Why Is It Said That the Three Transforming Consciousnesses Collectively Manifest All Phenomena of the World

Question: Since all dharmas are produced by the eighth consciousness, why is it still said that the three transforming consciousnesses jointly manifest the myriad dharmas?

Answer: Although all the myriad dharmas of the world are manifested by the eighth consciousness, the eighth consciousness alone, without relying on external conditions, cannot transform and produce all dharmas. The eighth consciousness must depend on corresponding conditions in order to produce all dharmas; a solitary cause does not generate dharmas.

Yogācāra speaks of the three transforming consciousnesses: the eighth consciousness is the first transforming consciousness, the manas is the second transforming consciousness, and the first six consciousnesses are the third transforming consciousness. The eighth consciousness, in conjunction with the seventh consciousness, transforms and produces the sentient body and the material world; then, in conjunction with the six consciousnesses, it can produce all dharmas. If the first six consciousnesses do not participate in the manifestation, many dharmas cannot become active. All the operations and activities of the six consciousnesses are stored as seeds in the eighth consciousness; only on the basis of these seeds can the eighth consciousness produce the myriad dharmas. Without these karmic seeds, the eighth consciousness also cannot generate the myriad dharmas.

It is like the arhats of the fourth fruit: the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of their six consciousnesses have already attained purity, and they are unwilling to create many conditioned worldly dharmas; the seeds of the threefold world are no longer accumulated, and the manas no longer grasps at the dharmas of the threefold world. Therefore, at the end of their lives, they will enter nirvāṇa without remainder, and afterward only the eighth consciousness remains, producing no dharmas at all. Thus, the arising of the dharmas of the threefold world must be produced jointly by the three transforming consciousnesses in conjunction; the eighth consciousness alone does not generate dharmas and does not transform dharmas. If our present six consciousnesses all become non-active and are unwilling to create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, then no seeds will be produced, and in future lives the five aggregates will no longer arise, and the chain of birth and death will be severed. The appearance of the dharmas of the threefold world is necessarily the result of the joint functioning of the eight consciousnesses.