The Connotation of Consciousness-Only and the Absence of an External Realm

"The meaning of 'Consciousness-Only Without Objects' is that all dharmas are only consciousness; there are no objects or appearances of objects. This pertains to the wisdom of Consciousness-Only and shares the same meaning as the One True Dharma Realm. However, its principle is profound, difficult to understand, and even harder to observe. Without the wisdom of the path, one can at most attain a superficial understanding.

The 'consciousness' in 'Consciousness-Only Without Objects' certainly does not refer to the deluded sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are also appearances of objects, arising and ceasing without autonomy, and thus cannot dominate other objective appearances. Only the eighth consciousness can dominate all objective appearances. From the perspective of the wisdom of Consciousness-Only, all dharmas are manifested and sustained by the eighth consciousness. They are all generated by the eighth consciousness using the seven great seeds, which are continuously altered to ensure all dharmas correspond to karmic seeds and karmic retribution.

What does it mean that all dharmas are only consciousness? All dharmas are like gold objects; the essence of gold objects is solely gold, with nothing else besides gold. To see gold objects is to see gold. Similarly, all dharmas are generated and sustained by the eighth consciousness; their essence is solely the eighth consciousness. To see all dharmas should be to see the eighth consciousness; there is nothing else besides this.

The 'objects' in 'Consciousness-Only Without Objects' can also be called dharma appearances. The scope of dharma appearances is extremely vast: there are appearances of form, appearances of mind, and appearances that are neither form nor mind. As stated in the Heart Sutra: the six sense bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind), the six sense objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, dharmas), the six consciousnesses (eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness), the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness), the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, the Six Perfections of the Bodhisattva, the Four Appearances, the Buddha-body, the Path to Buddhahood, the Hundred Dharma Gate of Illumination, the Thousand Dharma Gate of Illumination, the Billion Dharma Gate of Illumination, ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and so on. All these dharma appearances are the empty appearances of the Tathagatagarbha, the eighth consciousness; they are appearances of dharma objects without substantial reality.

The dharma appearances and objective appearances on all dharmas are appearances generated by the eighth consciousness. Therefore, there are no objects; everything is the eighth consciousness. This kind of contemplative wisdom is extremely profound and sharp. Only those who have fully transformed the sixth and seventh consciousnesses into wisdom, possessing concentration and wisdom, can observe it directly. Otherwise, obscured by heavy ignorance and lacking deep concentration, one will have no wisdom of observation. Unable to directly perceive the essence of all dharmas, one will fall into the appearances of objects and fail to perceive the true gold.

If concentration and wisdom are insufficient—if concentration lacks even the first dhyana, and wisdom has not transformed consciousness into wisdom—all observation will fall into imagination and inference.

The deeper and more refined one's concentration and wisdom, the fewer and shallower the objective appearances one perceives when observing all dharmas. The wisdom of direct perception becomes increasingly profound and ultimate at higher stages; what is seen becomes truer, until at the Buddha stage, one fully perceives the One True Dharma Realm, with no other dharmas to be seen. As long as anyone sees objective appearances in their perception, it is ignorance. The more objective appearances one sees, the heavier the ignorance. Conversely, the fewer objective appearances one sees, the deeper and sharper the wisdom."