Why Does the Avijñapti-rūpa (Unmanifest Form) Produced During Aspiration and Receiving Precepts Have Functional Effects?

Making vows can take two forms: the superficial, formalized kind done by conscious awareness, and the sincere, heartfelt kind done by the manas. A true vow must arise from the depths of the mind—that is, from the manas. If a vow is made by the manas, the wish will sooner or later be fulfilled, because the manas has potency: it can make decisions, it can take charge, it does not cease, and it can carry over into future lives. In future lives it will likewise, without conscious awareness, fulfill its wishes. Most importantly, there is the tathāgatagarbha's compliance and cooperation. Even when the mind consciousness disappears, or when one is unconscious and unable to govern oneself, or when the mind consciousness is replaced, the manas continues to exist throughout and can fulfill its own wishes.

Rebirth in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī) works exactly this way: without the mind consciousness knowing anything about it, the manas, together with the tathāgatagarbha, goes to the land of bliss to build a lotus flower, so that at the time of rebirth one may ride upon it and swiftly reach the land of bliss. If, in the depths of the mind, the manas does not wish to be reborn there, and one merely talks about it verbally, then no lotus flower will appear, because the building of the lotus is not decided by the mind consciousness. It is the manas that takes charge, and then the tathāgatagarbha cooperates, and only then can a lotus-palace be created. Therefore, if an action does not penetrate to the manas, it has no substantive effect whatsoever.

When a pure and great vow is issued from the manas and resonates with the manas, it will be stored as a seed. In later lives, when the manas resonates with that seed and with the wish, one will be able to refrain from creating evil karma and will be able to fulfill the wish—this is the functioning of the precept-substance of avijñapti-rūpa (unmanifest form). By later lives the mind consciousness has already been replaced; it is no longer the original one and does not remember having made the vow, yet when situations arise, it does whatever needs to be done. A vow made by the mind consciousness will not have any great influence on future lives; it cannot form avijñapti-rūpa, and thus no precept-substance will appear. That is why, when receiving precepts on the precept platform and making vows, one must be solemn, earnest, and sincere, must contemplate with the mind, and must seek the Buddha's blessing and empowerment; only then can one obtain the precept-substance.

For example, take the Four Universal Vows we make when studying Buddhism, and the Ten Endless Vows made before and after entering the first bhūmi—who issues these vows? First, through studying Buddhism, our mind consciousness comes to understand the importance of making vows, knowing that making vows can enable one to attain buddhahood sooner and to extensively deliver immeasurable sentient beings. These ideas of the mind consciousness also perfume the manas. When the manas has not been well perfumed, the vows made are merely formal and not very sincere. If the manas has no inclination or ideas of its own, has not generated much mental engagement or discernment regarding this, then there is no resolute mind—it is merely going through the motions perfunctorily. When the mind consciousness succeeds in perfuming the manas, the manas becomes interested in these vows and develops the mental factor of desire and a wish.

The process of the mind consciousness perfuming the manas is as follows: first, the mind consciousness is perfumed and becomes interested in making vows; then it transmits this information to the manas, conveying the full content of the vow to the manas as well. This requires a period of perfuming. Only after the mind consciousness repeatedly deliberates many times and continuously transmits information to the manas will the manas take it seriously and generate mental engagement toward that vow. After the mental engagement arises, through the operation of the mental factors of contact, feeling, and perception, the content of the vow is discerned. The manas deliberates on the benefits that making this vow can bring, knowing that it is beneficial to oneself—that it can spur one to attain buddhahood as quickly as possible and can also extensively deliver immeasurable sentient beings.

Then the manas decides to make the vow; this deliberative nature and decision are the function of its mental factor of volition (cetanā). After the eighth consciousness discerns this, it complies and cooperates; with the six consciousnesses and the seventh consciousness acting together, the Four Universal Vows are issued, and the Ten Endless Vows are issued—willing to forever benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, and to let oneself attain the buddha-way quickly and soon. Such vow-making certainly cannot be separated from the manas's own vow: wanting to become a buddha quickly, wanting to deliver sentient beings, wanting to obtain the Buddha's fruit as soon as possible. Thus here there is the manas's own volition, the mental activity of wanting to attain buddhahood.