Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Chapter 4: Consciousness Entering the Womb Is Like Fragrance Entering Oil
Original text: 尔时贤护胜上童真。顶礼佛足。白佛言。世尊。鸡鹅等子。其卵未熟。周匝细密。识从何入。子死卵中。卵壳不破。无隙无窍。识从何出。
Explanation: At that time, the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla bowed at the Buddha's feet and said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, the Ālayavijñāna can enter a material body. Now, chicken eggs and goose eggs are to hatch out chicks and goslings; before they have hatched, the eggs are tightly sealed, the eggshells are fine and dense all around, without a single gap—how does the Ālayavijñāna enter into the egg?
In fact, before the egg was formed, the Ālayavijñāna had already entered the fertilized egg; without the Ālayavijñāna there would be no egg. How does the Ālayavijñāna enter the egg—does it enter through crevices? It is not like that. Even if the Ālayavijñāna has entered a chicken egg, and the hatching reaches halfway but cannot complete, the embryo dies, and the eggshell is not broken—then how does the Ālayavijñāna come out? The formlessness and marklessness of the Ālayavijñāna still differs from the formlessness of wind. Wind is material form; although it cannot be seen or touched, it is still material form, and material form has obstruction, so it cannot enter an egg without seams.
But the Ālayavijñāna is not material form and is not constrained by any dharma; it is not within material form, not outside material form, and not in the middle of material form. With respect to material form, there is thus no exiting and no entering—that mode of exiting and entering, neither exiting nor entering, neither coming nor going, is something we ordinary people cannot imagine. Although wind is also formless and without marks, wind comes and goes, exits and enters, for wind is composed of the four great elements. In actuality, wind does have form and marks: when wind blows onto the body there is a tactile sensation, a feeling, but when the Ālayavijñāna enters the body there is no sensation. Moreover, the body is formed by the Ālayavijñāna; the Ālayavijñāna precedes the body.
Every kind of matter we see is composed of the four great elements; there is no single element alone. For example, water is not composed solely of the water element seed: the impurities in water are the earth element component, the temperature of water is the fire element component, the gaps in water are the space element component, and the fluidity of water is the wind element component. Land is also composed of the four great elements: the temperature of land is the fire element, the gaps in land are the space element, the moisture of land is the water element, and the hard parts of land are the earth element. Burning fire is also composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind.
Original text: 佛言贤护。譬如乌麻。薝卜花熏。其油香美。名薝卜油。与凡麻油。好恶殊隔。油先无香。以花熏种。油遂成香。
Explanation: The Buddha said to Bhadrapāla: For instance, take black sesame, fumigate it with campaka flowers, and then press out the oil; the oil is fragrant and fine, and this oil is named campaka fragrant oil. Compared with ordinary sesame oil, the difference in quality is very great. The oil originally had no fragrance, but after being fumigated with the flowers, the oil became fragrant.
If fumigated with campaka flowers, ordinary oil becomes extremely fragrant and precious; if not fumigated with flowers, it is just ordinary sesame oil. Black sesame can be pressed to yield oil, and campaka flowers have fragrance; fumigating the black sesame with campaka flowers, the pressed oil has fragrance. It was originally called black sesame, but once fumigated with this flower, it becomes campaka oil—how did that fragrance enter into the oil?
Original text: 香不破麻而入。亦不破麻而出。复无形质。留止油内。但以因缘力故。香迁油内。油成香泽。鸡鹅子识。入出于卵。亦复如是。如薝卜香。迁于油内。
Explanation: The flower's fragrance did not break open the black sesame and burrow into it, nor did the fragrance break or pierce through the black sesame and burrow out of it. The fragrance neither entered nor exited, nor did it destroy the black sesame, nor did it leave form and color behind in the oil, yet the pressed oil has fragrance.
This is like the Ālayavijñāna not opening the eggshell, neither entering the eggshell nor exiting from the eggshell, yet in this way holding and sustaining the chicken egg and goose egg—the principle is the same as fumigating black sesame with fragrance. It is all because of the power of the convergence of various causes and conditions that such a marvelous transformation occurs: the fragrance migrated into the oil, and the oil acquired fragrant luster. By this nature of causes and conditions, the two combine together and fumigate each other, so the black sesame oil becomes fragrant oil; the fragrance migrates into the oil, and the oil becomes fragrant oil. The Ālayavijñāna's entering and exiting the chicken egg and goose egg also has its causes and conditions: when the causes and conditions are complete, the Ālayavijñāna enters into the chicken egg or goose egg; after the causes and conditions cease, the Ālayavijñāna exits from the chicken egg or goose egg.
When the causes and conditions for a sentient being's birth are complete, the Ālayavijñāna can manifest the sentient being's five-aggregate body. With cause and condition present, in worldly dharma the chicken egg and goose egg break their shells and the chicks and goslings hatch out; when the causes and conditions cease, the worldly chicken egg and goose egg are destroyed, there is no life force within, and the Ālayavijñāna no longer personally holds and sustains the chicken egg and goose egg. Thus the chicken egg and goose egg cannot exist independently of the Ālayavijñāna, and the lifeless egg is jointly held and sustained by the Ālayavijñānas of sentient beings of common karma. When there is life in the egg, it is the single individual Ālayavijñāna within that egg that alone holds and sustains the egg, and therefore the egg has life. After the Ālayavijñāna exits from the egg, the egg becomes something jointly held and sustained by the Ālayavijñānas of sentient beings of common karma—still it is transformed by consciousness alone and manifested by mind alone.
Original text: 识之迁运。如日流光。如摩尼照。如木生火。
Explanation: The migration, entering, and exiting of the Ālayavijñāna is like sunlight illuminating all things: sunlight is formless and without marks, yet it can give all things luster and warmth; if the sunlight is extinguished, all things immediately lose their luster and warmth. Likewise, the Ālayavijñāna can give sentient beings life-activity and can take life-activity away. The migration of the Ālayavijñāna is like a maṇi jewel illuminating objects: the maṇi jewel's light is formless and without marks, yet it can give objects the color of jewel radiance; when the Ālayavijñāna migrates onto a material body, the material body can manifest. The migration of the Ālayavijñāna is also like wood producing fire: when the wood is kindled, fire comes forth. There is no fire within the wood, but due to causes and conditions, fire appears. The Ālayavijñāna is also like this: due to the causes and conditions of karma, it migrates into another material body, and the material body is born.
Original text: 又如种子。种之于地。体化地中。芽苗茎叶。备显于外。生白不白。赤等杂色。种种之花。种种力味。成熟所为。种种差别。同一大地。等资四大。各随其种。所生便异。
Explanation: The migration of the Ālayavijñāna is also like seeds planted in the ground: the seeds entirely dissolve into the great earth, and the plant's sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves grow out, fully manifesting outside the soil, producing variegated flowers of various colors. Then fruits are borne; with different seeds the fruits differ and their flavors vary—all having grown forth after the seeds matured. The same great earth provides the same material nourishment of the four great elements; according to the differences among the seeds, the fruits produced have all kinds of differences.
After the seed enters the soil and dissolves into the earth, it can no longer be found—where did the seed go? And from where did the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves emerge? After the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves have all grown out, the seed vanishes without a trace—where did the seed go? The arising and disappearing of all these phenomena have their definite nature of causes and conditions. When the Ālayavijñāna enters a chicken egg or goose egg, it is likewise with cause and condition; thus the chicken egg and goose egg form, and chicks and geese hatch out. When the Ālayavijñāna migrates into a sentient being's body—whether a chicken egg, a goose egg, a womb-born life, or a transformation-born life—it is like the sun shining its light down, like a maṇi jewel illuminating all things with its radiance, and like wood being able to produce fire.
It is also like seeds planted in the ground: after the causes and conditions are complete and the seeds have disappeared, the roots, sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves all grow out; then variegated flowers of various colors appear, and after the flowers grow out, fruits form and the flavors of the fruits are given off. Because the seeds differ, the fruits borne also differ. If one seeks where exactly the seed went, it has no destination. It was originally the same great earth, equally endowed with the material substances of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; relying on the nourishment of the four great element seeds, the roots, sprouts, seedlings, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and so forth grow out. But because the seeds differ, the fruits grown also differ. Each produces its various kinds of fruit in accordance with its own seed.
Original text: 如是一识法界。生于一切。生死之身。或黑或白。或黄赤等。淳和嗔暴。种种殊品。
Explanation: Thus it is that this one-consciousness dharma-realm gives birth to all bodies of birth-and-death. All material bodies are birth-and-death material bodies subject to arising and ceasing: when the Ālayavijñāna enters into them, the material body arises; when the Ālayavijñāna departs, the material body ceases. Each sentient being has its own Ālayavijñāna; their essential natures are the same, yet the material bodies born are of every kind, and the karmic retributions are not the same. Even the same Ālayavijñāna, giving birth to different material bodies in different periods, has different karmic retributions: the skin may be black, or white and yellow; the temperament may be gentle and mild, or wrathful and violent, and so forth—there are different grades of distinction.
Original text: 贤护。识无手足。支节言语。由法界中。念力强大。众生死时。识弃此身。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, the Ālayavijñāna has no hands, no feet, no limbs and joints, and no verbal activity; but because the power of intention of the manas among the eighteen dhātus is strong, when a sentient being dies, the Ālayavijñāna abandons this material body.
The sentient being's five-aggregate body is formed by the firm and solid deluded thinking of the sentient being's mind. The sentient being's power of intention refers to the power of the manas's mental intention. The manas's intention has power because the manas can act as the master and has the power of decision, able to drive the tathāgatagarbha to realize the manas's intentions. Before the sentient being's five-aggregate body has formed, there is only the manas and the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha would not have intentions wanting a five-aggregate body, but the manas, because of ignorance, is unwilling to cease and necessarily has intentions—wanting to conceive into a womb and have a material body, wanting to enjoy the dharmas of the three realms. Therefore, nāma-rūpa and the five aggregates appear due to the manas's power of intention. For ordinary beings, the power of intention is in fact karmic power, showing that the manas corresponds with karmic seeds and can drive the tathāgatagarbha to manifest the five-aggregate body and realize karmic retribution.
Original text: 识与念力。为来生种。即离于识。不得法界。离于法界。亦不得识。识与风大。微妙念界受界法界。和合而迁。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna together with the manas's power of intention serves as the seed for the birth of the five-aggregate body in the next life. That is to say, apart from the Ālayavijñāna there would be no next life's five aggregates and eighteen dhātus; apart from the functioning of the manas's power of intention, there would be no next life's five aggregates and eighteen dhātus; and apart from the five aggregates and eighteen dhātus, the mysterious function of the Ālayavijñāna could not manifest either. The Ālayavijñāna, together with the wind element, the subtle dharma-realm of the manas's intention, and the dharma-realm of feeling, migrates in combination into the next life's material body.
When sentient beings die, the Ālayavijñāna, relying on the manas's power of intention, abandons this body; consciousness and the power of intention together give birth to the sentient being's intermediate-stage body (antarābhava) or the next life's material body. Because the Ālayavijñāna contains and stores the sentient being's karmic seeds and can give birth to the five-aggregate body, the Ālayavijñāna is also called the seed consciousness. The manas corresponds with the karmic seeds, so the sentient being's mental power of intention serves as the karmic seed; the two combine together and produce the next life's five-aggregate body. This shows that without the Ālayavijñāna there would be no dharma-realm of sentient beings, just as without land there would be no flowers and fruits; and apart from the sentient being's five aggregates, apart from the sentient being's eighteen dhātus, the function of the Ālayavijñāna would not manifest either.
Because the Ālayavijñāna itself is formless and colorless, even the Buddha cannot see Him; when the Buddha seeks the Ālayavijñāna, He too discovers the Ālayavijñāna's traces upon the sentient being's five-aggregate body. Then, for us who would see the mind and see the nature, how are we to realize the Ālayavijñāna? We too must seek the Ālayavijñāna's traces within the activities of the five aggregates. If there were no five aggregates and no activities of the five aggregates, the Ālayavijñāna could not manifest; to realize Him one can only start from the functions of the five aggregates. For example, if we want to realize wind, we can only find wind through its functions; from the phenomena manifested by the wind element, we know what kind of wind this is and what kind of wind that is. The Ālayavijñāna, like the wind element, is likewise invisible and can only be sought and discovered through its functions.
The Ālayavijñāna and the wind element, together with the manas's mental power of intention, plus the dharma-realm of feeling and sensation, migrate in combination onto another material body. After the Ālayavijñāna migrates onto the next life's material body, it then gives birth to the sentient being's six consciousnesses, and the dharma-realm of feeling and sensation is thereby produced; the sentient being's five aggregates are complete.
Original text: 贤护白佛言。若如是者。云何世尊。说识无色。佛言贤护。色有二种。一内二外。内谓眼识。眼则为外。如是耳识为内。耳则为外。鼻识为内。鼻则为外。舌识为内。舌则为外。身识为内。身则为外。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: If it is so, why did the World-Honored One say that the Ālayavijñāna is formless, without material characteristics? The Buddha said to Bhadrapāla: Material form is of two kinds: one is internal, the other external. The internal is the eye consciousness, which can manifest material form internally—it is wisdom's discernment; the external is the eye faculty, which externally apprehends form objects. Likewise, the ear consciousness is internal, manifesting form internally and discerning material form with wisdom; the ear faculty is external, apprehending form externally. The nose consciousness is internal, manifesting form internally and discerning material form with wisdom; the nose faculty is external, apprehending form externally. The tongue consciousness is internal, manifesting form internally and discerning material form with wisdom; the tongue faculty is external, apprehending form externally. The body consciousness is internal, manifesting form internally and discerning material form with wisdom; the body faculty is external, apprehending form externally.
Original text: 贤护。如生盲人。梦见美色。手足面目。形容姝丽。便于梦中。生大爱悦。及睡觉已。冥无所见。夜尽昼明。人众聚会。盲者遂说。梦中乐事。我见丽人。姿容殊绝。园观华茂。人众百千。严饰嬉戏。肌肤光泽。肩髆紧满。臂长而圆。犹如象鼻。我于梦中。获大快乐。适心喜叹。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, suppose a living blind person dreams at night of a beautiful woman, whose hands, feet, and facial features are extremely beautiful and dignified. In the dream, the blind person gives rise to a mind of love and delight. After waking, everything around is still dark and black, and the blind person can see nothing. When the night passes and daylight arrives, and many people gather together, the blind person tells of the joyful things in his dream, saying: I dreamed of a beautiful woman whose looks and features were supremely lovely, and there was also a splendid, magnificent garden with as many as hundreds and thousands of people in it; the beautiful woman, splendidly adorned, was playing and sporting nearby; her skin was very lustrous, her arms long and round, like an elephant's trunk. In my dream I saw the beautiful woman and felt great joy and contentment, exclaiming in delight again and again.
Original text: 贤护。此生盲人。未曾见物。云何梦中。而能见色。贤护白佛言。唯愿开示。佛告贤护。梦中见者。名内眼所。是慧分别。非肉眼见。其内眼所。以念力故。盲者梦中。须臾而现。复以念力。觉而忆之。识之内色。亦复如是。
Explanation: The Buddha said to Bhadrapāla: This person blind from birth has never seen people or scenery; how could he see form in a dream—see the garden and the beautiful woman, see the hundreds and thousands of people? Bhadrapāla replied to the Buddha: May the World-Honored One kindly explain. The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla: The form seen in the dream is seen by the internal eye consciousness; it is a discernment of wisdom, not seen by the physical eye. Because of the manas's power of intention, the blind person's mind consciousness can make the beautiful woman and the crowd appear instantly in the dream; the person blind from birth thus sees all the people and scenery in the dream. Then, again through the functioning of the manas's power of intention, he wakes from the dream and recollects all the states within it. The six consciousnesses seeing internal form is also like this.
The Buddha said that seeing form in a dream is not seen by the physical eye but is seen by the internal eye, the wisdom eye; this refers to what is seen by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) in the dream, not by the eye consciousness. Therefore, in the dream there are no five consciousnesses; only the solitary consciousness alone sees the dharma objects. The internal eye refers to the mind consciousness; it is seen by the wisdom nature of the mind consciousness, not by the eye consciousness. The form seen in the dream is likewise not seen by the eye consciousness but by the solitary consciousness, without the first five consciousnesses discerning form together.
Dreaming occurs because of the manas's object-engaging nature and the functioning of its power of intention, whereby the dream state is presented; it is driven forth by the manas's mental factors of attention, feeling, perception, and volition. After waking, the manas has the mind consciousness recollect the dream. Because sentient beings take the mind consciousness's knowing as knowing and rely on the mind consciousness to handle matters, only when the mind consciousness knows is it said to know; when the manas knows but there is something it does not know, it is said not to know. Moreover, the manas itself cannot recollect; recollection can only be done by the mind consciousness. The internal form manifested by the Ālayavijñāna is also like this: it is presented through the manas's object-engaging nature and power of intention. The Ālayavijñāna itself is formless, yet it can manifest all forms, including the forms of the five aggregates.
