Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume Ten (The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination)

(Twenty-one) Original text: 问。若行为缘。彼亦识耶。设是识者。行为缘耶。答。应作四句。或行为缘非识。谓除识所余有支。或识非行为缘。谓无漏识。及无覆无记识。除异熟生。或亦识亦行为缘。谓后有种子识及果识。除如是相。是第四句。由此道理。乃至触缘受。随其所应。四句应知。 

Explanation: Question: If some dharmas arise with formations as their condition, are such dharmas also consciousness? If a dharma is consciousness, is that consciousness conditioned by formations? Answer: This question should be set forth in four alternatives: First, some dharmas have formations as their condition, yet are not consciousness; these are the other links apart from consciousness, such as name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and aging-and-death. Second, some consciousnesses are not conditioned by formations, such as consciousnesses that are already free of the outflows of afflictions, and consciousnesses that are unobscured and indeterminate (anāsrava and avyākṛta), excluding those of the viviparous-maturation type (vipāka-born). Third, there are also consciousnesses that are conditioned by formations, such as the seed-consciousness that leads to future existence and the retributive consciousness. Fourth, apart from such characteristics, everything else is subsumed under the fourth alternative. 

By the same reasoning, it can be known that name-and-form conditioned by consciousness, the six sense bases conditioned by name-and-form, contact conditioned by the six sense bases, feeling conditioned by contact, and so on, all correspond to these four alternatives. Name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and aging-and-death—these links are all conditioned by formations; they are dharmas that arise after the manas' formations operate. The operation of any dharma is the result of the manas' formations; if formations do not operate, none of the subsequent dharmas will appear. However, the direct existence-link of formations is the six consciousnesses: the direct condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses is formations, while the direct condition for name-and-form through aging-and-death is the preceding link, with formations being the indirect condition. There is also another point: once the six consciousnesses are free from the outflows of afflictive defilement, the direct condition for their arising is no longer the manas' ignorant formations but the manas' enlightened formations. These no longer belong to the dharmas of the twelve links of dependent origination, and their retribution has already transcended the cycle of birth and death of the twelve links. Beings have also eliminated the ordinary-being nature of the seeds, no longer transmigrating through the six realms, and the phenomenon of being born at different times, in different places, in different realms, and in different bodies no longer occurs; this is the realm of bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above. 

Both the seed-consciousness and the retributive consciousness refer to the six consciousnesses. The seed-consciousness, in this life, takes formations as its condition to create karmic formations and leave karmic seeds, which nourish the name-and-form of future lives. After the name-and-form of later lives arises, retributive six consciousnesses arise upon that name-and-form to receive the retribution. Both of these kinds of consciousness arise with formations as their condition. Taking the formations of ignorance as condition can only give rise to ignorant six consciousnesses; only with enlightened, untainted formations can untainted six consciousnesses arise, including the untainted seed-consciousness and the untainted retributive consciousness. This also shows that the manas is the basis of defilement and purity for the six consciousnesses. The mind consciousness cannot become pure unilaterally, nor can it eliminate self-view and afflictions unilaterally; it must rely on the manas to eliminate self-view and afflictions, thereby reaching the state of being without outflows.