Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Chapter 7: The Consciousness Is Formless and Cannot Be Seen by the Eye
Original text: 尔时会中。大药王子。从座而起。合掌白佛言。世尊。识舍于身。作何色像。佛言。善哉善哉。大药。汝今所问。是大甚深。佛之境界。唯除如来。更无能了。于是贤护胜上童真白佛言。大药王子。所问甚深。其智微妙。敏利明决。
Explanation: At that time, in the assembly there was another bodhisattva, Prince Mahauṣadha, who rose from his seat, pressed his palms together, and asked the Buddha: World-Honored One, since the Ālayavijñāna can abandon the material body, what is His appearance like? The Buddha said: Mahauṣadha, you have asked exceedingly well. What you now ask is supremely profound—it is the realm of the Buddhas. Apart from the Tathāgata, no one else can comprehend it; no one else knows it, and no one can answer this question. Thereupon the bodhisattva Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: The question asked by Prince Mahauṣadha is especially profound; his wisdom is extremely subtle, keen, and decisive, and his spiritual faculties (indriya) are very sharp.
Original text: 佛告贤护。此大药王子。已于毗婆尸佛所。植诸善根。曾于五百生中。生外道家。为外道时。常思识义。识者云何。云何为识。于五百生。不能决了。识之去来。莫知由绪。我于今日。为破疑网。令得开解。
Explanation: The Buddha told Bhadrapāla that this Prince Mahauṣadha had already planted roots of goodness at the place of Buddha Vipaśyin, and had been born into non-Buddhist (tīrthika) families for five hundred lives. When Prince Mahauṣadha was a non-Buddhist, he constantly contemplated the meaning of the Ālayavijñāna within the Buddha-Dharma; his roots of goodness were extremely deep. He constantly contemplated what the Ālayavijñāna is, what its essential nature is, and what its functions are. Through five hundred lives of contemplating these dharmas he never reached a conclusion; he did not know the marks of the Ālayavijñāna's coming and going, nor did he know where the Ālayavijñāna came from. That Prince Mahauṣadha could contemplate these dharma meanings shows that his roots of goodness were deep enough to keep him from falling into the three evil destinies for five hundred lifetimes, being born as a human life after life so as to continue contemplating these dharma meanings. Now I shall break Prince Mahauṣadha's net of doubts so that his mind may open and he may understand.
Original text: 于是贤护胜上童真。谓大药王子言。善哉善哉。仁今所问。微妙甚深。月实之问。其义浅狭。犹如孾儿。心游外境。而不知内。正法希闻。诸佛难遇。佛圆广智。无测深慧。至妙之理。应专启请。
Explanation: Thereupon the bodhisattva Bhadrapāla said to Prince Mahauṣadha: Virtuous one, you have asked exceedingly well. The question you now ask is both subtle and profound. The question asked by Bodhisattva Candrasāra was shallow and low in meaning—like an infant whose mind roams after external objects without knowing to seek inwardly for its own mind. The true Dharma is rare and hard to hear, and the Buddhas are hard to encounter and meet. The Buddha's wisdom is perfect, vast, and profound; no one can fathom His deep wondrous wisdom and His subtle principles. We should indeed single-mindedly make our inquiries.
Original text: 时大药王子。见佛熙怡。颜容舒悦。如秋莲开。踊跃欢喜。一心合掌。而白佛言。世尊。我爱深法。渴仰深法。常恐如来。入般涅槃。不闻正法。而于五浊。众生之中。愚无所知。不识善恶。于善不善。熟与不熟。不能觉了。迷惑轮转。生死苦趣。
Explanation: At that time Prince Mahauṣadha, seeing the Buddha's countenance gentle and kindly, His face relaxed and joyful like an autumn lotus in full bloom, wished to request the Buddha to proclaim the profound wondrous Dharma. With exultant joy, single-mindedly pressing his palms together, he said to the World-Honored One: World-Honored One, I love the profound Dharma and thirst for the profound Dharma, and I constantly fear that the Tathāgata will enter parinirvāṇa and I shall not hear the true Dharma. In the evil world of the five turbidities, beings' minds are foolish and dark, utterly without knowledge, not recognizing wholesome and unwholesome dharmas; as for wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, whether roots of goodness are ripe or unripe, they cannot discern them, and they wander in delusion, transmigrating through the ocean of saṃsāra and karma, unable to escape.
People with deep roots of goodness are all like Prince Mahauṣadha, thirsting for the profound wondrous Dharma in order to gain wisdom and liberation. People whose roots of goodness are not deep, were they to meet a Buddha dwelling long in the world, would give rise to laxity in their minds; or they would no longer regard the Buddha as wondrous and rarely encountered, would not give rise to profound reverence, and would not take delight and faith in the Buddha-Dharma. In order to rescue this portion of sentient beings, the Buddha chose not to dwell long in the world, lest beings become lax in their practice. As a result, as soon as the Buddha announced that he was about to enter nirvāṇa, beings hurried to inquire about the Dharma and to practice diligently, fearing they would never again receive the Buddha's guidance and instruction. For those prone to laxity, not seeing the Buddha often also has its benefits: it can arouse pure faith in seeing the Buddha, revering the Buddha, and constantly following the Buddha's learning, so that their practice of the Path can advance.
Original text: 佛告大药王子。如来正法。难遇难得。我于往昔。为半伽他。登山自坠。弃舍身命。为求正法。经历无量。百千万亿。种种苦难。大药。汝所悕望。皆恣汝问。我当为汝。分别解说。
Explanation: The Buddha told Prince Mahauṣadha that the Tathāgata's true Dharma is hard to encounter and hard to obtain: in the past, for the sake of half a gāthā (verse), he had climbed to a mountain summit and leapt down, abandoning body and life, precisely in order to seek the true Dharma; he had undergone immeasurable hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of various hardships in order to seek the Dharma and attain liberation. Mahauṣadha, whatever subtle profound Dharma you hope for, ask as you wish, and I shall explain it for you in detail.
When the World-Honored One cultivated the path and sought the Dharma in past lives, giving up his body for the sake of half a verse, it was because Śakra Devānām Indra of the desire-realm heaven wished to test whether the World-Honored One's resolve to seek the Dharma was firm, and said to the Buddha: I have half a verse; if you wish to hear it, you must give me your body to allay my hunger. The Buddha made a vow and consented, exchanging his life for half a verse of the Buddha-Dharma—showing how sincere and wholehearted the World-Honored One's mind seeking the Dharma was at that time. The World-Honored One possessed great wisdom and knew that the value of half a verse was beyond measure, while life counted for little: for immeasurable kalpas, life after life, sentient beings have squandered so many lives in vain and to no benefit; now that there is Buddha-Dharma to be heard and an opportunity for liberation, giving up one's life is most worthwhile.
Original text: 大药王子白佛言。唯然奉教。世尊。识相云何。愿垂开示。佛告大药。如人影像。现之于水。此像不可执持。非有无辨。如刍洛迦形。如渴爱像。
Explanation: Prince Mahauṣadha said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, I gladly accept your teaching; I hope you will reveal to me what the appearance of the Ālayavijñāna is. The Buddha told Prince Mahauṣadha: It is like the reflection of a person appearing in water—this reflection cannot be grasped or held; the hand cannot touch it, nor can it be scooped out. One cannot say this reflection truly exists, nor can one say it does not exist at all: say it exists, yet it cannot be held and has no such function; say it does not exist, yet it can be seen. Therefore He cannot be distinguished by means of existence and non-existence, because existence and non-existence are worldly marks, whereas the Ālayavijñāna has no worldly marks; hence one cannot say of Him that He exists or that He does not exist. It is like the form of a spirit and the image of craving: a spirit has no form yet has function; craving has no image yet can grasp at marks. The Ālayavijñāna is likewise: formless and without marks, having no appearance, yet able to manifest the reflections of the myriad dharmas.
The body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) is a reflection manifested by the Ālayavijñāna; the myriad dharmas are shadows transformed by the Ālayavijñāna; the five aggregates and eighteen realms are all shadows. These shadows cannot be grasped or held, cannot be held onto, vanishing in an instant. Say they exist, yet they are subject to arising and ceasing, illusory transformations, like the moon in water and shadows on the ground; say they do not exist, yet they have the functions of the five aggregates. All dharmas are shadows: you cannot say the myriad dharmas do not exist, yet although they exist, they are not real, like a mirage.
Craving means harboring immense hope in the mind; this mind has no shape or form, yet it has the mind's function and can give rise to false appearances. The Ālayavijñāna is likewise: He has function but no appearance to be seen. All dharmas are reflections in water, images in a mirror. The Ālayavijñāna is like the water, like the mirror: He can reflect the shadows of all dharmas, yet not a single dharma can be grasped.
Original text: 大药王子白佛言。世尊。云何渴爱。佛言。如人对可意色。眼根趣之。名为渴爱。犹持明镜。视己面像。若去于镜。面像不见。识之迁运。亦复如是。善恶业形。与识色像。皆不可见。
Explanation: Prince Mahauṣadha said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, what is craving? The Buddha said: It is like a person facing an agreeable form-object\: the eye faculty rushes toward it—this is called craving. It is like a person holding a bright mirror, gazing at his own face in it; if the mirror is removed, the facial image is gone and can no longer be seen. The movement and operation of the Ālayavijñāna upon the material body is also like this. The Ālayavijñāna is like the mirror, manifesting the five-aggregate body; apart from the Ālayavijñāna there is no manifestation of the five-aggregate body. Sentient beings' karmic seeds of wholesome and unwholesome deeds have no shape or form, and the Ālayavijñāna likewise has no material appearance; the eye faculty cannot see either.
Original text: 如生盲人。日出日没。昼夜明闇。皆悉不知。识莫能见。亦复如是。身中渴爱。受想不可见。
Explanation: It is like a person blind from birth: the sun's rising and setting, day and night, light and darkness—the blind person knows none of them at all. That sentient beings cannot see the Ālayavijñāna is the same principle. The Ālayavijñāna has His own true functions, yet has no shape or form for sentient beings to behold. That within one's own body there is craving, feeling, and perception—sentient beings likewise cannot behold them.
Longing to obtain and hoping to obtain is craving. Sentient beings have the mind of craving, the mind of hoping, the mind of seeking; this craving mind is formless and without marks. By this analogy, the Ālayavijñāna is likewise formless and without marks. Just as when a person faces a form he likes the eye faculty rushes toward it, so when one likes people and affairs one has experienced, the manas rushes toward them, and the mind consciousness begins to recall, recollect, reminisce, look ahead, and hope—this is the mark of craving, which the eye faculty cannot see. The Ālayavijñāna is likewise formless and without marks, yet He can transfer all dharmas into the mind; all dharma-marks are brought forth by the Ālayavijñāna's operation. Although the wholesome and unwholesome karma created by sentient beings is formless and without marks, it is stored away as seeds; the seeds are formless and without marks, and the material appearance of the Ālayavijñāna is likewise invisible, having no appearance whatsoever.
Original text: 身之诸大。诸入诸阴。彼皆是识。诸有色体。眼耳鼻舌及身。色声香味触等。并无色体。受苦乐心。皆亦是识。
Explanation: The four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind in the material body, as well as the element of space and the element of consciousness, were transferred here by the Ālayavijñāna, delivered forth by the Ālayavijñāna; to see the great elements is tantamount to seeing the Ālayavijñāna—only He cannot be seen by the eye. The sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana)—the eye base, ear base, nose base, tongue base, body base, and mind base—were transferred by the Ālayavijñāna; the five aggregates—aggregate of form, aggregate of feeling, aggregate of perception, aggregate of volitional formations, and aggregate of consciousness—were transferred by the Ālayavijñāna; in essence they are all the Ālayavijñāna, and all their functions are entirely the functions of the Ālayavijñāna. The eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, and body faculty were all transferred by the Ālayavijñāna; form, sound, smell, taste, and touch were transferred by the Ālayavijñāna; the formless consciousness-minds, the six consciousnesses that can feel suffering and bliss, were all transferred by the Ālayavijñāna—all these dharmas are functions of the Ālayavijñāna.
The eye faculty is manifested by the Ālayavijñāna outputting the four great-element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; the form seen by the eye faculty is manifested by the Ālayavijñāna outputting the four great-element seeds; the eye consciousness produced when the two make contact is formed by the Ālayavijñāna outputting consciousness seeds. Thus, of course, all dharmas are the Ālayavijñāna. The aggregate of form is composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind and is a function of the Ālayavijñāna; the aggregate of feeling is the feeling of the six consciousnesses; the aggregate of perception is the perception of the six consciousnesses; the aggregate of volitional formations is the volitional activity of the six consciousnesses; the aggregate of consciousness is the conscious nature of the six consciousnesses—all are generated by the Ālayavijñāna outputting consciousness seeds, all are functions of the Ālayavijñāna.
All entities possessing form are material forms composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. For example, the five faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, as well as the form objects, sound objects, smell objects, taste objects, touch objects, and dharma objects that the five faculties and the manas confront, are material forms composed of the four great-element seeds; all are manifested by the Ālayavijñāna outputting the four great-element seeds, all are functions of the Ālayavijñāna. Apart from form there are the formless mind-dharmas of the six consciousnesses, formed by the Ālayavijñāna outputting the element-of-consciousness seeds; all are functions of the Ālayavijñāna, including all the functions and activities of the six consciousness-minds—all are functions of the Ālayavijñāna.
No dharma can be separated from the Ālayavijñāna. Then who is the master? The Ālayavijñāna is the master. In the worlds of the ten directions and the Buddha-lands, who is the king? The Ālayavijñāna is the king. Material dharmas and mental dharmas are all the Ālayavijñāna. That is why the Buddha praised Prince Mahauṣadha's question as profoundly deep. Without having cultivated the seed-wisdom of the bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, one cannot, through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), realize that all dharmas are the Ālayavijñāna. After seeing the mind, when one contemplates the myriad dharmas, material dharmas are material dharmas, mental dharmas are mental dharmas, and the Ālayavijñāna is the Ālayavijñāna—each has its own function; one will not attribute the functions of the myriad dharmas entirely to the Ālayavijñāna. In reality they are all the single substance of the Ālayavijñāna; it is He Himself playing with Himself. All dharmas one comes into contact with are oneself, are the Ālayavijñāna; oneself is the Ālayavijñāna, and all the dharmas one contacts are also the Ālayavijñāna; the whole is the Ālayavijñāna—this is the one true dharma-realm.
What the six consciousnesses see is all transformed by the Ālayavijñāna: the form seen is manifested by the Ālayavijñāna, the eye faculty is manifested by the Ālayavijñāna, and the eye consciousness that sees form is manifested by the Ālayavijñāna—then is there a self? No; the whole is the Ālayavijñāna. Our bodies are manifested by the Ālayavijñāna, all the dharmas we contact are manifested by the Ālayavijñāna, and our consciousness-minds are manifested by the Ālayavijñāna—what of ourselves is there? Are there the five aggregates? What are the five aggregates? They are just the Ālayavijñāna. What are the eighteen realms? They are entirely the Ālayavijñāna. Where is there a self? Yet the manas still clings, thinking "this is what I did, that is mine"—but where is there a manas? The manas is manifested by the Ālayavijñāna; in essence it too is the Ālayavijñāna.
If contemplative practice is carried through to the very end in this way, one can realize no-self; as the realization of no-self grows ever deeper, complete no-self is Buddhahood. Prajñā wisdom must be developed and advanced in this direction; as this wisdom grows ever deeper, it becomes the Consciousness-Only seed-wisdom. But there are prerequisites: the conditions for being a bodhisattva, such as meditative concentration (samādhi) and merit, must be complete, and the bodhisattva's six perfections must be cultivated to fullness. This conclusion has been presented here, but without the process of verification in between, it is not yet one's own possession. Only when there is a process of verification, and the results are all realized through that verification, does the Buddha-Dharma truly become one's own; then body and mind are completely turned around. After body and mind have been transformed, consciousness is transformed into wisdom, and finally one becomes a Buddha.
Original text: 大药。如人舌得食物。知甜苦辛。酸醎涩等。六味皆辨。舌与食物。俱有形色。而味无形。又因身骨髓肉血。觉知诸受。骨等有形。受无形色。知识福非福果。亦复如是。
Explanation: Mahauṣadha, when a person's tongue faculty makes contact with food, he knows the food's six tastes—sweet, bitter, pungent, sour, salty, and astringent; the tongue consciousness can discern all these taste objects. The function of the tongue consciousness is precisely to distinguish and differentiate taste objects; wherever there is consciousness, there is the nature of discrimination and discernment. The tongue faculty and the food both have shape and color—both are material forms composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind—but the taste objects of sweet, bitter, pungent, sour, salty, and astringent that are tasted are formless.
Furthermore, because there is a material body, with bones, flesh, and blood, the consciousness-mind can feel all the sensations on the material body—such as pain, comfort, and tranquility, or feelings of cold, hunger, and thirst. Without a material body, could there be feeling? No. If the body faculty does not make contact with touch objects, the consciousness-mind will not arise, and there is no function of feeling. Bones, flesh, blood, and so forth have shape and color; they are material forms composed of the four great elements, whereas the consciousness-mind that feels has no shape or color, and the feeling of the consciousness-mind is likewise formless and colorless. Therefore one should know that the Ālayavijñāna's fruits of merit and fruits of non-merit are likewise formless and colorless.
Original text: 时。贤护胜上童真。礼佛双足。白佛言。世尊。此识可知。福非福耶。佛言善听。非未见谛。而能见识。识不可视。非如掌中。阿摩勒果。识不在于。眼等之中。若识在于。眼等之中。剖破眼等。应当见识。
Explanation: At that time the bodhisattva Bhadrapāla bowed at the Buddha's two feet and asked the Buddha: World-Honored One, does this Ālayavijñāna contain the fruit of merit, or does it not contain the fruit of merit? The Buddha said: Listen carefully, Bhadrapāla. One who has not realized the true principle cannot realize the Ālayavijñāna and cannot know and see the Ālayavijñāna. The Ālayavijñāna cannot be seen with the eye; the eye consciousness cannot see Him. The Ālayavijñāna is not like an āmalaka fruit in the palm of the hand that the eye consciousness can see. The Ālayavijñāna is not within the eye faculty, nor within the ear faculty, nor within the nose faculty, nor within the tongue faculty, nor within the body faculty. If the Ālayavijñāna were within the five faculties such as the eye faculty, then cutting open the eye faculty and the rest, one should be able to see the Ālayavijñāna—but in fact the Ālayavijñāna cannot be seen.
"One who has not seen the truth cannot see the consciousness"—this "truth" refers to the true principle, reality. For the Small Vehicle, "truth" refers to the truth of the Four Noble Truths; for the Great Vehicle, "truth" refers to the Ālayavijñāna, the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, the mind of ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta). One who has not realized the tathāgatagarbha cannot see this consciousness; and this "seeing" does not mean seeing with the eye—it means realizing. "One who has not seen the truth cannot see the consciousness" means that only when you have seen the truth and realized ultimate reality can you "see" this consciousness—but it is still not what the physical eye sees.
Realizing the Ālayavijñāna means that, on the level of function, you know these are functions performed by the Ālayavijñāna; to clearly understand the functions of the Ālayavijñāna is to realize Him—it does not mean seeing Him with the eyes. For example, realizing the wind: knowing that wind has arisen does not mean seeing the wind; rather, one recognizes the wind through the functions it performs, knowing of the wind's arrival. When the wind blows over and you see the leaves moving, you know there is wind, yet you cannot see the wind. Likewise, when we realize the operation of the Ālayavijñāna upon the five-aggregate body and know how He operates and functions, that is realizing the Ālayavijñāna. But can we see the Ālayavijñāna? No, we cannot; consciousness cannot be seen. One can only realize Him through His functions, knowing what functions He performs and how the operations behind them work.
When realizing the Ālayavijñāna, one must know how He functions and what functions He performs. Amid the combined operation of the eight consciousnesses, one must know which function is manifested by Him; the eight consciousnesses must be differentiated one by one. For example, when our eyes see form, there is the eye consciousness, the mind consciousness, the manas, and the eighth consciousness. If it is said that the Ālayavijñāna's function is present here, then one must be able to point it out—what exactly is the function He performs, and how specifically does He operate? Realizing the Ālayavijñāna also requires knowing where exactly He is, how He operates, and how He coordinates with the seven consciousnesses and the five aggregates. One can know the coarse and shallow operations of the Ālayavijñāna, but the subtle operations must, in subsequent practice, be further carefully observed and contemplated before one can observe the Ālayavijñāna's even more subtle operations. For instance, when the Sixth Patriarch, Master Huineng, attained the Way, he awakened to the five [exclamations of] "how unforeseen is self-nature (svabhāva)"; only because he had already come to know some of the details within could he utter those five exclamations of "how unforeseen is self-nature."
In the discriminating nature of the six sense objects, the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses must function, and the true mind must also function. Only after we have the ability to separate the respective functions of the eight consciousnesses can we realize the Ālayavijñāna. In the combined operation of the true and the deluded within the five aggregates, observing the functions of the Ālayavijñāna through direct perception is realization. The functions of each of the consciousnesses are realized by the mind consciousness and the manas.
The five consciousnesses cannot realize it, because the five consciousnesses cannot see the Ālayavijñāna. Therefore the Buddha said consciousness cannot be seen—it is not like placing an āmalaka fruit in the palm of the hand where it can be seen. The āmalaka fruit has shape and color, whereas the Ālayavijñāna is formless and colorless; the eye consciousness can only see fruits that have shape and color, and cannot see the formless, colorless consciousness-mind. There is no Ālayavijñāna inside the eyes; if there were an Ālayavijñāna inside the eyes, then cutting the eyes open one should be able to find the Ālayavijñāna. If the Ālayavijñāna were inside the body, then slicing the body open piece by piece one should also be able to find the Ālayavijñāna—but in fact it cannot be found. Even the World-Honored One himself cannot see the material appearance of the consciousness; one can only perceive the functions He performs.
Original text: 贤护。恒沙诸佛。见识无色。我亦如是。见识无色。识非凡愚。之所能见。但以譬喻。而开显耳。贤护。欲知识之罪福。汝今当听。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges have all realized the Ālayavijñāna and all know that the Ālayavijñāna is without material appearance. I am also like this: I have realized the Ālayavijñāna and know that the Ālayavijñāna is without material appearance. The Ālayavijñāna is not something ordinary fools can see; I can only use various analogies to reveal and demonstrate the Ālayavijñāna. Bhadrapāla, if you wish to know the karmas of fault and merit contained within the Ālayavijñāna, you should now listen carefully.
Original text: 譬如有人。为诸天神。或乾闼婆等。及塞建陀等。鬼神所著。贤护。于意云何。其为天等。鬼神所著。其着之体。求于身中。可得见不。贤护白佛言。不也。世尊。天等鬼神所著。其着之体。无色无形。身内外求。皆不可见。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Suppose there is a person possessed and controlled by certain devas, or by gandharvas and other non-humans, or by ghosts and spirits such as Skanda. Bhadrapāla, what do you think? If this person is possessed by a deva or by ghosts and spirits, can you see, on this person's body, the material bodies of those ghosts, spirits, and non-humans? The bodhisattva Bhadrapāla replied to the Buddha: No, World-Honored One. When non-humans and ghosts and spirits attach themselves to a person's body, they are formless and colorless; whether sought within or outside the human body, they cannot be seen.
When the Buddha teaches the Dharma he often uses analogies, because analogies are vivid and sentient beings can easily understand them. When ghosts and spirits possess someone, the mind clearly knows there are ghosts and spirits, yet no one can see them. By the same principle, the Ālayavijñāna also operates within the five aggregates and likewise cannot be seen, yet He truly exists and operates. It is just like ghosts and spirits possessing the five aggregates: after possession, the ghosts and spirits direct the five aggregates—whatever they order, the five aggregates do; the five aggregates must obey the ghosts' and spirits' commands. Whose commands do we sentient beings obey? We obey the commands of the Ālayavijñāna, and the Ālayavijñāna accords with the manas.
We should understand: in the walking, standing, sitting, and lying down of the five-aggregate body, who is it that functions? It is the eight consciousnesses functioning in combination. Without the eight consciousnesses, the body could not walk, stand, sit, or lie down; without the eight consciousnesses one could not sit still—lying down, one would be just a pile of dead flesh. Therefore only when the eight consciousnesses are present in the material body can it walk, stand, sit, and lie down, greet and see off guests, dress and eat.
Original text: 贤护。其为福胜。诸大天神。之所著者。即须好香花。烧众名香。香美饮食。清净安置。祭解供具。咸须华洁。如是此识。为福资者。便获尊贵。安乐之果。或为人王。或为辅相。或豪望贵重。或财富自在。或为诸长。或作大商主。或得天身。受天胜果。由识为福资。身获乐报。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, if the ones possessing this person's material body are devas, then fragrant beautiful flowers must be arranged, many precious incenses burned, fragrant fine food and drink prepared, the surroundings kept spotlessly clean, and clean offering implements for worshiping the devas set out—all splendid and pure, because devas love cleanliness and pure beauty. The Ālayavijñāna is also like this: nourished by meritorious karma and containing the meritorious fruits of wholesome karma, the Ālayavijñāna enables the five-aggregate body to obtain a retribution of honor, stability, and happiness—perhaps becoming a king or emperor, perhaps a chief minister or high official, perhaps born into a family of prestige and nobility, perhaps a great wealthy elder with wealth at his free command, perhaps a great merchant lord, prosperous and distinguished, perhaps ascending to heaven to enjoy blessings as a deva. All these result from the karmic seeds of merit stored in the Ālayavijñāna: nourished by merit, the Ālayavijñāna manifests a body of meritorious retribution to enjoy a happy retribution.
Devas love incense, love purity, love splendor. The person possessed must frequently burn incense for fragrance; the food and drink are all fragrant and fine, and especially clean. Those who, when a deva's life ends, are reborn among humans almost all have a compulsion for cleanliness—they have brought the devas' habitual tendencies with them. Their hands are washed countless times a day, and their living environments are extremely fastidious. In fact, those bacteria cannot be washed away, but they do not know this; they simply wash out of habit—washing clothes constantly, wiping tables constantly, permitting not a speck of dust. This is the cleanliness compulsion developed in heaven, the habitual tendency of devas who love cleanliness.
If a person has been reborn from a pig or dog, look at what a pig's or dog's living environment is like—the person's home will be about the same; from this one can judge what kind of being this person was in a past life and from which destiny he was reborn. Further, from a person's habitual tendencies one can judge what kind of being he was in his past life. If his appearance is extremely, extremely thin, with a long face, one can roughly judge what kind of being this person was in a past life. At the time of death, observing his appearance and the habitual tendencies and dispositions of his life, one can also roughly judge into which destiny he will be reborn.
If a person, even into old age, remains greedy and stingy, unwilling to give the slightest thing to others, one knows beyond doubt that this person will go to the destiny of the hungry ghosts. Most people, after death, generally go to the ghost destiny, because most sentient beings are miserly and greedy, resonating with the beings of the ghost destiny, and so they become ghosts. Most beings in the human destiny have also been reborn from the three evil destinies, because the habitual tendencies of most beings accord with the three evil destinies.
Original text: 如彼福胜。天神所著。得胜妙花香。香美饮食。便即欢喜。病者安隐。今得尊贵。豪富自在。当知皆是。由福资识。身获乐果。
Explanation: If devas of relatively superior merit come to possess his body, and the person accords with the devas' retribution, this person enjoys superior wondrous flower fragrance and fragrant fine food and drink, and his mind is extraordinarily joyful. If the possessed person formerly had an illness, at this time the illness is gone, because devas and heavenly beings never have illness and thus will not let this person fall ill again. The possessed person now obtains the retribution of wealth, honor, and ease; know that this is all the result of the meritorious karma he created in the past nourishing the Ālayavijñāna, enabling his present five-aggregate body to obtain a happy retribution.
Original text: 贤护。其为富丹那等。下恶鬼神。之所著者。便爱粪垢。腐败涕唾。诸不净物。以此祭解。欢喜病愈。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, if a person is possessed by inferior evil ghosts and spirits such as Pūtanas, this being loves filthy excrement, rotten and stinking mucus and saliva, and all impure things. If these impure things are used to make offerings to the ghosts and spirits, this person's suffering of illness will vanish, because the ghosts and spirits can repay him, curing his illness with supernatural powers. Those evil ghosts of meager merit must even scramble for a mouthful of phlegm spat out by a human; saliva is a delicacy for ghosts and spirits, mucus is also a delicacy for them, and in places of excrement and filth there are ghosts without merit who come to devour it. These ghosts and spirits of meager merit all received this retribution because, while alive as humans, they were unwilling to practice generosity (dāna) and were miserly by nature.
Original text: 其人以鬼神力。随鬼神欲。爱乐不净。臭朽粪秽。识以罪资。亦复如是。或生贫穷。或生饿鬼。及诸食秽。畜生之中。种种恶趣。由罪资识。身获苦果。
Explanation: If a person is controlled by ghosts and spirits, whatever the ghosts and spirits want done through his body he does, and whatever the ghosts and spirits like he likes, completely obeying their dictates, loving impure, stinking, rotten filth such as excrement. When sentient beings create unwholesome karma, the seeds of that karma are stored in the Ālayavijñāna; the sentient beings manifested by the Ālayavijñāna are likewise—they love lowly, base, filthy places of excrement. Because this person did not cultivate merit, there is no meritorious karma in his Ālayavijñāna, only unwholesome karma; this will cause the being to be born either into a poor family, or into the destiny of the hungry ghosts to devour foul and filthy things, or into the animal destiny—animals too eat entirely filthy food and drink. Birth into these three evil destinies is all the result of unwholesome karma nourishing the Ālayavijñāna; the Ālayavijñāna then makes his five-aggregate body obtain such woeful, painful retribution.
Original text: 贤护。胜上天神。其着之体。无质无形。而受种种。香洁供养。识福无形。受胜乐报。亦复如是。富丹那等。下恶鬼神。为彼著者。便受不净。秽恶饮食。识资罪业。获诸苦报。亦复如是。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, when sentient beings are possessed by devas of superior retribution, the devas on the human body are formless and without marks, yet they can receive offerings of flowers and clean food and drink. Similarly, the Ālayavijñāna containing seeds of merit and virtue is also formless and without marks, yet He can enable sentient beings to receive superior happy retribution. When sentient beings are possessed by inferior evil ghosts such as Pūtanas, they love impure, stinking food and drink. When sentient beings create unwholesome karma, it is likewise the seeds of unwholesome karma nourishing the Ālayavijñāna, causing sentient beings to obtain painful retribution—just like those inferior evil ghosts possessing a human body: the person then accords with the inferior evil ghosts, receiving those vile retributions, the retribution of consuming filthy, impure food and drink.
Original text: 贤护。当知识无形质。如天等鬼神所著之体。供具饮食。所获好恶。如资罪福。得苦乐报。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, you should know that the Ālayavijñāna is formless and colorless, just as the bodies of possessing devas and possessing ghosts and spirits cannot be seen. The food, drink, and offering implements obtained, whether good or bad, and the differences between the unwholesome karma and meritorious fruits received, are all the result of sentient beings' karmas of fault and merit nourishing the Ālayavijñāna, whereby sentient beings obtain painful or happy retribution. Whether sentient beings create evil, unwholesome karma or wholesome, meritorious karma, the retributions they receive differ accordingly.
