How Do the Seven Consciousnesses Transform Defilement into Purity?

The name Ālayavijñāna is used by sentient beings before the eighth bhūmi; after the eighth bhūmi, it is renamed and called the vipākavijñāna (consciousness of maturation). The name Ālayavijñāna indicates that within sentient beings' tathāgatagarbha there still exist the karmic seeds of the afflictions of the seven consciousnesses and the seeds of their afflictive habitual tendencies. These seeds are all subject to arising, ceasing, and change; combined with the unarising-and-unceasing tathāgatagarbha, they constitute the Ālayavijñāna, which is neither arising nor ceasing. If the arising-and-ceasing karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses contained within the Ālayavijñāna are extinguished, and the seven consciousnesses have eradicated their afflictions as well as their afflictive habitual tendencies, then the Ālayavijñāna is renamed the vipākavijñāna.

Cultivation is precisely about transforming the defiled nature of the seven consciousnesses, removing the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion of the seven consciousnesses along with their afflictive habitual tendencies, removing ignorance, gradually transforming the defiled nature of the seven consciousnesses' minds, and gradually increasing their purity. In this cultivation, one must rely on the eighth consciousness, clearly recognize the nature of the eighth consciousness, realize the eighth consciousness, and then contemplate the purity of the eighth consciousness and its untainted-and-conditioned nature (anāsrava-saṃskṛta). Then the seven consciousnesses can be influenced and permeated by it, and can gradually draw close to the purity of the eighth consciousness, no longer greedily clinging to the illusory worldly dharmas; the seven consciousnesses can then attain liberation and accomplish the Buddha Way. Among these, realizing the eighth consciousness is extremely crucial: only by realizing the eighth consciousness can one know the true reality of the dharmadhātu, eradicate the grasping on self and the grasping on dharmas, and ultimately attain buddhahood.