The Three Desires of Three Kinds of Sentient Beings

Original text of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra: 又有三种诸有情类。欲为根本作业方便。一为得胜欲。二为得胜自体。三为证胜解脱道。

Explanation: There are three kinds of sentient beings who take desire as the fundamental basis for engaging in various practices, wishing to attain the goal of liberation. The desire of the first kind of sentient beings is to obtain the most supreme retribution, to realize the fruit of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva path and to accomplish the Buddha Way; this is the most supremely excellent, beyond compare, and is called the unsurpassed Dharma. Therefore, such beings do not, like arhats, realize nirvāṇa without remainder, but rather, life after life within the world of the five aggregates, they benefit themselves and benefit others. This is the supreme desire for wholesome Dharma.

The desire of the second kind of sentient beings is to obtain more exquisite pleasures of the five desires and greater blessings; the result may be rebirth in the heavens to enjoy blessings, but when the blessings are exhausted, they fall again. As for the retribution of the physical body, they obtain the body and living environment of a heavenly being, and the outcome is still bondage to birth and death.

The desire of the third kind of sentient beings is ultimately to attain the supreme retribution of liberation. One kind consists of arhats and pratyekabuddhas who wish to attain the fruit of liberation by transcending the three realms; the result is realizing nirvāṇa without remainder, transcending the three realms, and obtaining temporary liberation. The other kind consists of bodhisattvas who wish to obtain the most supreme liberation of all Buddhas; the result is attaining ultimate, great liberation and realizing the apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa of the Buddha stage.

Desire is the cause of birth and death, yet the pursuit of the Mahāyāna Dharma of attaining buddhahood can lead bodhisattvas not to enter nirvāṇa without remainder, but to remain forever in the three realms, vastly benefiting sentient beings. The six consciousnesses have desires, and the manas has even stronger desires; it is mainly because of the desires of the manas that birth and death continue unbroken and the cycle of saṃsāra never ceases. If only the six consciousnesses had desires and the manas had none, the desires of the six consciousnesses would also have no effect—they would cease as soon as they arose—and birth and death could surely be ended. If only the six consciousnesses eliminated desire while the manas did not, the manas would surely act as the master with cravings and desires, the six consciousnesses would surely create karma of greed and desire, birth and death could not be ended, and the cycle of saṃsāra would never cease. If the manas has cravings for the three realms, it cannot eliminate its craving-attachment to the three realms, and cannot transcend the three realms.

Because arhats have eliminated the manas's grasping at self, they have eliminated craving-attachment to the three realms—that is, they have eliminated craving for the three realms—and only then can they transcend the three realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder. If an arhat turns his mind toward the Mahāyāna, because he has given rise to a mind of delight in the Mahāyāna Dharma and has desires for the Mahāyāna Dharma, the manas is bound by this desire; at the end of life, he will certainly not enter nirvāṇa without remainder, but will certainly have the five aggregates of a desire-realm physical body and continue to study and cultivate the Mahāyāna Dharma, seeking to see his true mind and attain buddhahood. This is the desire for wholesome Dharma of the bodhisattvas of the common vehicle (通教). If only the mind consciousness has the desire for wholesome Dharma while the manas does not, then the manas is not bound by the desire for wholesome Dharma and has no craving or longing for the dharmas of the three realms; at the end of life, he will certainly take nirvāṇa without remainder.