Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Section 4: The Operation of the Ālayavijñāna Is Like the Wind Element
Original text:佛言。善哉善哉。贤护。善哉善问。谛听谛听。善思念之。当为汝说。贤护白佛言。世尊。唯然奉教。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Bhadrapāla, you have asked very well! You should listen carefully and deliberate carefully; I shall now explain it to you. Bhadrapāla replied to the Buddha: Yes, World-Honored One, I will surely follow your teaching.
If one does not listen carefully, some dharmas will not be understood; after hearing them, one must also deliberate well, contemplating them in accordance with right principle. Some people hear the Dharma and do deliberate, but they deliberate wrongly; what they employ throughout is reasoning and inference, and it is entirely confused, so they cannot arrive at correct conclusions. Therefore the Buddha told the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla to deliberate well, to deliberate properly.
Original text:佛告贤护。识之运转。迁灭往来。犹如风大。无色无形。不可显现。而能发动万物。示众殊状。或摇振林木。摧折破裂。出大音声。或为冷为热。触众生身。作苦作乐。风无手足。面目形容。亦无黑白。黄赤诸色。
Explanation: The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla that the Ālayavijñāna operates within the material body, moving in and departing out, constantly coming and going within the material body. When He is not in the material body, the material body perishes; when He is in the material body, the material body exists. The Ālayavijñāna thus comes and goes between material bodies, just like the wind element—formless and colorless, unable to be manifested, yet able to set all things in motion and display many different states. The wind element may shake and sway the trees of the forest, snapping branches, blowing off leaves, breaking trunks, and letting out great roaring sounds; or it may touch the bodies of sentient beings with the appearance of hot wind, or touch the bodies of sentient beings with the appearance of cold wind, causing sentient beings to produce many feelings of suffering or pleasure. The wind element has no hands or feet, no face or features, and it also has no colors such as black, white, yellow, or red.
The wind element is formless and colorless and cannot manifest any appearance; we cannot see the wind, yet we can know that the wind has come. Through the function of the wind element, we can perceive the wind—it is through the wind's function that we know the wind has appeared. The wind can blow upon all things, and through the various postures of all things the wind's function is displayed; from these functions we know the wind has appeared. When the wind blows through a forest, once a great wind shakes the trees, the trees are snapped and blown down; when a tree falls, it emits a rumbling sound. Or when a great wind blows down branches and leaves, there will be sounds of impact. Who produced these sounds? The wind itself has no sound, but when it touches the trees, sounds appear. Within this there are many secrets of the tathāgatagarbha; these sounds are in fact all produced by the combined operation of the various dharmas, including the functions performed by the wind and the swaying of the trees—all of them are functions of the tathāgatagarbha. These dharmas are all extremely profound and subtle.
When the weather is hot, hot wind blowing onto the body makes one feel hot; when the weather is cool, cool wind blowing onto the body makes one feel cold. Through this heat and cold one can know what kind of wind is blowing. Some sentient beings feel suffering when hot wind blows onto their bodies, while some sentient beings feel that hot wind blowing onto their bodies is very comfortable and feel pleasure. The same hot wind causes sentient beings to have suffering or pleasure. In winter, when hot wind blows, one naturally feels pleasure; in summer, when hot wind blows, one feels a suffering feeling. In winter, when cold wind blows, one feels a suffering feeling; in summer, when cold wind blows, one feels a pleasurable feeling.
The wind has no hands or feet, nor any face or countenance, no form or shape, and no various colors such as black, white, red, or yellow—it has no visible appearance whatsoever. The Ālayavijñāna is also like this. He too has no color, no hands or feet, no face, no shape. But like the wind, when He operates, the functions of sentient beings' five aggregates and seven consciousnesses will be manifested; the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness will all be manifested. Using the wind as a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna is very apt.
The Ālayavijñāna is formless and without marks and cannot be manifested on its own; how can He be realized? He is to be realized through His functions. This requires investigating Chan (canchan); by investigating through the activities of the five aggregates, one can realize the functions of the Ālayavijñāna tathāgatagarbha. One does not see Him with the eyes, because He has no form; nor can one hear Him, because He has no sound. Rather, one must discover Him through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), deliberating upon the functions He performs in coordination with the five aggregates. In the end, one knows that this function was generated by Him, that function was generated by Him, and one realizes how He operates—this is called realization-enlightenment.
Original text:贤护。识界亦尔。无色无形。无光明显现。以因缘故。显示种种。功用殊异。当知受觉法界。亦复如是。无形无相。以因缘故。显发功用。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Bhadrapāla, the realm of the Ālayavijñāna is also like this—it has no color or form, and no light is manifested for sentient beings to see with their eyes; therefore the fleshly eye cannot see the Ālayavijñāna, nor can one touch Him. Only through various causes and conditions does He display His various functions, which are quite extraordinary and special; only then does one know that the Ālayavijñāna exists. Without causes and conditions, He cannot manifest. By the same reasoning, one should know that the realm of the consciousness-mind that can feel and perceive is also like this—formless and without marks; only through various causes and conditions can the various functions of the consciousness-mind be brought forth.
The Ālayavijñāna is formless and without marks; when causes and conditions are present, the five aggregates can function, and the various functions of the Ālayavijñāna can be manifested. Then we know that the Ālayavijñāna exists and is operating, and we can realize the Ālayavijñāna. But in nirvāṇa without remainder, there are no causes and conditions at all, and the functions of the Ālayavijñāna cannot be manifested; even the Buddha cannot find the Ālayavijñāna in nirvāṇa without remainder. When there is no nirvāṇa without remainder, various causes and conditions emerge one after another—so-called conditions for birth everywhere—the Ālayavijñāna operates in coordination with all kinds of conditions, and His functions are constantly manifested; realizing Him then becomes easy.
The manifest functioning of all dharmas is entirely the function of the Ālayavijñāna, but before seeing the mind and attaining realization, it is very difficult to distinguish which are the functions of the five aggregates and which are the functions of the Ālayavijñāna. These true and false functions are mixed and jumbled together; when prajñā wisdom is not yet complete, one does not know which is true and which is false, because the Ālayavijñāna manifests sentient beings' five aggregates through causes and conditions. When the six sense faculties contact the six sense objects, the feeling and perception of the six consciousnesses appear; although they appear, the mind consciousness is formless and without marks and cannot be seen with the eyes—it can only be comprehended and felt. When the six sense faculties are impaired and their functions are obstructed, the six sense objects cannot be present, and the feeling and perception of the six consciousnesses cannot appear.
