Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Section Two: The Characteristics (ākāra) of the Ālayavijñāna
Original text: 识在于身, 如闇之体。视不可见, 不可执持。如母怀子, 不能自知。是男是女。黑白黄色。根具不具。手足耳目。类与不类。饮食热刺。其子便动。觉知苦痛。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna in the body of the five aggregates is like darkness—formless and colorless, invisible to the eye. If you try to grasp it, you cannot grasp it; if you try to touch it, you cannot touch it; it simply cannot be held onto. This describes its formless, markless nature, yet it can manifest within all dharmas. It is like a mother who is pregnant but does not herself know whether the child she carries is a boy or a girl, whether the skin color is black, white, or yellow, whether the six faculties are complete or incomplete, or whether the hands, feet, eyes, and ears resemble her own.
Because in that past era there were no testing devices, during pregnancy one could not detect whether the fetus was male or female; the appearance of the physical body was also unknown—whether it had hands, feet, eyes, and ears, whether it looked like oneself, and so on—all unknown. However, when the mother eats, if she eats hot food, the child, stimulated by the heat, will move about restlessly in the womb. The fetus fears heat, and when the child moves, the mother feels intense pain. If the mother eats cold things, the child cannot bear it either, and will also move about restlessly, and the mother can feel the pain; at that moment the mother knows the child has moved.
Original text: 众生来去。屈伸视瞬。语笑谈说。担运负重。作诸事业。识相具显。而不能知。识之所在。止于身中。不知其状。
Explanation: When sentient beings' bodies of the five aggregates come and go, bend and stretch, glance about, speak, laugh, and converse, carry water and haul firewood, bear heavy loads, and engage in all kinds of activities, the characteristics of the Ālayavijñāna are fully manifested, yet sentient beings do not know where the Ālayavijñāna is operating. The Ālayavijñāna dwells within the body, but sentient beings do not know what state it is in—just like a pregnant mother who does not know her child.
The child in the womb is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna, and the mother is a metaphor for the sentient being's five aggregates. The Ālayavijñāna is formless and without marks; sentient beings do not know what it looks like, but when the five aggregates operate, one knows the Ālayavijñāna is present right there. In this way a Chan gong'an emerges, and the Ālayavijñāna can be quite easily realized; seeing the mind can be quite swift. What is guessed or surmised does not count—it must be investigated within meditative concentration, without any conscious deliberative mental activity. The Ālayavijñāna is within sentient beings' bodies, but one does not know what kind of state it is in. Generally, when one's knowledge and views are not yet complete, one only knows that the Ālayavijñāna functions everywhere, but one does not know exactly where it functions or what function it performs. At this point there is still some distance from realization, and further effort is needed.
This sūtra almost explicitly reveals the Ālayavijñāna, so when one engages in Chan investigation of gong'ans, it becomes very easy to investigate it out. Chan investigation is actually not difficult; it is just that meditative concentration is insufficient, and the causal conditions of merit and so forth are insufficient, so realization seems somewhat harder, while intellectual understanding is quite easy. Previously one could not grasp the direction of Chan investigation, but now, studying this passage from the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness, one can be very clear: the Ālayavijñāna has never been separate from the five aggregates; the true dharma is not separate from the false dharma, and of course the false dharma is not separate from the true dharma—within the operation of the false dharma, the true dharma is manifested. This direction for Chan investigation is very clear. Yet some Buddhist practitioners engage in Chan investigation for thirty years, and even at death still do not know in which direction to investigate, not understanding how to attain the Ālayavijñāna.
If these few lines are explained in detail, then ordinary Chan gong'ans can be understood. But although one can understand them, if one still does not know the actual operation of the Ālayavijñāna within them, it is merely intellectual understanding, not true realization. One still needs to investigate carefully with the conscious mind unmoving, investigating out the specific operations of the Ālayavijñāna—only that is realization. What the conscious mind guesses and imagines does not count. If Chan investigation yields only a rough picture, without knowing the specific operations, without knowing the details, at most it is intellectual understanding. After true realization, wisdom immediately elevates; the wisdom of intellectual understanding forever stays in place.
Original text: 贤护。识之自性。遍入诸处。不为诸处。之所染污。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, the self-nature of the Ālayavijñāna pervasively enters all the bases (āyatanas)—it pervasively enters the twelve bases of the six faculties and six sense-objects—and is not defiled by the dharmas of the twelve bases.
The places where the six faculties contact the six sense-objects are: the eye seeing forms, the ear hearing sounds, the nose smelling odors, the tongue tasting flavors, the body feeling touch, and the manas cognizing dharmas. The Ālayavijñāna manifests conspicuously at the places where the six faculties contact the six sense-objects; this will not be explained in detail here—leave some secret for yourself to investigate, to increase wisdom. The Ālayavijñāna enters the twelve bases yet is not defiled by them. That is to say, when sentient beings' eyes see forms, the Ālayavijñāna is not defiled by the form sense-object\: seeing beautiful forms, it does not give rise to thoughts of delight, does not generate craving and attachment; seeing ugly forms, it does not give rise to aversive mental activity; the mind is not defiled by these form sense-objects. When sentient beings hear sounds, hearing sounds of praise, the Ālayavijñāna is not pleased; hearing sounds of cursing, the Ālayavijñāna does not give rise to anger; the mind is not defiled by the sound sense-object. When sentient beings' noses smell odors, encountering fragrant smells the Ālayavijñāna does not like them; encountering foul smells, it does not loathe them; it is not defiled by fragrance or stench.
When the six faculties contact the six sense-objects, the Ālayavijñāna is never defiled. Why is this? Because what the Ālayavijñāna contacts is not the six sense-objects of the mundane world. It cannot hear the sounds of the mundane world, so cursing has no effect on it, and praise also has no effect on it; it does not see the forms of the mundane world—if you bow to it, it is not pleased; if you glare at it, it is not angry. All dharmas whatsoever are of no consequence to it, so it is not defiled. If the Ālayavijñāna, like the six consciousnesses, could contact the six sense-objects of the mundane world, it would certainly also be defiled by them, because the six consciousnesses can discriminate wholesome and unwholesome, beautiful and ugly, true and false, good and bad, and feelings of liking and disliking easily arise. The Ālayavijñāna cannot discriminate wholesome from unwholesome, true from false, beautiful from ugly, large from small, long from short, so it does not give rise to feelings of joy or aversion; it is not defiled by the six sense-objects precisely because it does not discriminate the specific contents of the six sense-objects.
Original text: 六根六境。五烦恼阴。识遍止之。不为其染。由此而显。识之事用。
Explanation: Where else does the Ālayavijñāna dwell? It is hidden and upheld at all six faculties—the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty, and manas. Without the Ālayavijñāna's sustaining, these faculties would cease. The Ālayavijñāna is also hidden and upheld on the six sense-objects of form, sound, odor, flavor, touch, and dharmas; if the Ālayavijñāna did not sustain the six sense-object realms, form, sound, odor, flavor, touch, and dharmas would vanish and not exist.
The five aggregates of affliction are the five aggregates of grasping: the aggregate of grasping form, the aggregate of grasping feeling, the aggregate of grasping perception, the aggregate of grasping volitional formations, and the aggregate of grasping consciousness. The Ālayavijñāna even more pervasively dwells within the five aggregates of grasping; otherwise the five aggregates of grasping could not exist, and there would be no sentient beings. The Ālayavijñāna pervasively dwells in the six faculties, six sense-objects, and the body of the five aggregates, yet is not defiled by these dharmas. Through the functions of the five aggregates, six faculties, and six sense-objects, the functional activities of the Ālayavijñāna are revealed—this is called daily functioning. It functions daily, yet ordinary beings do not know it; if they knew, they would not be ordinary beings. The Ālayavijñāna operates moment by moment on the six faculties, six sense-objects, and six consciousnesses, operating on the body of the five aggregates, yet sentient beings do not know it—this is the beginningless ignorance (ādī-kleśa-āvaraṇa).
Original text: 贤护。如木机关。系执一所。作种种业。或行走腾跃。或跳掷戏舞。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, the Ālayavijñāna is like a wooden mechanism: place it in a location and it performs various activities—flying, walking, leaping, or jumping, dancing, and performing.
These are originally all things done by the five aggregates of grasping. A wooden mechanism performing various activities is just like the body of the five aggregates performing activities. The body of the five aggregates is like a wooden mechanism; what it does all follows programmed design. The wooden mechanism is not self-governing, and the body of the five aggregates lacks self-mastery (avaśatā). For example, a robot or a washing machine—set it to do some tasks within its capability, program it, connect the electricity, and the wooden automaton, robot, and so forth begin to operate. In fact, it is not that the wooden automaton or robot can operate by themselves; it is the result of human manipulation behind them. By the same principle, the Ālayavijñāna is also constantly operating; once it operates, the sentient being's five aggregates operate accordingly. How the five aggregates operate—the Buddha has explained it all clearly here.
Original text: 于意云何。机关所作。是谁之力。贤护白佛言。智慧狭浅。非能决了。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, what do you think? What force drives the activities performed by the wooden mechanism? Who is the button of that mechanism? The Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla said: my wisdom is narrow and shallow; I cannot make a definitive determination about this matter.
If the Buddha had explained it even more clearly here, we would not need to engage in Chan investigation. For example, a washing machine—press the button and it starts running; an electric lamp—flip the switch and the light comes on; a robot—press the button switch and the robot starts working; an electric doll—press that button and it starts singing and dancing.
Original text: 佛告贤护。当知皆是。作业之力。作业无形。但智运耳。如是身之机关。以识之力。作诸事业。仙通乾闼婆。龙神人天。阿修罗等。种种趣业。咸悉依之。识能生身。如工作机关。
Explanation: The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla: you should know that all the activities performed by the wooden mechanism are operated by a force of karmic activity, and this force of activity is formless and without marks; it is only through wisdom that the wooden automaton is set in motion, accomplishing its activities. The sentient being's physical body is also like the wooden automaton; the operation of the body's mechanism follows the same principle as the wooden mechanism's operation—it is the power of wisdom of a conscious mind that sets the mechanism in motion to perform various activities. The operation of the physical body's mechanism relies on the power of the Ālayavijñāna, enabling the physical body to perform all activities. Immortals with supernatural powers, gandharvas, nāgas, spirits, humans, devas, asuras, and so forth—the various activities performed by beings of the various destinies of the six realms all depend upon it. The Ālayavijñāna can produce the physical body, just like a working mechanism.
The Ālayavijñāna can produce the physical body, just like a mechanism that performs work—just like the working principles of a robot and a washing machine; press the button and it operates. All these activities are the activities of the five aggregates, including all bodily, verbal, and mental actions. "Karma" here represents karmic activity, not referring to worldly entrepreneurship or career. Whatever the operation of the five aggregates is, that is called activity.
Original text: 识无形质。普持法界。智力具足。譬如日光。恶业众生。及诸不净。死尸臭秽。无偏等照。不为诸恶。之所污染。识亦如是。虽处猪狗。食不净类。诸恶趣身。而不为彼。之所染污。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna is formless and without substance, colorless and without marks, yet it can universally uphold the entire dharmadhātu, with the power of wisdom fully endowed. It is like sunlight, which pervasively illuminates all dharmas—beings of evil karma and all impure things, places of corpses, stench, and filth—all are universally and equally illuminated; sunlight is never defiled by evil and filthy dharmas, never tainted by evil and filth. The Ālayavijñāna is also like sunlight, universally upholding all dharmas. Although it dwells within the bodies of pigs and dogs, helping pigs and dogs eat filthy, impure food, taking rebirth in the bodies of beings of evil karma in the three evil destinies, it is not defiled by beings of evil karma or by the karmic retribution of evil deeds.
The dharmadhātu spoken of here is the ten dharmadhātus—the dharmadhātus of the four sages and six ordinary beings—together with the eighteen elements of the six faculties, six sense-objects, and six consciousnesses; all dharmas are upheld by the Ālayavijñāna. The Ālayavijñāna's power of wisdom is fully endowed, and it skillfully employs all seeds to create all dharmas. Like sunlight, whether it is beings of evil karma, or all unclean things, corpses, stench, and filth, sunlight pervasively illuminates them all, without the slightest partiality, shining on everything. The Ālayavijñāna is also like sunlight, without choice: whatever conditions it encounters, it gives birth to and upholds those dharmas, impartial and unbiased. Whatever karmic seeds beings carry, it can give birth to them; whatever retribution, it can bring it to fruition; whatever vile environment, it can create it—even excrement and corpses, it can give birth to and uphold.
Moreover, the Ālayavijñāna is not defiled by any evil dharmas. It gives birth to evil people and evil deeds, yet is not defiled by sentient beings' evil minds and evil deeds—emerging from the mud without being stained, dwelling in a room of secluded orchids without being perfumed. Although the Ālayavijñāna dwells in the bodies of pigs and dogs, eating filthy food together with pigs and dogs, dwelling in the bodies of evil destinies of the three evil paths, it is not defiled by evil karma. It is not stupid like pigs and dogs, not greedy and stingy like hungry ghosts, not hateful like hell beings, even though all these beings are manifested by it.
