The Essence of the Heart Sutra
Chapter 3: The Specific Meaning of the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates
Sutra text: 【观自在菩萨。行深般若波罗蜜多时。照见五蕴皆空。度一切苦厄。】
A bodhisattva capable of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the profound prajñāpāramitā is at the very least a bodhisattva who has seen the mind and seen the nature. Such a bodhisattva possesses profound contemplative wisdom, being a bodhisattva endowed with the general-characteristic prajñā wisdom, the specific-characteristic wisdom, and the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only. After a bodhisattva cultivates to the first bhūmi, having thoroughly penetrated the dharmas of both the Great and Small Vehicles, his contemplative wisdom becomes even deeper and subtler; the contemplative wisdom of a bodhisattva after the eighth bhūmi is something we simply cannot imagine.
The sutra says that after the bodhisattva illuminates and sees that the five aggregates are all empty, he can cross over all suffering and adversity. Since he can cross over all suffering and adversity, there will never again be any feeling of suffering in his life—complete liberation and ease. This is not something an ordinary bodhisattva who has seen the mind and seen the nature can accomplish. A bodhisattva who can truly cross over the suffering and adversity of birth and death must eradicate afflictions and habitual tendencies, exhaust the grasping at a self of the person, and also eradicate the grasping at a self of dharmas. This is the liberation realm of bodhisattvas of the eighth bhūmi and above, and even of all Buddhas. Bodhisattvas below the seventh bhūmi have not yet completely crossed over suffering and adversity, because they bear the burden of segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) and karmic obstructions; their minds are not yet fully liberated, and they still have feelings of suffering. Therefore, the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva spoken of here has contemplative practice that is extremely deep and subtle, and the fruit of his cultivation and realization has already surpassed that of a seventh-bhūmi bodhisattva. Only such a bodhisattva can, when through contemplative practice he illuminates and sees that the five aggregates are all empty, cross over suffering and adversity, attain great liberation, and attain great ease.
The phrase "行深般若波罗蜜多" means that the bodhisattva is engaged in contemplative practice of the profound prajñā principles, contemplating all the intrinsic natures and seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha. The "prajñā" spoken of here does not refer to the prajñā wisdom born after the mind consciousness has seen the mind, but rather to the tathāgatagarbha, which is endowed with inherent liberating wisdom. "Pāramitā" means "reaching the other shore." This true essence, the tathāgatagarbha, has always been on the other shore where there is no birth and death. One must contemplate what kind of great wisdom He is endowed with, how liberated and at ease He is, and why He is not bound by birth and death. When a bodhisattva, through Chan investigation, realizes the tathāgatagarbha, finds the tathāgatagarbha, and can directly perceive His existence and functioning, he has seen the mind and attained enlightenment. Thereafter he can observe and realize the reality and suchness of the tathāgatagarbha, observe and realize how the five aggregates and eighteen realms of himself and all sentient beings are manifested and born by Him, and how they operate with His cooperation, realizing that the five aggregates and eighteen realms of himself and all sentient beings have no truly imperishable intrinsic nature.
A post-bhūmi bodhisattva can directly perceive, through direct perception, the functional operations of the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha, and genuinely know that all dharmas are the result of the tathāgatagarbha's operation—the whole is nothing but the tathāgatagarbha. This contemplative practice of direct-perception realm is deep contemplation, and only this is "practicing the profound prajñāpāramitā." After deep contemplation, one can illuminate and see that the five aggregates are like a dream, illusion, bubble, or shadow, like a mirage, like a mirror image, like the moon in water, and can realize that the five aggregates are in fact the wondrous true suchness nature of the tathāgatagarbha, entirely the functional operations of the tathāgatagarbha, neither one with nor different from the tathāgatagarbha. This is the meaning of "illuminating and seeing that the five aggregates are all empty." At this point the bodhisattva has the great wisdom of prajñā liberation, can eradicate the grasping at a self of the person and a portion of the grasping at a self of dharmas, no longer takes the functional operations of the five aggregates as self or as real, and no longer grasps at the functionality of the five aggregates and the reality of all dharmas. Only thus can he cross over the various sufferings and adversities of birth and death, and his mind attains great liberation. Although the bodhisattva has realized the emptiness of the five aggregates, he does not seek to extinguish the body of the five aggregates; he will certainly retain a little residual delusion to nourish life, to benefit himself and benefit others.
That which is without birth and death is the tathāgatagarbha; that which has birth and death is the body of the five aggregates. The five aggregates are inherently empty, arising and ceasing, impermanent. The tathāgatagarbha is like a boundless, vast ocean, and the five aggregates are nothing but bubbles arising from that ocean. The karmic seeds created by sentient beings' five aggregates are stored in the great ocean of the tathāgatagarbha. When conditions ripen, the tathāgatagarbha transmits the karmic seeds outward and manifests the five aggregates and eighteen realms of the next life. This five-aggregate, eighteen-realm body, like a bubble or wave, drifts in the ocean of the treasury for some years and then ceases; after ceasing, another bubble emerges, and thus it flows on endlessly, arising and ceasing without stop within the ocean of the tathāgatagarbha.
The tathāgatagarbha truly exists like the great ocean, without birth or cessation, while the five aggregates are like bubbles conjured up within the ocean of the tathāgatagarbha. We cannot say that the bubble is the ocean, but neither can we say it is not the ocean. The ocean and the bubble differ only in appearance; their essence is the same. The bubble is a drop of the ocean, and its essence is also ocean water. The arising and ceasing of the five aggregates is precisely the manifestation of the functional intrinsic nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The "five aggregates are all empty" in the Mahāyāna dharma does not mean the five aggregates are void and without functional operation; nor is it the impermanence-emptiness or dependent-origination-emptiness spoken of in the Small Vehicle. Rather, from the perspective of the dharma realm of ultimate reality, it says that the five aggregates have no truly imperishable self-nature; they are a partial virtuous function manifested by the measureless merits of the emptiness-nature mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and their essence is no different from the emptiness-nature mind, the tathāgatagarbha.
When the bodhisattva engages in deep and detailed contemplative practice of the prajñāpāramitā and then turns back to contemplate the five aggregates, he understands what the essence of the five aggregates is. This contemplative wisdom is like a searchlight in the dark night: once the light shines, the scenery before one's eyes immediately becomes clear. The bodhisattva's prajñā wisdom is like this radiantly shining lamp, illuminating our five aggregates thoroughly inside and out. From then on, we understand in which direction lies the path to ultimate liberation, and the great vow of attaining buddhahood made in the past now becomes even firmer. Although our five-aggregate body cannot yet temporarily escape the suffering of birth and death, by relying on the mind of ultimate reality, the tathāgatagarbha, which is inherently free of suffering and quiescent, we will ultimately reach the ultimate nirvāṇa realm of "permanence, bliss, self, and purity."
The five aggregates comprise the aggregate of form, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness. "Aggregate" (skandha) means heaping up, accumulating. The five aggregates are also called the five coverings (pañca-skandha), because "covering" has the property of obscuring the tathāgatagarbha, causing sentient beings not to recognize the true mind and to take the false as true. For the convenience of students' cultivation of contemplative practice, each will be briefly described below.
Section 1 A Brief Description of the Aggregate of Form
How is the aggregate of form formed? The aggregate of form is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with karmic seeds, gradually formed by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seeds of the four great elements; the aggregate of form comes entirely from the tathāgatagarbha. During the sentient being's stage in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), because the manas does not cease, the grasping at the self's five aggregates has not been severed, nor has craving been eradicated, so he must enter the womb to possess a five-aggregate body again. Thus, when he sees in the antarā-bhava the future parents uniting, desire arises and he rushes to participate; then the manas is restrained and, together with the tathāgatagarbha, enters and dwells in the mother's womb—thus the manas takes rebirth. After conception, when the five-aggregate body forms, the manas takes the five-aggregate body as self, grasping and craving for it in every way. Only by eradicating the manas's view of self and grasping at self regarding the five aggregates can there be no more rebirth, releasing the bonds of birth and death in the three realms and gaining temporary liberation. For permanent liberation, one must continue to study the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha dharma, eradicating the manas's grasping at all dharmas; when ignorance is utterly extinguished, there is permanent and ultimate liberation and ease.
The manas is a mental dharma, formless and without mark, called "nāma" (name); the fertilized egg is material form (rūpa). When the manas and the fertilized egg combine, the initial "nāma-rūpa" five-aggregate body arises. Next, in accordance with karmic force, the tathāgatagarbha takes the mother's body as a condition and absorbs the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, and the fertilized egg continuously grows and develops. The tathāgatagarbha continuously sustains this nāma-rūpa, producing blood, flesh, bones, internal organs, and other tissues and organs; gradually the fetus's skull, torso, and limbs grow out, the facial features take shape, and the six faculties gradually become complete.
When the fetus develops to four or five months, the supreme faculties (indriya) are basically present. Relying on the six faculties, the tathāgatagarbha can manifest the mind consciousness, ear consciousness, and body consciousness. At this point the function of discernment exists, able to know part of the external environment and the environment within the uterus; after knowing, there is feeling. Having feeling, the fetus becomes restless and unsettled; at this time various activities arise following its feelings, and fetal movement occurs. Since the fetus at this time has discriminative mind, able to know some sound-objects inside and outside the mother's body, and can partially know the cold and heat, pressure, softness and hardness within the uterus, prenatal education can be carried out on the fetus.
With the discerning functions of the body consciousness and mind consciousness, the fetus will have feelings of suffering and pleasure. For example: if the mother eats something cold, he feels as miserable as if in the hell of freezing ice; if the mother drinks a mouthful of hot soup, he feels scaldingly uncomfortable; eating spicy food also feels unpleasant; when the mother bends over, he feels his body being squeezed. But if he hears soothing music, he feels comfortable and pleasant—thus the fetus can give rise to a mind of craving and attachment. By the ninth or tenth month, the fetus's six faculties are fully complete, the six consciousnesses are also complete, and the five aggregates and eighteen realms are all complete. When the tathāgatagarbha knows this state, it will impel the fetal body to turn and move, bringing about the fetus's birth.
After the infant is born, through nursing and eating, the tathāgatagarbha extracts the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind from the food, transforming external nutrients into the nutrients the body needs, continuing to sustain the infant's physical body. As the organs continuously develop, the infant's body grows and matures day by day. This infant's body is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. Some people do not believe this, saying it was created by the mother. But if it was created by the mother while in the womb, what happens after leaving the womb? Whose achievement is it that the infant's and child's body grows day by day? Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, no dharma can produce the material dharma of the aggregate of form, because the physical body is composed of the seeds of the four great elements, and only the tathāgatagarbha has the seeds of the four great elements. Therefore, sentient beings' aggregate-of-form body and faculties are produced by the tathāgatagarbha; the aggregate of form comes from the tathāgatagarbha, and its essence is the tathāgatagarbha.
Although the aggregate of form is produced by the tathāgatagarbha, the tathāgatagarbha is not within the aggregate of form, nor outside it, nor in between. Because the tathāgatagarbha is formless and colorless, a formless, colorless dharma cannot be said to have a location; only material form has a place, and only of it can one say it dwells somewhere. The tathāgatagarbha does not dwell in the aggregate of form, yet is not apart from it; it does not dwell inside the body, nor outside it. He is neither within nor without, yet is never apart from within or without. He never hides Himself, and has no thought of hiding, yet we simply cannot find Him. Before realization, it is indeed very hard to understand these intrinsic natures of His, because He is not a worldly dharma, and worldly wisdom truly cannot comprehend Him. Only after prajñā wisdom has opened can one, with the bodhisattva's eye of wisdom and eye of dharma, observe His operation and know His intrinsic nature. Only then will one exclaim: the tathāgatagarbha is like the bright moon in the sky, its ten-thousand-fathom radiance illuminating the earth, while sentient beings are completely obscured by ignorance and afflictions, blind as if blind men, seeing yet not seeing.
Each sentient being's aggregate of form is produced bit by bit by his own tathāgatagarbha, manufactured and formed by the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha's inherent, unique great wisdom knows when to create which part and what it should look like. The tathāgatagarbha can discern karmic seeds and, according to them, transmit the four great element seeds in different proportions, and the sentient being's karmic retribution body grows bit by bit. The tathāgatagarbha knows the state of the physical body's growth; when the body has grown and matured and must age, He changes the proportions of the four great element seeds, and the body ages bit by bit. The tathāgatagarbha knows when wrinkles and spots should appear on the face, knows when bodily functions decline, when the metabolism of internal organs begins to wane, and when movement becomes sluggish. When a sentient being's karmic obstructions manifest, the tathāgatagarbha transmits disharmonious four-great-element seeds, and the sentient being develops various illnesses.
When the physical body is severely aged and its various functions approach exhaustion, the tathāgatagarbha also knows when a sentient being should relinquish his lifespan; before death He emits signals of death to alert the person, such as bodily odors, high fever, and other four-great-element changes in the body. When the manas discerns that the karmic conditions of death have manifested, it also alerts the mind consciousness; one becomes deeply attached to loved ones, speaks words of reluctance to part, and behaves strangely. Some people, before dying, have a presentiment in the mind consciousness and mentally prepare, arranging their affairs in advance. The tathāgatagarbha often displays much information to us; sometimes our mind consciousness can discern it, sometimes not; sometimes we resonate with it without knowing what it is about. For example, if two people formed a deep bond in a past life, and a wholesome one, when they meet in this life they feel very close to each other, helping and caring for each other attentively, neither knowing why. These are the karmic seeds of past lives transmitted by each one's tathāgatagarbha; the knowing mind unconsciously resonates with them and transmigrates according to karma. Sentient beings do not know who gives these signals; in fact, they are all transmitted by the tathāgatagarbha, which discerns the karmic seeds. The manas is closest to the tathāgatagarbha and perceives first, then transmits to the mind consciousness; if the mind consciousness has wisdom, it too will perceive; without wisdom, it remains unaware. The bonds formed in past lives differ, so when people meet in this life, the feelings differ: some people make you feel very close, others make you feel very repulsed. A bodhisattva who wishes to broadly deliver sentient beings must form many wholesome bonds with sentient beings in every life, because once an unwholesome bond is formed with someone, even if you become a Buddha in the future, you will be unable to deliver him.
All these are phenomena manifested by the tathāgatagarbha discerning sentient beings' karmic seeds, yet we do not know exactly why; without cultivating supernatural powers, we do not know the affairs of past lives. Therefore, the occurrence of all events, and all feelings toward people, things, and objects, are first known and first perceived and displayed to us by the tathāgatagarbha—we simply do not understand. Why do we not understand? Because of ignorance; sentient beings' ignorance-obscuration is too heavy. How can one not be foolish? Study the tathāgatagarbha dharma, then realize the tathāgatagarbha; after enlightenment, continue cultivating, and ignorance can be broken bit by bit, and wisdom gradually arises. When ignorance is utterly severed and wisdom is perfectly complete, buddhahood is attained.
Section 2 A Brief Description of the Aggregate of Feeling
What is the aggregate of feeling? The aggregate of feeling is the accumulation of various feelings. Feelings can be divided into five: suffering, pleasure, sorrow, joy, and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā); or into three: suffering, pleasure, and neutral. The "feeling" of the aggregate of feeling refers mainly to the first six consciousness minds, not including the feelings of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses. Sentient beings have eight consciousness minds in total: the first seven are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses, the mind consciousness, and the seventh consciousness, the manas—manas-vijñāna; the eighth consciousness is the tathāgatagarbha. The first seven consciousnesses are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting consciousness seeds; they are all illusory, false minds. Whatever is produced by the tathāgatagarbha is subject to arising and ceasing, illusory, impermanent, empty, suffering, and not-self. As for "feeling," all eight consciousnesses have it, but the aggregate of feeling refers only to the feelings of the first six consciousness minds, not including the feelings of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses. Only in the Hundred Dharmas' teaching of the five universally present mental factors of the eight consciousnesses are the feelings of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses discussed.
Among the feelings of the first six consciousnesses, the sixth consciousness is primary. Although the first five consciousnesses also have feelings, theirs are relatively direct and coarse. The sixth consciousness's feelings are relatively delicate and rich, with emotional coloring and moodiness, deeper and subtler in content, and broader in scope. The Buddha said in the Āgama sūtras: the six faculties contact the six sense objects, the six consciousnesses arise, and the three combine in contact, giving rise to feeling. When do the six consciousness minds have feelings? When the eyes see form, the eye consciousness and mind consciousness arise; when the eye consciousness and mind consciousness contact form-objects, there is feeling. Seeing people, things, and objects one likes or finds interesting, the heart blooms with joy and pleasant feeling arises; seeing what one dislikes or finds repugnant, aversion arises and suffering feeling arises; seeing things one doesn't care about, feeling neither liking nor aversion, neutral feeling arises.
There is feeling when seeing forms, and also when hearing sounds—the ear consciousness and mind consciousness feel simultaneously: liking this sound, disliking that sound; this sound is unpleasant to hear, that sound is pleasant to hear; or this sound is a matter of indifference, neither good nor bad, hearing it or not makes no difference—these are the three feelings of suffering, pleasure, and neutrality. When the nose smells scents and the tongue tastes flavors, likewise there are these three feelings.
When the body feels touch, there are of course feelings: wind blowing on the body sometimes feels suffering, sometimes pleasant, sometimes neither; when the sun shines on the body, these three feelings appear; eating, drinking, sleeping, dressing, and even sitting in meditation cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) are never apart from these three feelings. When the five consciousnesses arise, the sixth consciousness arises together with them; most of the time it feels together with the first five consciousnesses. When the eyes see form, it discriminates and feels simultaneously with the eye consciousness; when the ear hears sounds, the nose smells scents, the tongue tastes flavors, and the body feels touch, the sixth consciousness simultaneously discriminates and feels in each case. It is the primary consciousness in the production of the aggregate of feeling.
When the mind consciousness, without the first five sense objects, discriminates the mental sense-object alone, it also has feelings. Sometimes when someone or some event suddenly comes to mind, one feels moved, and feelings appear—suffering, pleasure, and neutrality all occur. Recalling what someone said yesterday, anger rises in the heart; recalling having won a prize or been promoted, joy arises. This is the sixth consciousness's own feeling toward the mental sense-object when the manas contacts the subjectively imagined realm of mental objects—the scattered solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta). Another case is dreaming: in dreams the mind consciousness also feels the mental objects alone, with emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and feelings of suffering, pleasure, sorrow, joy, and neutrality, all without the participation of the first five consciousnesses—this is the dream solitary consciousness feeling alone. All the feelings of the first five consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness belong to the aggregate of feeling.
Section 3 A Brief Description of the Aggregate of Perception
What is the aggregate of perception? The so-called "aggregate of perception" is the accumulation of all knowing-capacity. From the structure of the character one can see: "perception" (想) is a mark upon the mind. A mark upon the mind means a mark has been taken, that discrimination has occurred; so perception is knowing, meaning discernment and grasping (upādāna). What is a mark upon the mind? When we see a form and know: "Oh, it's this thing"—at that moment mental discrimination is complete and there is a mark; thus knowing and recognizing something is called perception. When the eyes see form and know this is a flower, that is a person, this is taking a mark and discriminating—it is perception. After discernment, the subsequent thinking, analyzing, judging, inferring, studying, and so on are further "perception." Even the plans, intentions, and even daydreams and delusions we often make are all "perception."
"Perception" is a functional operation of our consciousness minds. As long as the six consciousnesses arise, the mind has abiding; where there is abiding there is perception. When there are words and language in the mind, it is perception; when there are no words and language, it is still perception. The manas's perception has no words or language, and the tathāgatagarbha's perception even more so has none. When the eyes see form there is perception; when the ears hear sounds there is perception; when the nose smells scents there is perception; when the tongue tastes flavors there is perception; when the body feels touch there is perception. As long as the six consciousnesses have feeling toward the six sense objects, perception will certainly arise. The mind consciousness's initial perception may have no words or language; when it repeatedly deliberates and analyzes, words and language arise in the mind.
The six consciousnesses have perception regarding all dharmas. The first five consciousnesses have perception, and the sixth consciousness has perception, but the sixth consciousness's perception is primary and also the most complex. Besides discriminating and perceiving together with the five consciousnesses, the mind consciousness can also perceive alone in relation to the mental sense-object. For example, in dreams the mind consciousness perceives alone; also ordinary scattered thinking, random musings, contemplative visualization within meditative concentration, and wild delusions are all the mind consciousness's solitary perception. The first five consciousnesses cannot have perception apart from the currently present five-sense-object realms, but the sixth consciousness can. Any perception that does not discriminate and think upon the currently present five-sense-object realms is the mind consciousness's solitary perception. The aggregate of perception is the mental discriminative activity of the six consciousnesses when the six faculties contact the six sense objects.
Section 4 A Brief Description of the Aggregate of Volitional Formations
What is the aggregate of volitional formations? What is "formation"? Formation is the state of things being in motion, change, or transition—non-static. Whether material form or mental dharma, anything that changes is "formation," including changes in time and shifts in space, location, and direction, as well as the operation and activity of the several consciousness minds. Among all dharmas of the phenomenal realm, not one is still and unmoving; whether visible or invisible, whether the myriad dharmas of the six sense objects or our own body and mind, all are ceaselessly flowing and changing—this is the aggregate of volitional formations.
First let us look at the mountains, rivers, and the great earth. When wishing others longevity, we often use the phrase "may your lifespan be like the Southern Mountain," because our ancestors have all passed away while the Southern Mountain remains there, seemingly unchanged. In fact, the Southern Mountain also arises and ceases and changes. Because sentient beings' lifespans are not long enough, they cannot directly observe this fact, and so believe the Southern Mountain will endure forever and never perish. People often find shells and fish fossils in mountain rocks; those with wisdom know this place was once the ocean, that the Southern Mountain grew out of the sea, and the original ocean has long since vanished. In fact, the Southern Mountain is also changing every instant, and after hundreds of millions of years it too will disappear; it is only that human lifespans are too short to perceive the obvious changes of mountains, rivers, and the great earth. Then look at time: time flows ceaselessly, never stopping—minute by minute, second by second, instant by instant; even as we read this passage, several more seconds have passed.
Our physical body is like a machine that has never stopped running. Even if we do nothing, even letting the mind consciousness enter meditative concentration, the physical body will not pause for an instant: blood flowing, breathing and heartbeat, gastrointestinal peristalsis, digestion and absorption, cellular metabolism, and so on—all are moving, all arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing under the sustenance of the tathāgatagarbha. We are with our family every day and seem not to notice their changes; but if you leave home for a few years and return, you will see your parents have visibly aged and your children have visibly grown. In fact, in the blink of an eye—even an interval of less than a second—the physical body you see is no longer the physical body of a second ago.
Our consciousness minds also change every instant. For example, when the eye consciousness discerns form-objects, it is the tathāgatagarbha producing the eye-consciousness seeds one by one; the previous seed, after arising and falling away, returns to the tathāgatagarbha, and the next seed arises at the spot where the previous one fell away. The seeds thus arise and cease ceaselessly; in one finger-snap, eighty-one thousand seed arisings and ceasings pass by—only this ensures the eye consciousness functions normally. If we keep looking at and discriminating some object, the operation of the consciousness seeds will not stop; this is movement, belonging to the aggregate of volitional formations. The operation of the other five consciousnesses is likewise. As long as consciousness minds exist, there is the aggregate of volitional formations. In summary, all bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the aggregate of volitional formations and belong to its scope.
Section 5 A Brief Description of the Aggregate of Consciousness
Finally, let us discuss the aggregate of consciousness. "Consciousness" is the mind possessing the functions of knowing and discriminating. The scope of the aggregate of consciousness includes the six consciousnesses: eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses, and the mind consciousness. The aggregate of consciousness refers to the accumulation of the functions of these six consciousnesses.
The functions of the six consciousnesses differ. For example, the eye consciousness is responsible for discriminating form-objects. When the eye faculty's objective sense faculty contacts the external object-aspect of form, the tathāgatagarbha generates the inner object-aspect of form at the supreme faculty (indriya); at the point of faculty-object contact, the tathāgatagarbha produces the eye consciousness. Simultaneously, the manas contacts the mental object upon the form-object, and the tathāgatagarbha produces the mind consciousness. The eye consciousness and mind consciousness arise together to discern the form-object, and thus one knows what the thing is—this is the result of the joint discrimination of the eye consciousness and mind consciousness. The ranges of discernment of the eye consciousness and mind consciousness regarding form-objects differ: the eye consciousness discerns the manifest colors—blue, yellow, red, white, light and shadow, bright and dark, clouds, smoke, dust, mist, and empty space; the mind consciousness discerns the mental object manifested upon the form-object realm—form included in the dharma base—namely shapes, expressive marks, and non-expressive marks. The eye consciousness and mind consciousness work together, and we see form-objects clearly. Similarly, the ear, nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses are also produced by the tathāgatagarbha when faculties and objects contact. The five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness always operate together in harmony, so the mind consciousness is called the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna). The five consciousnesses can only discern the coarse aspects of the five sense objects; the subtle aspects are discerned by the sixth consciousness.
In fact, the six consciousnesses' discernment of the six sense objects is the result of the eight consciousnesses operating in concert; the harmonious operation of the eight consciousnesses is extremely rapid and very complex. Countless consciousness seeds arise and cease every instant. This process is innumerably more complex than the world's most powerful computer. Our five-aggregate body sometimes seems to be doing something simple, but behind it all is the uninterrupted coordination of the eight consciousness-kings. After seeing the mind, when one engages in contemplative practice and reflection, one discovers it is truly not simple at all.
Section 6 Crossing Over All Suffering and Adversity
1. Where Does the Suffering of Sentient Beings Come From?
Why do sentient beings have sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa)? Because of afflictions and ignorance, craving the five-aggregate body and the worldly dharmas of the three realms, they thereby create manifold karma, causing their five-aggregate bodies, life after life, to endlessly undergo boundless retributive suffering. If the five aggregates ceased, there would be no one to undergo this retributive suffering; hence, where there is a body, there is suffering. The gods of the formless realm, though without physical bodies, still have consciousness minds, and still have the suffering of formations and the suffering of decay. In the four formless absorptions of the formless realm there is no concept of time's length at all: once absorbed, tens of thousands of great kalpas pass, and upon emerging from absorption it feels as if only a moment had gone by. If their heavenly merit is exhausted, they may fall directly into the three evil destinies to undergo retributive suffering.
Ignorance and afflictions are the source of all suffering; the existence of the five-aggregate body and mind is the vessel receiving all suffering. Although the arhat of the fourth fruit has already utterly severed the view of self and grasping at self, with no further manifestation of afflictions in the mind, before relinquishing his lifespan there is still the existence of the physical body and consciousness minds; living in the human world, he must endure slight and residual suffering. When bitten by mosquitoes, the body feels pain and itch; when the summer sun is too scorching, the body feels hot; when the winter wind is too cold, the body feels cold; when ill, the body also has feelings of suffering; and there are still some karmic retributions to be resolved. But there is not much suffering in the mind, because the mind has already attained liberation and does not care about any suffering of the physical body. Therefore, when the season and conditions of the arhat's nirvāṇa arrive and his karmic ties with this world are exhausted, he is unwilling to continue undergoing the suffering of the five aggregates; he extinguishes the five-aggregate body and mind, leaves the world, enters Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), and is liberated from suffering.
2. How Śrāvakas Cross Over Suffering and Adversity
How do śrāvakas cross over all suffering and adversity? Śrāvakas can only cross over a portion of suffering and adversity, not all of it; they can only end the suffering of segmented birth-and-death, not the suffering of transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa). They rely on the noble teachings to contemplate their own five-aggregate body and mind, discovering that it is subject to arising and ceasing and impermanent; because impermanent, it is empty; because empty, it is suffering; because suffering, it is not-self. To cross over suffering and adversity, they must utterly extinguish the vessel that carries suffering and adversity—the five-aggregate body and mind—enter Nirvāṇa without remainder, leaving the suffering and adversity without an owner, thereby being neither suffering nor pleasure, without even neutral feeling.
Śrāvakas of fixed nature do not realize ultimate reality; they can only engage in contemplative practice within the aggregates, bases, and realms. Through contemplating one by one the five aggregates, six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana), twelve bases, and eighteen realms, they discover that no dharma is permanent and unchanging—all are ceaselessly flowing, arising, ceasing, and mutating. Thus they sever the view of self, sever the three fetters, and attain the fruit of srotāpanna. After attaining the first fruit, they continue contemplative practice and reflection; when the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion grow ever thinner, they become second-fruit persons—sakṛdāgāmin. Next, subduing the five hindrances and cultivating the first dhyāna, severing the minds of craving and hatred, they attain the third fruit, anāgāmin. The third-fruit person then severs self-conceit, removes the final ignorance regarding "self" within the mind, and the manas's grasping at self is utterly severed; having completely extinguished craving for the three realms, they attain the fourth fruit, arhat. When the arhat's lifespan ends, he extinguishes the manas, no longer takes rebirth, and there is no further birth of the five-aggregate nāma-rūpa in future lives; only the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, remains existing alone—this is the realm of Nirvāṇa without remainder.
The arhat has not realized the intrinsically liberated, inherently suffering-free self-natured pure mind—the tathāgatagarbha—and therefore cannot practice the profound prajñāpāramitā to illuminate and see that the five aggregates are all empty. The arhat escapes suffering by extinguishing the five-aggregate self, so no one continues to suffer; conventionally it is said he has crossed over all suffering and adversity, but in fact the karmic seeds of suffering have not been severed, and the suffering of birth and death has not been thoroughly ended. To borrow the words of the Diamond Sutra: so-called deliverance is not deliverance, it is merely named deliverance, because in reality there are no sentient beings being delivered.
3. How Bodhisattvas Cross Over All Suffering and Adversity
How do bodhisattvas cross over all suffering and adversity? Return to the first sentence of the sutra: "观自在菩萨，行深般若波罗蜜多时，照见五蕴皆空，度一切苦厄。" From this sentence, the bodhisattva's crossing over all suffering and adversity looks very simple and easy, but in fact it is extremely difficult; the dharma cultivated is profound upon profound. What is its true principle? A bodhisattva who can contemplate with ease is at the very least one who has seen the mind and attained enlightenment; but a bodhisattva who has merely attained enlightenment does not yet have wisdom and meditative concentration sufficient to cross over all suffering and adversity. Only when the bodhisattva cultivates to the point of eradicating afflictions and being able to end segmented birth-and-death can he cross over most suffering and adversity; there remains a trace of transformational birth-and-death suffering not yet ended. Only after ending it can he reach the other shore of nirvāṇa. With the prajñā wisdom of ultimate reality, the bodhisattva can contemplate all dharmas of the phenomenal realm from the perspective of ultimate reality—that they do not truly exist, that birth and death are like flowers in the sky. Realizing this principle, he no longer fears being bound by birth and death. The bodhisattva knows that only the self-natured pure mind, the tathāgatagarbha, is the truly imperishable dharma, without birth and death, neither on this shore nor on the other shore of nirvāṇa's quiescence; all dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen realms are illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, provisionally existent, and all the suffering, pleasure, and neutral feelings of the five aggregates are also false and unreal.
Having realized the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, the bodhisattva no longer takes the five aggregates as the false self. The true self, the tathāgatagarbha, is self-natured pure, eternally abiding in nirvāṇa, never corresponding to suffering or pleasure. Deep within, the bodhisattva relinquishes the false and returns to the true, and in principle has thereby crossed over all the suffering and adversity of birth and death. The bodhisattva does not extinguish the five aggregates to escape suffering, and does not leave the world to cross over all suffering and adversity, because the self-natured tathāgatagarbha in whom he takes refuge has no suffering at all, and the suffering of the five aggregates protected by Him is also not suffering. After the bodhisattva's enlightenment, the physical body may still have suffering in the world, but by virtue of vast vows and compassion, he accompanies sentient beings in the ocean of saṃsāra and karma, ceaselessly saving and drawing out karmically connected sentient beings from the sea of birth-and-death suffering.
Although the realized bodhisattva has, in principle, crossed over all suffering and adversity, in actuality he cannot yet do so, because the afflictions of craving for the three realms have not been utterly severed, measureless afflictive habitual tendencies still exist, the dust-and-sand ignorance of beginningless kalpas has not been eradicated, and segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death still exist. Therefore he must continuously accumulate meditative concentration, merit, and wisdom. Bodhisattvas of the first bhūmi and above have the capacity to sever craving for the world of the three realms and need not come to the three realms, but because they wish to accomplish the Buddha-way and benefit and delight sentient beings, they are unwilling to leave the three realms. The eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva has utterly severed afflictive habitual tendencies and has no more segmented birth-and-death; his lifespan is extremely long, and on the surface it seems there is no more birth and death. But the karmic seeds of birth and death and ignorance still exist, not yet extinguished; the consciousness minds still have movement and change, and it is not yet true birthlessness and deathlessness. Only by cultivating to the ultimate Buddha-stage, with all ignorance utterly severed, will the seeds contained in the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) never undergo change; the first seven consciousnesses transform consciousness into wisdom, and the tathāgatagarbha becomes truly permanent, blissful, self, and pure. Therefore, only by cultivating to the Buddha-stage can one truly end birth and death and ultimately cross over all suffering and adversity.
