The True Meaning of Perfuming and Seed-Holding

Some say the sixth consciousness cannot influence the seventh consciousness, but can only influence the eighth consciousness. Is this statement correct? The key lies in understanding the purpose of the sixth consciousness's influence and whether the eighth consciousness can be influenced. When the sixth consciousness encounters the Buddha Dharma, it finds it beneficial, capable of eliminating ignorance and attaining liberation. Thus, it diligently studies and practices, single-mindedly seeking liberation. In this process of study and practice, is it influencing the eighth consciousness or the seventh consciousness?

Can the sixth consciousness, through studying and practicing Buddhism, influence the eighth consciousness, causing it to also study and practice Buddhism? The sixth consciousness has ignorance and seeks to eliminate it; can it cause the eighth consciousness to eliminate ignorance? Does the eighth consciousness have ignorance? The Heart Sutra states that (the eighth consciousness) has no ignorance nor extinction of ignorance. Since the eighth consciousness has no ignorance, what is the purpose of influencing it? The eighth consciousness is equipped with nothing, unable to hear, speak, or see. How could it possibly study and practice Buddhism?

The eighth consciousness has no unwholesome dharmas; how could it abandon the unwholesome and embrace the wholesome like the sixth consciousness? The sixth consciousness aspires to become a Buddha, seeks liberation and nirvana; how could the eighth consciousness possess such mental activities? It is itself the Tathagata, liberation itself, inherently abiding in the state of nirvana — unborn, unceasing, unmoving, unstill, uncoming, ungoing — eternally thus and unmoving. What more could one expect from it?

If asked to practice the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment, would the eighth consciousness understand? Is it necessary for it to practice? If asked to cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom, it inherently possesses them without needing instruction. If asked to eliminate afflictions, it has no afflictions whatsoever — how could it eliminate them?

Those who seek to influence the eighth consciousness fundamentally fail to understand what the eighth consciousness is, what influence means, or the significance of such influence. Consequently, they indulge in various sorrows and delusions, making superfluous additions, like adding legs to a snake. They struggle for decades, yet still fail to grasp the true purpose of studying Buddhism.

The mental faculty (manas, the seventh consciousness) has been bound by ignorance since beginningless time. After giving rise to the six consciousnesses, the mental faculty transmits ignorance to them, influencing the sixth consciousness. After studying Buddhism, when the sixth consciousness gains enlightenment, it will lead the mental faculty towards enlightenment, gradually illuminating it and eradicating its ignorance bit by bit. In this process, as the mental faculty is influenced, seeds are formed and stored within the eighth consciousness for future use. How are they used in future lives? When the conditions for the seeds ripen, they influence the sixth consciousness again. The sixth consciousness, upon regaining awareness, studies and practices Buddhism, influencing the mental faculty anew, forming fresh seeds which are stored in the eighth consciousness. Thus, like a snowball rolling, the seeds influencing the mental faculty accumulate more and more, growing larger and larger, while ignorance becomes thinner and thinner, until finally all ignorance is completely eradicated, and sentient beings attain Buddhahood.

Within this process, the eighth consciousness continuously receives and outputs the influenced seeds, playing an indispensable role. Without the eighth consciousness storing and outputting seeds, spiritual practice would be merely a game — whatever is practiced would be in vain, leaving nothing behind, with no merit available for future lives. The process of the eighth consciousness storing seeds is called the process of receiving and preserving seeds (vāsanā).

Classical texts cannot be deciphered or deeply understood by everyone. Profound Buddha Dharma cannot be accurately grasped through mere intellectual speculation; no one should be self-righteous, thinking they know it all. Achieving genuine understanding and realization is extremely difficult, requiring immense roots of goodness, merit, and wisdom. There are also those who claim one can attain Buddhahood without involving the eighth consciousness. It is unclear what they propose to use instead. When one fails to recognize one’s own master, the benefactor of countless eons, it is indeed time to gain enlightenment.