Wind moves? The flag moves? The mind moves?

Question: In the public case 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 comes from the direct-object realm (essence realm) 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 (indriya). That is to say, the tathāgatagarbha is constantly giving rise to 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 on account of it. From this perspective, the tathāgatagarbha is moving yet unmoving.

The wind and flag in the external world are, in fact, also unmoving, because the wind and flag are material things, conditioned and 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 the wind and flag arise, cease, and change moment by moment. All material form (rūpa-dharma) lacks self-nature; therefore things do not move by themselves—it is only because of the tathāgatagarbha that there is a semblance of movement. In essence, the appearance of all dharmas is still the result of the movement of the tathāgatagarbha. Yet the tathāgatagarbha is formless and without marks; its movement is also non-movement, and nowhere can one find any mark of its movement.

Because the manas moves, the tathāgatagarbha has no choice but to manifest the dharmas that the manas requires in accordance with it. The conditioned nature and dynamic nature of the tathāgatagarbha thus reveal themselves. He is forever without self and without selfishness, serving the manas wholeheartedly and serving all sentient beings.