A Lecture on the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (Mahāyāna Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra), Volume Three

Original text: 佛言。大慧。我所说者。分别尔炎识灭名为涅盘。大慧言。世尊。岂不建立八种识耶。佛言建立。大慧言。若建立者。云何但说意识灭非七识灭。佛言。大慧。以彼为因及所缘故。七识得生。

大慧。意识分别境界起执著时。生诸习气长养藏识。由是意俱我我所执思量随转无别体相。藏识为因为所缘故。执著自心所现境界。心聚生起展转为因。大慧。譬如海浪自心所现。境界风吹而有起灭。是故意识灭时七识亦灭。

Explanation: The Buddha said: "Mahāmati, the nirvāṇa I speak of is when the six consciousnesses—the minds capable of engaging in various discriminations and afflictions—cease and no longer discriminate; that is nirvāṇa." Bodhisattva Mahāmati asked the World-Honored One: "Do not sentient beings have eight kinds of consciousness?" The Buddha said: "Yes, there are eight kinds of consciousness." Mahāmati said: "Since there are eight kinds of consciousness, why do you say only that when the mind consciousness ceases, sentient beings attain nirvāṇa, and not that the cessation of the seven consciousnesses attains nirvāṇa?" The World-Honored One said: "Mahāmati, the seven consciousnesses can arise and operate only by taking the six consciousnesses' continual discrimination and grasping as cause and condition."

When the six consciousnesses continually discriminate the six sense objects and grasp them as real, they perfume the seventh consciousness, causing the seventh consciousness to form habitual tendencies, and the seeds of these habitual tendencies are stored in the eighth consciousness, the ālayavijñāna. This perfumes the eighth consciousness, causing the karmic seeds within the eighth consciousness to arise and cease. When a sentient being's body of the five aggregates is born, the seventh consciousness, the manas, relying on the eighth consciousness, possesses innate self-grasping and grasping of what belongs to self, and the manas's nature of continual scrutiny and deliberation accordingly begins to operate—all because of the six consciousnesses' continual discrimination and grasping being stored as seeds.

This passage can easily lead to misunderstanding—the mistaken notion that once the mind consciousness ceases, the manas ceases along with it, and one thereby enters nirvāṇa. But if one contemplates deeply and finely, sorting out the causes and consequences of nirvāṇa and the hidden logical relationships behind it, the misunderstanding will be dispelled. When the mind consciousness, which the Buddha described as possessing the nature of discrimination and affliction, ceases and no longer produces discrimination and affliction, with no activity whatsoever, no new karmic seeds are stored into the tathāgatagarbha. The manas is also no longer newly perfumed by the mind consciousness, and its own mental factor of deliberation no longer operates. With no mind directed toward worldly dharmas, it will gradually withdraw from the world, thereby reaching the state of nirvāṇa and becoming liberated from worldly bondage. This is a long-term process: the mind consciousness gradually ceases to discriminate, ceases to be afflicted, ceases to fabricate; the manas gradually weakens its deliberation, eliminates deliberation, makes no choices, and does nothing, until finally there is the tranquility of nirvāṇa. This cessation of the mind consciousness is first of all the cessation of mental activity; it is not the kind of cessation that occurs every day in sleep or coma—that kind of cessation is passive and temporary, in which the nature of discrimination and affliction has not ceased, and after waking, one continues to create karmic activity, causing the manas to deliberate and choose ceaselessly, with samsara never ending. From another perspective, the mind consciousness's non-discrimination and non-affliction, the cessation of mental activity, is precisely the result of the manas's choice. When the manas no longer wishes to discriminate and be afflicted in the world and does not direct the mind consciousness to fabricate, the mind consciousness naturally rests until it ceases. This cessation is a permanent cessation, not the daily cessation and re-arising. Because the mind of the manas is non-active, the mind consciousness becomes non-active; and the mind consciousness's non-activity in turn prompts the manas to be non-active. When the manas is completely non-active, the mind consciousness permanently ceases and does not arise, and the manas then automatically ceases—thus nirvāṇa is automatically attained.

When the mind consciousness possesses wisdom and can be autonomous and non-active with regard to worldly dharmas, it gradually ceases to discriminate worldly dharmas and gradually becomes free of afflictions. The manas gradually becomes unable to direct the mind consciousness, and thus its mind rests, no longer directing the mind consciousness to discriminate and be afflicted. In this way, the mind consciousness does not fabricate, which leads the manas to have no choice but to be non-active, and it will then tend toward tranquil nirvāṇa and liberation from worldly suffering. This is called the mind consciousness perfuming the manas, and the manas receiving the perfume until cultivation is accomplished.