How Does the Ālayavijñāna Transfer the Body

Original text: 贤护白佛言。世尊。众生虽知有识。如宝闭在箧中。不显不知。世尊。不知此识。作何形状。何故名识。众生死时。手足乱动。眼色变异。制不自由。诸根丧灭。诸大乖离。识迁于身。去至何所。自性如何。作何色相。云何舍离此身。更受余身。

Explanation: Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, although sentient beings know that there is a consciousness, it is like a jewel locked away in a box—unmanifest and unknown. World-Honored One, we do not know what shape this consciousness takes, or why it is named 'consciousness.' When sentient beings die, their hands and feet thrash about, the color of their eyes changes, and they can no longer control themselves. The faculties gradually perish, the four great elements separate from one another, and the ālayavijñāna leaves the body. Where does He go? What is the intrinsic nature of the ālayavijñāna like? Does He have any form or appearance? Why does He leave this physical body and take up another body?"

Among Buddhist practitioners, there are two kinds of understanding regarding this consciousness. One is knowing only that the six consciousnesses exist, including the mind consciousness; the other is knowing that, in addition to the six consciousnesses, there is also an ālayavijñāna. Of these two—the mind consciousness and the ālayavijñāna—which one is the jewel described here? Because the six consciousnesses cannot manifest all dharmas, the six consciousnesses are not the maṇi jewel. The jewel that can be called the maṇi jewel refers to the ālayavijñāna, which gives rise to the myriad dharmas. The ālayavijñāna is like a jewel locked away in a box, and this box refers to the body of the five aggregates. Because He is hidden within the body of the five aggregates, this jewel is not discovered by sentient beings. In fact, this jewel is constantly radiating brilliant light; it is only that sentient beings themselves do not know it. It is not that the jewel fails to manifest, but rather that sentient beings' minds are obscured by the five aggregates. It is because sentient beings' minds have ignorance that creates obscuration that they cannot see this treasure within their own bodies. He has always been radiating brilliant light within the five-aggregate bodies of sentient beings, illuminating everything; it is only that, because sentient beings have ignorance, the ālayavijñāna remains hidden within the five-aggregate body and goes undetected. In truth, the jewel itself has never been locked away or concealed.

Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla asks what the form and appearance of the ālayavijñāna is: does this consciousness have a shape? Does it have length or shortness, squareness or roundness, size, or color? Is it like the six sense objects in worldly phenomena—having sound, color, form, scent, taste, touch, or mental objects? What is its characteristic appearance, and why is it called the ālayavijñāna? When sentient beings die, the ālayavijñāna certainly must separate from the body. However, some sentient beings, at the time of death, thrash their hands and feet about in agony—these are sentient beings who have committed unwholesome karma. Their dying appearance is rather unsightly, and their death is more painful; because of the pain, their hands and feet thrash and struggle incessantly.