Can the Essence of the Eighth Consciousness Be Abandoned?

Question: In the Cheng Weishi Lun (Treatise on the Establishment of Consciousness-Only), it states: "(The eighth consciousness) is also called the vipāka-vijñāna (maturation consciousness) because it can bring forth the vipāka (maturation) fruits of karmic actions, whether good or bad, leading to birth and death. This name applies only to ordinary beings, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas up to the tenth bhūmi, not to the stage of a Tathāgata, because there still exists the non-defined (avyākṛta) dharma of vipāka." And: "The substance (体, svabhāva) of the vipāka-vijñāna is relinquished when a bodhisattva is about to attain bodhi (enlightenment), and when śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas enter nirvāṇa without remainder (nirupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa)." Are these two statements contradictory? After an arhat enters nirvāṇa without remainder, is he still an arhat? Does he belong to the Two Vehicles (śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas)? Especially the second sentence, can the substance of the vipāka-vijñāna be relinquished? My understanding has always been that the name is relinquished, not the substance.

Answer: For bodhisattvas before the eighth bhūmi, their eighth consciousness is called the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness). After the eighth bhūmi bodhisattva stage, and after śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas attain nirvāṇa, their eighth consciousness is called the vipāka-vijñāna. When śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas enter nirvāṇa without remainder, they relinquish the name ālaya-vijñāna; they do not relinquish the substance of the ālaya-vijñāna, and certainly cannot relinquish the substance of the vipāka-vijñāna. When a wondrous enlightenment bodhisattva (妙觉菩萨, the final stage before Buddhahood) is about to become a Buddha, he relinquishes the name vipāka-vijñāna for the eighth consciousness; he cannot relinquish the substance of the vipāka-vijñāna. The substance is truly existent, unborn and unceasing; even a Buddha cannot relinquish it. If the substance of the vipāka-vijñāna were relinquished, all dharmas would cease to exist and could no longer arise; there would never again be the five aggregates (skandhas), nor nirvāṇa, nor Buddhas, nor the world. Only Buddhas, who have eliminated all vipāka-nature and eradicated all ignorance (avidyā), can relinquish the name vipāka-vijñāna. Even an equal enlightenment bodhisattva (等觉菩萨) cannot relinquish the name vipāka-vijñāna, let alone arhats, pratyekabuddhas, or solitary buddhas (独觉佛).