Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnapti Sutra

Xianhu addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, although sentient beings know that consciousness exists, it is like a treasure concealed within a casket, neither manifest nor known. World-Honored One, we do not know what form this consciousness takes, nor why it is called consciousness. When sentient beings die, their limbs thrash involuntarily, the appearance of their eyes changes, and they lose control. Their faculties perish, the great elements disperse, and the consciousness departs from the body. Where does it go? What is its intrinsic nature? What form or characteristic does it have? How does it abandon this body and receive another body?"

The primary hindrances preventing the arising of the first dhyāna are the five hindrances: sensual desire, ill-will, sloth-torpor, restlessness-worry, and doubt. Especially the hindrance of sensual desire within the five hindrances: if the desire for the human realm and the desire realm heavens is strong, one cannot give rise to the first dhyāna of the form realm. Only when the cravings for the human realm and the desire realm heavens are subdued can the first dhyāna of the form realm arise. To give rise to the first dhyāna of the form realm, one needs to subdue various desires, including sexual desire, desire for food and drink, and so forth. If a person is particular about eating, clothing, shelter, or material things, fond of forms, sounds, scents, tastes, and tactile sensations, the first dhyāna will not be successfully cultivated. Being too attached to the living environment also prevents dhyāna. Only when the mind truly becomes indifferent to any living environment, accepting both good and bad without craving the good or resenting the bad, and not generating mental activity towards the environment, can dhyāna arise. The moment a thought of desire arises, there is no samādhi. Truly achieving indifference means the mind does not stir. In daily life, being indifferent and unconcerned about everything, unaffected by the quality of the environment – only by truly achieving this can dhyāna arise. If one still fusses over food, emphasizes nutrition, or cares about color, fragrance, and flavor, the first dhyāna will not arise, and one cannot enter the dhyāna of the form realm.

At the very moment of realizing the fruit [of enlightenment] or awakening the mind, if dhyāna cannot arise or deepen, once this period and opportunity pass, it becomes difficult to give rise to the first dhyāna later on. One should seize the time when the view of self is severed, when awareness and clarity appear, and when inner joy arises, to diligently cultivate dhyāna. If there is no awareness and clarity, and samādhi power is shallow, then do not expect the first dhyāna to arise later; it will not easily appear. Especially for lay practitioners, whose lives are too closely intertwined with daily routines, it is even harder to give rise to the first dhyāna. Monastics find it relatively easier, being somewhat more distant from worldly things. It is very difficult for laypeople to cultivate the Buddha Dharma; life is full of things that stir thoughts and mental activity, making it hard to attain dhyāna.

In the past, after followers of non-Buddhist paths went forth [into homelessness], it wasn't uncommon for them to attain not only the first dhyāna but even the four dhyānas and the four formless attainments; some even attained the highest dhyāna, the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception. They went deep into the mountains specifically to cultivate dhyāna, truly achieving a state of non-craving for anything in the world. Yet nowadays, we find it so difficult even to cultivate access concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) or desire-realm concentration. From this perspective, we are currently not even comparable to those non-Buddhist practitioners.

Given the caliber of us Buddhists learners today, how can we compare to those non-Buddhist practitioners and still look down on them? Those non-Buddhists cultivated the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis without ever shouting slogans about 'letting go,' yet they genuinely relinquished the five desires and six sense objects; they were people of genuine practice and realization of dhyāna. Yet we Buddhists shout slogans all day long but never manage to give up even a little bit of worldly things in our entire lives. They practiced non-Buddhist paths only due to unfavorable karmic conditions from past lives. For instance, in a past life, they might also have cultivated dhyāna, but it was according to non-Buddhist methods, without taking refuge in the Three Jewels or receiving precepts; that's why in this life they did not encounter the true Dharma of the Buddha. Therefore, taking refuge in the Three Jewels is crucial. If one takes refuge in the Three Jewels in this life, in future lives one will still take refuge in the Three Jewels and will not go to practice non-Buddhist paths. Practicing Buddhism without advocating taking the Five Precepts or taking refuge in the Three Jewels is absolutely unacceptable; this makes the foundation unstable, and in future lives, one easily drifts into non-Buddhist paths. If one does not cultivate dhyāna in this life, in future lives one will still be distant from the cultivation and realization of dhyāna, unable to even cross the threshold of dhyāna practice, and thus cannot realize the Buddha Dharma. Therefore, whatever Dharma the Buddha instructs us to cultivate, we must cultivate it. We should not invent our own methods; we must practice exactly as the Buddha instructs us. What the Buddha taught is the authoritative teaching (āgama-pramāṇa); we must follow it one hundred percent to attain the benefits of the Dharma.

Bodhisattva Xianhu asked the Buddha, "What is its intrinsic nature? What form or characteristic does it have? How does it abandon this body and receive another body?" The "intrinsic nature" mentioned here refers to the ālaya-vijñāna, the eighth consciousness. It possesses its own intrinsic nature, while other dharmas lack intrinsic nature; they are all manifested by it. What is the intrinsic nature of the ālaya-vijñāna? What form or characteristic does it have? How, at the end of life, does the ālaya-vijñāna abandon the present physical body to receive another physical body? How does it transform and generate another body? Bodhisattva Xianhu asked the key questions about the transmigration of sentient beings. This "receiving" (受, shòu) means the ālaya-vijñāna goes to grasp and sustain another body, abandoning the body that is about to die, to manifest, grasp, and accept another physical form.