The Meaning of "Consciousness-Only, No External Objects" (vijñapti-mātratā)

The meaning of "consciousness-only, no [external] realm" is that all dharmas are only consciousness, all are consciousness, and there are no realms or marks of realms whatsoever. This belongs to the content of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only, and its meaning is the same as that of the one true dharma realm; it is only that the principle is very profound, not easy to understand, and even harder to contemplate. Without the wisdom of the varieties of paths, one can at most have a coarse and shallow understanding.

The consciousness in "consciousness-only, no realm" is of course not the deluded mind of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are themselves marks of realms, arising and ceasing moment by moment and unable to govern themselves, so they cannot possibly dominate other marks of realms. Only the eighth consciousness can dominate all marks of realms. From the perspective of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only, all dharmas are conjured up and upheld by the eighth consciousness, all are generated by the eighth consciousness using the seven great seeds, and the eighth consciousness constantly transforms the seven great seeds in order to keep all dharmas in accord with karmic seeds and in accord with karmic retribution.

What does "all dharmas are only consciousness" mean? All dharmas are like golden vessels: the essence of golden vessels is all gold; apart from gold there is nothing else, and seeing a golden vessel is seeing gold. All dharmas are likewise: all are generated and upheld by the eighth consciousness, and their essence is all the eighth consciousness. Seeing all dharmas, one should see the eighth consciousness; apart from this there is nothing else.

The "realm" in "consciousness-only, no realm" can also be called dharma-marks. The scope of dharma-marks is extremely vast: there are marks of material form, marks of mental dharmas, and marks of dharmas that are neither form nor mind, as stated in the Heart Sutra: the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma; the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind consciousness; the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness; the Four Noble Truths; the twelve links of dependent arising; the bodhisattva's six perfections; the four marks; the Buddha's body; the path to buddhahood; the hundred gates of luminous dharmas, the thousand gates of luminous dharmas, the hundred million gates of luminous dharmas; ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and so forth. All these dharma-marks are the empty marks of the tathāgatagarbha, the eighth consciousness; there is no substantial dharma-mark or realm-mark.

The dharma-marks and realm-marks upon all dharmas are marks generated by the eighth consciousness, so there is no realm—everything is the eighth consciousness. This contemplative wisdom (vipaśyanā-caryā) is quite profound and sharp; only the samādhi and prajñā that arise after the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have been fully transformed into wisdom can observe it directly as it is. Otherwise, with heavy obscuration by ignorance and shallow meditative power, there is no wisdom of observation; the essence of all dharmas cannot be observed through direct perception, and one will fall into the marks of realms and fail to see the true gold. If samādhi and prajñā are insufficient—samādhi not reaching the dhyāna of the first jhāna, and wisdom not attaining the transformation of consciousness into wisdom—then all observation will fall into imagination and inference.

The deeper and more subtle one's samādhi and prajñā, the fewer and shallower the realm-marks one sees when seeing all dharmas. The wisdom of direct perception becomes deeper and more ultimate as one ascends to higher bhūmis, and what is seen becomes truer, until at the buddha-bhūmi one completely sees the one true dharma realm, with no other dharma left to see. For everyone, as long as there are realm-marks seen before the eyes, that is ignorance; the more realm-marks one sees, the heavier the ignorance. Conversely, the fewer realm-marks one sees, the deeper and sharper one's wisdom.