bodhisattvas after the bhūmis, the stage of equal enlightenment, the stage of wondrous enlightenment, and the Buddha stage—these five mental factors have always existed and operated, never interrupted.
Even in the stage where the Ālayavijñāna does not operate, these five mental factors are still operating. Here "the stage of non-operation" refers to the nirvāṇa state of arhats and pratyekabuddhas. In the nirvāṇa state there are no five aggregates, no eighteen realms, no seven consciousnesses; therefore the Ālayavijñāna does not cooperate with the operation of the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses, and the Ālayavijñāna does not produce a single dharma; it does not perform any worldly deed—therefore it is called non-operating. Even so, the five mental factors of the Ālayavijñāna are still operating, without interruption.
Why is this so? Because in the nirvāṇa state the Ālayavijñāna itself still exists and still operates; its own consciousness seeds are still output moment by moment to maintain the existence of the Ālayavijñāna, unextinguished. And as long as the Ālayavijñāna exists, the mental factors must necessarily operate. Moreover, the karmic seeds of the Two Vehicle practitioners still exist in the Ālayavijñāna; the Two Vehicle practitioners still have transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa) not yet ended. Therefore the Ālayavijñāna must still contact karmic seeds and correspond with them, and the five mental factors must necessarily operate. Where there is the Ālayavijñāna, there are the five mental factors operating alongside. Because these five mental factors belong to the universal mental factors (sarvatraga-caittas), they operate universally. "Universal" means pervading all times, all stages, all bhūmis, all places, all realms, and all dharmas; the five universal mental factors operate thus universally, never extinguished.
Original text: 触谓三和分别变异。令心心所触境为性。受想思等所依为业。谓根境识更相随顺。故名三和。触依彼生。令彼和合。故说为彼。三和合位。皆有顺生心所功能。说名变异。触似彼起。故名分别。
Explanation: "Threefold conjunction" (三和) means faculty, sense-object, and consciousness—the three conjoined together. Once conjoined, the consciousness contacts the sense-object. Contact is the contact mental factor of the consciousness; after contacting the object, the consciousness receives and accepts it—acceptance is the feeling mental factor. After accepting, it discerns the object—discernment is the perception mental factor of the consciousness. After discerning, deliberation (manasikāra) begins, and finally a decisive mind arises as to how to act—this is the volition mental factor of the consciousness.
Of course, many complicated things are involved here; the decision to act is not made at once—in between, the mental factors of contact, attention, feeling, perception, and so on keep arising repeatedly before the final decision on how to act can be made; this is very complicated. What the six consciousnesses decide must be submitted to the manas for approval; only when the manas agrees can the manas decide how to act. Then the eighth consciousness cooperates, letting the six consciousnesses act, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions are expressed.
Contact is the basis of feeling, perception, and volition; without contact there is no feeling, no perception, no volition. Because if the consciousness does not contact the object, it cannot receive the object-state, and further cannot discern it, cannot deliberate on it, and cannot raise a mind of choice and action toward it. But first there must be the attention mental factor of the consciousness.
The attention mental factor arises already at the seed stage. That is, while the consciousness seed is still in the eighth consciousness, it attends to the sense-object—aiming at the target of the object, or what may be called the location of the object; the consciousness seed is about to appear at that place of the target. Then the consciousness seed can arise at the object-state where attention was directed; after arising, it will contact the object-state.
Attention directs the mind toward the object, aiming the focus at the location of the sense-object. Then the consciousness seed arises at the corresponding object-state. This refers to the attention of the six consciousnesses, not the attention of the eighth consciousness. The eighth consciousness has its own attention, different from that of the seven consciousnesses; the eighth consciousness has its own targets and contents that it needs to discern. If the manas is not interested in a sense-object, it will not make a choice and will not decide to discriminate and discern the object it is not interested in. Only after the manas decides can the eighth consciousness produce the consciousness seed to discern the object-state the manas has decided to discern. Therefore all dharmas are never apart from the manas and never apart from the eighth consciousness.
Before the consciousness seed is produced by the eighth consciousness, the seed is in the eighth consciousness. If a consciousness seed is to be produced, it must have a target or location; if the manas is not interested in certain objects, the eighth consciousness will not cause the consciousness seed to arise at locations the manas is not interested in. The eighth consciousness will certainly produce the consciousness seed where the manas is interested. Therefore before the seed arises, there must be a location, an attention directed at a location, for the seed to arise—and that location is where the manas is interested.
For example, if the manas is interested in a flower, the consciousness seed attends to that flower, aims at it, and then the seed arises at the inner object-aspect of the flower in the rear brain. If the consciousness is interested in a sound, the consciousness seed attends to the sound, and then the eighth consciousness produces the seed at the inner object-aspect of the sound in the rear brain. Thus consciousness and object make contact; before contact there must first be attention—attention aims at the target of the object-state, then lets the seed arise; the seed certainly arises at that object-location, and once arisen it immediately contacts—they meet. When these two meet, they certainly contact; attention certainly occurs before the meeting.
For example, suppose I want to find a person and I know he is in the east; I attend to the east, then head toward the east. When I arrive in the east, I have made contact with that place in the east and met the person there. Before arriving in the east, I attend to the east, preparing to go there. This attention occurs before the consciousness seed arises—before I set out; once I reach where the target is, the two meet and contact occurs.
Faculty, object, and consciousness mutually according with one another—that is the threefold conjunction. The prerequisite for the consciousness to arise is that the object of the inner object-aspect first arises at the supreme faculty (indriya); then faculty and object contact, and then the eighth consciousness produces the consciousness; thus the three conjoin and mutually contact. For the consciousness to continuously contact the object, faculty and object must be continuously in contact—this is the prerequisite. If for a single instant the faculty cannot contact the object, the consciousness cannot contact the object and cannot discern it.
Contact arises depending on them: contact arises depending on faculty, object, and consciousness. First, with faculty and object there can be the contact of faculty and object; second, there is consciousness; with consciousness there can be the threefold-conjunction contact. Contact enables the three to conjoin—this is the function of contact. "At the position of the threefold conjunction, there is the function of sequentially producing mental factors" means that once the three conjoin, the other mental factors arise one after another. When the other mental factors arise, change is produced—that is, the contact mental factor transitions, the functions of the consciousness keep changing, and the consciousness's discerning function keeps proceeding. "Contact arises resembling them, therefore it is called discrimination": with contact, the later mental factors can arise, and only then can the consciousness have its discerning function and discern the object.
Original text: 根变异力。引触起时。胜彼识境。故集论等。但说分别根之变异。和合一切心及心所。令同触境。是触自性。既似顺起心所功能。故以受等所依为业。起尽经说。受想行蕴。一切皆以触为缘故。由斯故说识触受等。因二三四和合而生。瑜伽但说与受想思为所依者。思于行蕴为主胜故。
Explanation: What is "the force of the faculty's alteration"? The faculty here refers to the supreme faculty in the rear-brain region. Because the Ālayavijñāna must manifest the inner object-aspects of the six sense-objects here, and must absorb the four-great-element nutrients of the supreme faculty here in order to manifest inner object-aspects subtler than the external material forms, the nutrition of this rear-brain region must be sufficient. If nutrition is insufficient, the four great elements absorbed by the Ālayavijñāna will be disharmonious, and the manifested six sense-object images will be somewhat distorted, not quite consistent with the external object-aspects, and what the six consciousnesses discern will not accord with reality. Such a person, compared with others, is somewhat abnormal—people with cerebellar atrophy are like this.
Because the six sense-objects arise at the supreme faculty, a change is produced—this is the alteration of the faculty. Due to this force of alteration, the contact between the six faculties and the six sense-objects is induced. Why contact? Because the six sense-objects arise within the supreme faculty, the two are necessarily together, and thus they contact. This contact is extremely important and critical: it induces the subsequent arising of the consciousness-mind and the arising of all the mental factors of the consciousness, inducing the whole subsequent series of discriminating and discerning activities. Therefore the contact induced by the force of the faculty's alteration surpasses the contact of the six consciousnesses with the six sense-object states. Without the prior contact of faculty and object, there is no later contact of consciousness and object; therefore the prior contact surpasses the later contact.
Therefore treatises such as the Abhidharmasamuccaya especially emphasize the alteration of the faculties: when the six faculties change and contact the six sense-objects, they conjoin all minds and mental factors. This means the six consciousnesses are induced to arise; after the six consciousnesses arise, the mental factors begin to operate, and the six consciousnesses together with their mental factors contact the six sense-object states—this is the self-nature of contact. Contact means conjunction—the meaning of touching and meeting. Since contact can induce the function of sequentially producing mental factors, contact is the basis of the subsequent feeling mental factor. The feeling mental factor depends on the contact mental factor to arise and to function.
The Sūtra of Arising and Ceasing says that among the five aggregates, the feeling aggregate, perception aggregate, formation aggregate, and consciousness aggregate—these four aggregates—are all produced with the contact mental factor as condition. Because the six faculties contact the six sense-objects, the Ālayavijñāna manifests the consciousness aggregate of the six consciousnesses; then the six consciousnesses have the feeling aggregate, then the perception aggregate, and then the formation aggregate of the six consciousnesses begins to operate. Such is the criticality of this contact. Because of this contact, after the six consciousnesses contact the six sense-object states, the three aggregates of feeling, perception, and formation are born and operate. The five aggregates of sentient beings thus operate, able to discriminate all six sense-object states in the world, and karmic actions are produced.
In the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, it only says that contact is the basis of the feeling, perception, and volition mental factors; the feeling, perception, and volition mental factors depend on contact to arise and operate. This statement is consistent with the above, because the volition mental factor corresponds to the formation aggregate; the volition mental factor takes the formation aggregate as primary, and the formation aggregate is preeminent and prominent within the volition mental factor. The formation aggregate is the creation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions; the most prominent content of the volition mental factor is action-creation, though it also includes the meaning of choice. The feeling mental factor corresponds to the feeling aggregate, the perception mental factor to the perception aggregate, and the volition mental factor to the formation aggregate. These are the mental factors of the feeling aggregate of the six consciousnesses; therefore contact is the basis of four of the five aggregates and the prerequisite for their birth. Thus the contact induced by the faculty's alteration is extremely important and preeminent.
Original text: 举此摄余。集论等说为受依者。以触生受近而胜故。谓触所取可意等相。与受所取顺益等相。极相邻近。引发胜故。然触自性是实非假。六六法中心所性故。是食摄故。能为缘故。如受等性。非即三和。
Explanation: "Because volition is primary and preeminent in the formation aggregate"—this example is given, but it also covers the other cases. By the same principle, feeling is primary and preeminent in the feeling aggregate, and perception is primary and preeminent in the perception aggregate. This means the feeling mental factor takes the feeling aggregate as primary, the function of the feeling aggregate being prominent. The feeling mental factor includes two aspects: one is receiving and accepting; the other is the three kinds of feeling—painful feeling, pleasant feeling, and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā). The function of the feeling mental factor is dominated by the latter kind of feeling, so the feeling aggregate is just the feeling mental factor. By the same principle, the perception mental factor takes the perception aggregate as primary. The perception mental factor on one hand includes the discriminating and knowing nature of the six consciousnesses, and on the other includes the thoughts and emotional coloring of the six consciousnesses—all cognitive functions of the mind, all mental activities. Therefore the perception aggregate also extends to the perception mental factor.
The Abhidharmasamuccaya says that contact is the basis of the feeling mental factor; the feeling mental factor arises and operates depending on the contact mental factor. Because there is contact, feeling can follow in sequence; the two are closely linked, so contact is very preeminent with respect to feeling. Moreover, because of contact, the agreeable six sense-object images taken by the manas—the seventh consciousness—can be taken; for disagreeable six sense-object images, there is no attention and no contact. And feeling also takes object-images that accord with one's own intent, accepting and receiving object-images that accord with one's intent. The images taken by these two are extremely close, and the inducing function is very preeminent.
However, the self-nature of the contact mental factor is real, not false; it truly has functional operation, and is not merely a false name—not just a nominal concept without actual function. Among the six sixfold dharmas, contact indeed performs the function of a mental factor, and it is included in the contact-food among the four kinds of food. Sentient beings take the six consciousnesses contacting the six sense-objects as food; only when the six consciousnesses contact the six sense-objects can sentient beings survive in the three-realm world—this is the prerequisite of sentient beings' survival. If the six consciousnesses did not contact the six sense-objects, the six consciousnesses would cease. Then sentient beings would have no activity of the five aggregates and could not survive normally—this is what sentient beings least desire.
Contact can serve as a condition, a prerequisite, for the arising of the feeling, perception, and volition mental factors. Contact requires the threefold conjunction of faculty, object, and consciousness, whereas the feeling, perception, and volition mental factors do not require the threefold conjunction. They are simply the activity of the six consciousnesses alone, involving only the six sense-objects—a series of discriminating activities upon the six sense-objects—unlike the contact mental factor, which involves both faculty and object.
