Commentary on the Sutra of the Parent and Child (Lecture 188)

Consciousness arises dependent on conditions; its arising and ceasing are illusory and devoid of selfhood.

Original Text: Great King, when that consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere. When it ceases, it goes nowhere. When the conditions for its arising emerge, they come from nowhere. When they cease, they go nowhere. When karma actions arise, they come from nowhere. When they cease, they go nowhere. Great King, not the slightest dharma can pass from this world to the next life. Why is this so? Because inherent nature is empty.

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, when the initial consciousness arises, it has no source. When it ceases, it has no destination. When the conditions giving rise to consciousness emerge, they have no source. When they cease, they have no destination. When created karmic actions arise, they have no source. When the karmic actions cease, there is no place of cessation. Great King, not a single dharma can transition from this world to the next life. Why is this? Because the inherent nature of all dharmas is empty.

When we are in the mother's womb, and several consciousnesses arise within us, where do they come from? Is there a source? There is no source; it cannot be found. When our consciousness ceases, where does it go? There is nowhere it goes; its place of cessation cannot be found.

After the conditions for consciousness are produced, consciousness arises. These conditions also come from nowhere and cease without going anywhere. The arising of consciousness requires supporting conditions; without them, consciousness cannot arise. For example, the arising of eye-consciousness requires nine conditions: light, space, sense faculty, object, attention, basis of discrimination, basis of defilement and purity, fundamental basis, and seeds. Therefore, eye-consciousness does not arise without cause. Only when all nine conditions are fully present does eye-consciousness arise; if they are incomplete, it does not arise. Thus, in the mother's womb, the fetus lacks eye-consciousness because there is no light or space within the womb. The first consciousness to arise in the womb is mental consciousness, because mental consciousness requires fewer conditions to arise, making its emergence easier. Without space, such as a hand pressed tightly against the eye, eye-consciousness cannot see the hand. Without sunlight or lamplight, eye-consciousness cannot see objects. When conditions are incomplete, eye-consciousness does not arise. Therefore, the necessary causal conditions must be fully present for eye-consciousness to arise. Eye-consciousness, being dependent on conditions, is illusory and not autonomous. Eye-consciousness cannot determine its own existence; it lacks autonomy.

The same applies to the other consciousnesses. For instance, the arising of ear-consciousness requires eight causal conditions; all conditions except light must be fully present for ear-consciousness to arise. The arising of nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, and body-consciousness requires seven conditions; all conditions except light and space must be fully present for them to arise. The arising of mental consciousness requires five conditions: attention, mental faculty, mental objects, Alaya consciousness, and mental consciousness seeds. It requires fewer conditions than the five sense consciousnesses, making it easier to manifest. The arising of the mental faculty (manas) requires only two conditions: attention and the seeds of the seventh consciousness. With even fewer conditions, the mental faculty is constantly manifesting and is extremely difficult to cease. Only when the mental faculty no longer directs attention towards phenomena of the three realms and severs craving for them will the mental faculty cease. Therefore, any dharma that arises from the aggregation of various causal conditions is a dharma of arising and ceasing, an illusory dharma, a dharma devoid of selfhood.