Explanation of the Mahayana Manifestation of Consciousness Sutra

Bhadrapāla addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, sentient beings, though aware of the existence of consciousness, are like a treasure locked within a box—it remains unmanifested and unknown. World-Honored One, what is the form of this consciousness? Why is it called consciousness? When sentient beings die, their limbs thrash chaotically, their eyes change in appearance, and they lose self-control. Their faculties perish, the elements become disordered, and consciousness departs from the body. To where does it go? What is its inherent nature? What form does it take? How does it abandon this body to receive another?"

"The eyes change in appearance and lose self-control" refers to the eyes becoming clouded because the eye-consciousness is gradually withdrawing from the body. At this time, the Ālayavijñāna and the mental faculty (manas) are also about to depart successively. The dying person wishes to see their family and loved ones but can no longer see them. The eye-consciousness ceases to function beyond their control, yet the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) has not vanished; awareness remains. At this point, vision becomes increasingly blurred until finally, sight is completely lost. The ears also cease to hear sounds. These functions gradually extinguish. The dying person knows death is approaching yet is utterly powerless to prevent it.

The mental faculty (manas), which was previously capable of exercising control, why can it no longer do so now? The manas was always asserting "I want this," "I don't want that," seeking to govern this and control that. But at this moment, it is helpless. This is called being swept along by karma. When the karma for death manifests, the manas is fundamentally powerless. What, then, is in control? In reality, it is still the force of karma. And where does this karma come from? It arises from the karmic seeds stored within the Ālayavijñāna, accumulated from the actions performed by the five aggregates (skandhas), which are then projected and manifest. That is to say, ultimately, it is the Ālayavijñāna that is truly in control. Based on the karmic seeds, it generates the corresponding five aggregates. Thus, sentient beings possess the five aggregates they have, making the Ālayavijñāna the true master.

The manas is merely a superficial, false master. It can only exert control over minor matters. When true mastery is required, it proves incapable. At the moment of death, the manas does not wish to die, yet it must die nonetheless. When experiencing the results of negative karma, it does not wish to suffer them, yet it must endure them regardless, utterly powerless in these matters. However, it is the manas, driven by ignorance, that governs the actions performed by the five-aggregate body. Therefore, the karmic results are ultimately determined by the manas.

"The faculties perish, the elements become disordered." After the physical body dies, the eye faculty ceases to function. The Ālayavijñāna can no longer manifest visual objects (rūpa) through the eye faculty, and the internal visual objects also vanish. Consequently, eye-consciousness can no longer arise, for consciousness arises from the contact between faculty and object. The gross physical sense organ (gross sense faculty) fails, and the subtle sense faculty at the back of the head also fails. Can external visual objects still enter? They cannot, because the faculty can no longer perform its conductive function.

Without internal visual objects, there is no eye-consciousness, so the person cannot see people. The same applies to the ear faculty: it too deteriorates. Though the shape of the ear remains, the conductive nerves are no longer functional; sound cannot be transmitted inward. When the ear faculty fails, the sound objects also disappear, as sound can no longer be conveyed to the subtle sense faculty to manifest internal sound objects. Thus, ear-consciousness gradually fades. The sounds heard become increasingly faint until finally, nothing is heard. The nose faculty also loses its conductive function; olfactory objects cannot be conveyed, and nose-consciousness gradually vanishes. The same principle applies to tongue-consciousness. Gradually, the body faculty also ceases to function. The eighth consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) no longer conveys tactile objects. Without tactile objects, body-consciousness gradually ceases to function, and the entire body slowly loses all sensation.

What is the state of the manas at this time? The manas is also helpless now. It is clearly aware that this body is no longer usable, yet it still clings on because the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) has not yet extinguished. When the conscious mind finally extinguishes, the manas perceives no hope whatsoever and withdraws from the body. The Ālayavijñāna then follows suit and departs, no longer able to sustain the physical body alone. The Ālayavijñāna is the last to leave. Actually, it is not the last to leave; it departs simultaneously with the manas. If the manas were absent, the Ālayavijñāna would instantly be unable to sustain the body and could not remain within it. If the Ālayavijñāna were to leave first, the manas would also cease to exist and must perish. The Ālayavijñāna cannot leave first, nor can it leave last; it must depart simultaneously with the manas.