The Meaning of "Abiding Nowhere, Yet Arousing the Mind"

"One should give rise to the mind without abiding anywhere" means that the mind should function in response to all conditions without abiding in any of them. When the seventh consciousness operates its mind with abiding, the eighth consciousness, however, always operates without abiding, no matter what conditions it encounters. After the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have eliminated the view of self and attained enlightenment, and have severed ignorance and afflictions, they too will function in response to conditions without abiding. This involves a process and a range: the thinner the ignorance, the lighter the afflictions, the purer the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, the less conditions influence the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and the more they respond to conditions without abiding. Why does the eighth consciousness not abide when responding to conditions? Because the eighth consciousness is not a worldly mind of ignorance and afflictions; it neither knows nor discriminates the worldly aspects of conditions, and therefore does not grasp at worldly appearances—thus the mind abides nowhere.

"Should" means to respond to, and "arise" does not mean being born from nonexistence into existence, but rather operating ceaselessly. For the sixth and seventh consciousnesses to respond to conditions without abiding, this can only be achieved after seeing through the true substance of conditions. The more thoroughly and completely one sees through them, the more one abides nowhere. Since conditions are empty, what need is there to dwell on them and give rise to afflictions? What need is there to grasp at them? After seeing through in this way, the mind becomes empty and lets go; when operating within worldly dharmas, one will act without contrivance, no longer grasping at the marks of dharmas. Worldly dharmas, though existing, are as if nonexistent, and the mind is pure and unobstructed. The heavier the ignorance, the more one values worldly dharmas, and the more the mind abides somewhere.