How Does the Ālayavijñāna Discern the Faculties, Body, and World of Sentient Beings?

The Ālayavijñāna perceives and discerns sentient beings' faculties and bodies as well as the material world, because within the Ālayavijñāna there are the seeds of the seven great elements, along with the karmic seeds of sentient beings. The karmic seeds are stored in the Ālayavijñāna, and the Ālayavijñāna can be aware of them, knowing whether the karmic seeds have matured and when they will mature. It then transmits the seeds of the seven great elements to construct sentient beings' five aggregates. Since it perceives and discerns the karmic seeds of the five aggregates, it certainly knows what kind of five aggregates a sentient being should have, so that it can transform and construct the five aggregates in accordance with reality. After the five aggregates have been constructed, the Ālayavijñāna knows all the conditions of the five aggregates, because He constantly sustains the physical body of the five aggregates, continuously transmitting and altering the seeds, so that the physical body can continue to exist and constantly develop and change. The material world is jointly constructed by the Ālayavijñāna of all sentient beings. All Ālayavijñānas must perceive and discern the karmic seeds of the material world within their own substance before they can transmit the seeds of the four great elements to construct the universe and the material world; afterwards, they must also jointly sustain the material world, allowing it to undergo arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing.

Only by perceiving and discerning the faculties and bodies as well as the material world can the Ālayavijñāna know how to construct them; otherwise, it would have no way to construct them. He does not construct things randomly and arbitrarily; there must be a pattern and principle. He constructs and upholds all dharmas according to the law of cause and effect. After constructing the body, He still needs to perceive and discern the body, knowing how it should change, and lets the body change accordingly—all in accordance with the law of cause and effect, operating naturally and thusly (dharmatā). He is not like the six consciousnesses, which hold various names and concepts about the body of the five aggregates and the material world and know the specific circumstances; He does not have this kind of discerning nature and does not make specific discriminations.

He also does not have the functions of analysis, deliberation, and judgment. His capacity of knowing is completely different from the knowing of the six consciousnesses. As for the food and drink we consume every day, He extracts the components of the four great elements from them to further construct the body; He knows how much to extract and how to construct. Sentient beings with different karma, even though they eat the same food and live in the same environment, nevertheless have different bodies—precisely because their karmic power is different, and thus what the Ālayavijñāna constructs is different.