The Innate Self-Grasping of Persons and Dharmas Arising from the Manas

The so-called innate (sahaja) refers to what the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) bring with them from birth, what arises together with the five aggregates, what is carried over from past lives—something not newly learned or newly appearing, and not something acquired only through later postnatal conditioning. Innate grasping at a self of persons (ātma-grāha) refers to the grasping at a self of persons that arises together with the five aggregates, the habitual tendencies of attachment from past lives carried over into this life; innate grasping at a self of dharmas (dharma-grāha) refers to the grasping at a self of dharmas that arises together with the five aggregates, the habitual tendencies of attachment from past lives carried over into this life.

The seventh consciousness is a continuous consciousness; throughout beginningless kalpas it has never ceased. Whenever a new set of five aggregates is born, the seventh consciousness does not need to be newly born—it is still the one carried over and continuing from past lives. Therefore its habitual tendencies, inclinations, and dispositions remain the same as in past lives, without change; all of its cognitions are the same as in past lives, without change. What does the seventh consciousness cognize? The seventh consciousness cognizes the five aggregates, knowing the five aggregates to be the self; it cognizes the eighteen realms (dhātus), knowing the eighteen realms to be the self and what the self possesses; the seventh consciousness relies on the eighth consciousness to cognize all dharmas, knowing all dharmas to be the self and to be possessed by the self. Because the seventh consciousness has such cognitions, and because it does not know that these dharmas are not the self but are illusory dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness, it has craving and attachment toward the dharmas of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms, and has craving and attachment toward all the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness.

The seventh consciousness, the manas, in past lives grasped at the five aggregates and the eighteen realms as the self; when it is newly born in this life, and even while in the mother's womb, it still grasps at the five aggregates and the eighteen realms as the self. In past lives the manas grasped at all dharmas as the self, and when newly born in this life it still grasps in this way. Therefore it is said that the manas's grasping at a self of persons and grasping at a self of dharmas are present from the very birth of the five aggregates; they need not be learned or conditioned in the present, nor do they rely on any dharma other than the eighth consciousness to exist—that is, they can exist independently without relying on the six consciousnesses or the living environment, and they can manifest in every instant.