The Beginningless Ignorance and Defiled Nature of the Seventh Consciousness

The mind-essences of the first seven consciousnesses possess both defiled and pure natures. Their defiled nature does not arise merely because the seven consciousnesses have the capacity for discrimination; the seven consciousnesses themselves, since beginningless kalpas, have contained ignorance and contained the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion—they have been defiled from the very start. As the seven consciousnesses operate within all dharmas, discriminating all dharmas, their various defiled natures are bound to manifest. Because the seven consciousnesses themselves possess ignorance and do not know the true aspect of the dharmadhātu, they continuously generate grasping mental activities toward the myriad dharmas of the three realms, and their greedy and defiled nature will accordingly become active and manifest.