Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (188)

The conscious mind arises in dependence on conditions; it is subject to arising and ceasing, illusory, and not the self

Original text: 大王。彼识起时。无所从来。灭无所至。其缘生时。无所从来。灭无所至。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所至。大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。何以故。自性空故。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, when that initial consciousness arises, it comes from nowhere; when it ceases, it goes nowhere. When the conditions that give rise to the conscious mind arise, they come from nowhere; when they cease, they go nowhere. When the karmic actions that are created arise, they come from nowhere; when those karmic actions cease, there is nowhere they cease to. Great King, not even the slightest dharma passes from this world to the next world. Why is this so? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is empty.

When we are in our mother's womb and several consciousnesses arise, from where do they come to us? Is there a place they come from? There is no place of coming; no place of coming can be found. When our consciousnesses cease, where do they cease to? There is also no place to go; no destination of cessation can be found.

Once the conditions for the conscious mind have been produced, the conscious mind emerges; these conditions likewise come from nowhere and cease without going anywhere. The arising of the conscious mind requires certain supporting conditions; without supporting conditions, the conscious mind cannot arise. For example, the arising of eye consciousness requires nine conditions: light, space, the sense organ, the sense object, mental engagement (manaskāra), the basis of discrimination, the basis of defilement and purity, the fundamental basis, and seeds. Therefore eye consciousness does not arise without cause or reason; only when all nine conditions are complete can eye consciousness arise; if they are not complete, it cannot arise. Thus, in the mother's womb, the fetus has no eye consciousness, because there is no light and no space in the womb. The first consciousness to arise in the womb is the mind consciousness, because the conditions required for the mind consciousness to arise are fewer, making it easier for it to arise. If there is no space—for instance, if the hand is pressed right against the eye—eye consciousness cannot see the hand; if there is no sunlight or lamplight, eye consciousness cannot see objects. When the conditions are not complete, eye consciousness does not arise. Therefore, eye consciousness can only be produced when the causes and conditions are complete. Since eye consciousness arises in dependence on conditions, it is illusory and not autonomous; eye consciousness cannot determine its own existence and has no self-mastery.

The same is true of the other consciousnesses. For example, the arising of ear consciousness requires eight causes and conditions: apart from light, all the other conditions must be complete before ear consciousness can arise. The arising of nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, and body consciousness requires seven conditions to be complete: apart from light and space, all the other conditions must be present before nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, and body consciousness can arise. The arising of the mind consciousness requires five conditions to be complete: mental engagement (manaskāra), the manas, mental sense objects (dharmas), the ālayavijñāna, and the seeds of the mind consciousness. It requires fewer conditions than the five sense consciousnesses, and therefore it arises into activity more easily. The manas, however, requires only two conditions for its arising: mental engagement and the seeds of the seventh consciousness. With even fewer conditions, the manas is perpetually active and is extremely difficult to extinguish. Only when the manas no longer engages mentally with the dharmas of the three realms—when craving and attachment to the three realms have been severed—will the manas cease. Therefore it is said: any dharma that can only be produced through the gathering together of various causes and conditions is a dharma subject to arising and ceasing, an illusory dharma, a dharma that is not the self.