The Difference Between Consciousness-Only and Mind-Only

Yogācāra means "consciousness-only" in the sense of only the three transforming consciousnesses—all is manifested and revealed by the three transforming consciousnesses. "Mind-only" means only the true mind of tathāgatagarbha—all dharmas are produced and brought forth through the transformation of the true mind of tathāgatagarbha.

The only dharma transformed solely by another person's consciousness is that person's physical body of the five aggregates; all other dharmas are either manifested collectively by the consciousnesses of sentient beings or manifested individually by one's own consciousness. As for the aggregates of body and mind manifested individually by others, once we come into contact with them and perceive them, they are dharmas manifested individually by our own consciousness. The "consciousness" in "consciousness-only" refers to the three transforming consciousnesses; the meaning is that all dharmas we sentient beings can come into contact with and cognize are manifested individually by our own three transforming consciousnesses, without exception.

For the sixth consciousness, the seventh consciousness, and the five sense consciousnesses, there is an external object-world, and what the six consciousnesses cognize are only inner representations. But as for tathāgatagarbha, which dharma could exist outside of it? The Chan patriarchs often said: "Outside the mind there are no dharmas—green mountains fill the eyes." This means that outside the mind of tathāgatagarbha there are no dharmas at all; all dharmas, such as the green mountains and the like, are things within the own-mind of tathāgatagarbha.