The True Meaning of Receiving Perfuming and Holding Seeds

Some people say that the sixth consciousness cannot perfume the seventh consciousness, but can only perfume the eighth consciousness. Is this statement correct? The key is to look at what the purpose of the sixth consciousness's perfuming is, and whether the eighth consciousness can be perfumed. When the sixth consciousness encounters the Buddha's Dharma, it feels it is excellent, that it can eliminate ignorance and attain liberation. So it diligently studies and cultivates, single-mindedly seeking liberation. In this study and cultivation, is it perfuming the eighth consciousness, or perfuming the seventh consciousness?

When the sixth consciousness studies Buddhism and cultivates, can it perfume the eighth consciousness, making the eighth consciousness also study Buddhism and cultivate? The sixth consciousness has ignorance and wants to eliminate ignorance—can it make the eighth consciousness eliminate ignorance? Does the eighth consciousness have ignorance? The Heart Sutra says: （第八识）无无明，也无无明尽。Since the eighth consciousness has no ignorance, what would be the point of perfuming it? The eighth consciousness is unarmed, deaf, mute, and blind—how could it possibly study Buddhism and cultivate?

The eighth consciousness has no unwholesome dharmas, so how could it abandon evil and follow good the way the sixth consciousness does? The sixth consciousness wants to become a Buddha, wants liberation, wants nirvāṇa—how could the eighth consciousness have such mental activities? He Himself is the Tathāgata, He is Himself liberated and at ease, He Himself abides in the nirvāṇa realm of neither arising nor ceasing, neither moving nor still, neither coming nor going, suchness immovable—what more do you want Him to do?

Have the eighth consciousness cultivate the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment—can He understand them? Is it even necessary for Him to cultivate them? Have Him cultivate precepts, samādhi, and wisdom—He inherently possesses precepts, samādhi, and wisdom, without needing to be taught. Have Him eliminate afflictions—but He has no afflictions at all, so how could He eliminate them?

Those who want to perfume the eighth consciousness simply do not understand what the eighth consciousness is, do not know what perfuming is, or what the meaning of perfuming is. And so there are all sorts of agonizing and all sorts of deluded thinking—putting a head on top of a head, adding legs to a snake—tossing and turning for decades and still not knowing why one studies Buddhism.

The manas has been gathered together with ignorance since beginningless kalpas, entangled by ignorance. After the six consciousnesses are born, the manas transmits ignorance to the six consciousnesses, perfuming the sixth consciousness. After studying Buddhism, when the sixth consciousness awakens, it will lead the manas to awaken together with it, perfuming the manas with a little bit of enlightenment, gradually cultivating away ignorance bit by bit. In this process, when the manas is perfumed, seeds are produced and stored in the eighth consciousness for preservation, to be used in future lives. How are they used in future lives? When the conditions of the seeds ripen, they perfume the sixth consciousness again; after the sixth consciousness awakens, it studies Buddhism and cultivates, perfuming the manas again, forming new seeds that are stored in the eighth consciousness. In this way, like a rolling snowball, the seeds perfuming the manas become more and more numerous and larger and larger, ignorance becomes thinner and thinner, and finally all ignorance is completely eliminated and sentient beings become Buddhas.

The eighth consciousness, throughout this process, continuously stores and outputs the perfumed seeds—its contribution is indispensable. If there were no eighth consciousness to store seeds and output seeds, cultivation would be merely a game; even if one cultivated, it would be as good as cultivating in vain—not a single hair would be stored, and there would be no merit available for use in future lives. The process of the eighth consciousness storing seeds is called receiving perfuming and holding seeds (受熏持种).

Classical texts are not something everyone can dissect and deeply understand the meaning of. The profound Buddha-Dharma is also not something everyone can accurately fathom by mere speculation of the brain. No one should be self-righteous, thinking themselves to be this or that. To become this or that is extremely difficult, requiring immense good roots, merit, and wisdom. There are also people who say that one can cultivate to Buddhahood without using the eighth consciousness—who knows what they think they could use to become a Buddha. Not even recognizing one's own master, one's own benefactor of countless kalpas—the mind really should be opened up a bit.