The Mahayana Vijñapti Sutra (Vol. 38)

The original text: Consciousness resides within the body, like the substance of darkness. It cannot be seen by sight, nor can it be grasped or held. Like a mother carrying a child within her womb, she cannot know for herself: is it a boy or a girl? Is its skin black, white, or yellow? Are its sense faculties complete or incomplete? Does it have hands, feet, eyes, or ears? Is it normal or abnormal? When the mother eats hot food or experiences a hot stimulus, the child then moves. The mother perceives the pain and suffering. When sentient beings come and go, bend and stretch, look and blink, speak and laugh, converse and talk, carry loads and transport burdens, performing all kinds of activities, the characteristics of consciousness are fully revealed. Yet, they cannot know where consciousness resides. It abides within the body, but they do not know its form.

Explanation: The ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) within the body of the five aggregates is like darkness—formless and colorless. Using the eyes, one cannot see it; if we want to grasp it, we cannot grasp it; if we want to touch it, we cannot touch it; we fundamentally cannot apprehend it. This describes its characteristic of being formless and signless, yet able to manifest within all dharmas. It is just like when a mother is pregnant, she herself does not know whether the child is a boy or a girl, whether its skin color is black, white, or yellow, nor does she know if the six sense faculties are complete or incomplete. Because in times past there were no detection devices, during pregnancy one could not detect whether the fetus was male or female; its bodily form and appearance were also unknown, whether it had hands, feet, eyes, or ears—all were unknown.

However, when the mother eats, if she eats hot food, the child, stimulated by the heat, moves restlessly within the womb; the fetus fears the heat, and when the child moves, the mother feels great pain. If the mother eats cold things, the child also cannot bear it and will move restlessly, and the mother can feel the pain. At this time, the mother then knows the child's activity.

The child in the womb is analogous to the ālaya-vijñāna; the mother is analogous to the sentient being's five aggregates. When the sentient being's five aggregates come and go, bend and stretch, glance and blink, speak and laugh, converse and talk, carry water and transport firewood, bear heavy loads upon the body, performing all kinds of activities, then the characteristics of the ālaya-vijñāna are all fully revealed. Yet, sentient beings do not know where the ālaya-vijñāna is operating; the ālaya-vijñāna resides within the body, and sentient beings do not know what state it is in, just as the pregnant mother does not know her child.

The ālaya-vijñāna is formless and signless; sentient beings do not know what it looks like, but when the five aggregates operate, they know the ālaya-vijñāna is present. Thus, a Chán (Zen) gōng'àn (kōan) emerges: the ālaya-vijñāna is easy to realize; attaining insight into the mind is relatively quick. This sūtra almost explicitly reveals the ālaya-vijñāna. When one then investigates Chán and contemplates gōng'àn, it becomes very easy to realize. Practicing Chán is actually not difficult; it's just that meditative concentration is insufficient, making realization somewhat harder, but conceptual understanding is quite easy. Previously, the direction for Chán investigation could not be grasped; now, studying this section of the Mahāyāna Pratyupanna-buddha-saṃmukhāvasthita-samādhi-sūtra (Great Vehicle Sūtra of the Manifestation of Consciousness), it becomes very clear that the ālaya-vijñāna has never been separate from the five aggregates; the true dharma is not separate from the false dharma, and of course, the false dharma is also not separate from the true dharma—within the operation of the false dharma, the manifestation of the true dharma appears. This direction for Chán investigation is very clear. Yet, some Buddhists practice Chán for thirty years; at the time of death, they still do not know in which direction to investigate, do not understand how to realize the ālaya-vijñāna, nor do they know that investigating Chán is realizing the eighth consciousness, realizing the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature).

"Sentient beings come and go, bend and stretch, look and blink; speak and laugh, converse and talk; carry loads and transport burdens; performing all kinds of activities, the characteristics of consciousness are fully revealed." If these lines are explained in detail, then ordinary Chán gōng'àn can be understood. However, even if one can understand them, if one still does not know the actual operation of the ālaya-vijñāna within, it is merely conceptual understanding, not true realization. One still needs to investigate carefully, to investigate and realize the specific operational circumstances of the ālaya-vijñāna; this is realization. After realization, wisdom immediately increases. Investigating Chán and realizing a general situation without knowing the specific operation, without knowing the details, is at most conceptual understanding. The ālaya-vijñāna is within the bodies of sentient beings, but one does not know what kind of state it is in. Generally, when correct knowledge is insufficient, one only knows that the ālaya-vijñāna functions everywhere, but one does not know exactly where it functions or what function it performs. At this stage, one is still some distance from realization and needs to continue striving diligently.