The Eighth Consciousness and Nirvāṇa without Remainder: Neither One Nor Different

A dharma that has entering and exiting is a dharma of arising, ceasing, and change; it is not an everlasting dharma. Therefore, the eighth consciousness neither enters nirvāṇa without remainder nor exits nirvāṇa without remainder. The eighth consciousness is not within nirvāṇa without remainder, nor is it outside nirvāṇa without remainder; it is neither identical to nor different from nirvāṇa without remainder.

The eighth consciousness is a dharma abandoned by the worldly; it does not keep company with any worldly dharmas. After all the worldly dharmas—the five aggregates and the eighteen realms—have ceased, the eighth consciousness does not cease along with them; it abides independently and at ease. That is why nirvāṇa without remainder exists; otherwise, even nirvāṇa without remainder would not exist. If, after the five aggregates and the eighteen realms ceased, everything were simply finished and nothing existed at all, then there would be no future lives and no lives after those. After the five aggregates and the eighteen realms arise, the eighth consciousness does not arise along with them, because the eighth consciousness originally exists, already fully present, and need not be born.