Wind Moving? Flag Moving? Mind Moving?

Question: In the famous koan where the Sixth Patriarch said it was neither the wind moving nor the flag moving, but the mind moving—which consciousness does this "mind" refer to?

Answer: If the seventh consciousness did not move, the states of the wind and the flag could not appear in the mind. If the manas did not grasp at the wind and the flag, there would be no eye consciousness or mind consciousness to discern them. Therefore it is said that the seventh consciousness is moving, because it has the nature of discernment—there is a knowing, and there is the result of that knowing; that is the result of movement.

The movement of the wind and flag within the mind arises from the underlying object (essence-object) outside the seventh consciousness. The wind and flag in the external world are also constantly arising and ceasing moment by moment, and the tathāgatagarbha continuously transmits the images of the wind and flag into the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda). This means the tathāgatagarbha is constantly generating and manifesting the wind and flag—He is always moving and manifesting. But this movement is an illusion; the tathāgatagarbha has never stirred His mind because of it, never giving rise to thoughts or intentions over it. From this perspective, the tathāgatagarbha is moving yet unmoving.

In fact, the wind and flag in the external world are also unmoving, because the wind and flag are material things, conditioned dharmas subject to arising and ceasing. The seeds of the four great elements constantly release particles of the four great elements outward moment by moment, and thus the wind and flag arise, cease, and transform moment by moment. All material form (rūpa) lacks inherent self-nature; therefore objects do not move by themselves—it is only because of the tathāgatagarbha that there is an appearance of movement. In essence, the arising of all dharmas is still the result of the movement of the tathāgatagarbha. And since the tathāgatagarbha is formless and without characteristics, its movement is also non-movement; nowhere can its movement be found.

Because the manas moves, the tathāgatagarbha has no choice but to manifest the dharmas that the manas requires. Thus the conditioned, active nature of the tathāgatagarbha is revealed. He is forever selfless and without ego, wholeheartedly serving the manas and serving sentient beings.