Chapter Sixteen: The Relationship Between the Mental Faculty and the Eighth Consciousness

I. Speculation Before Enlightenment Can Never Achieve Mental Emptiness

All dharmas are manifested by the eighth consciousness and are empty. Before the sixth and seventh consciousnesses realize this truth, it remains mere speculation and hypothesis. When not genuinely realized, the principle is the principle, and you are you; emptiness is emptiness, and you are you—the two have no connection. Speculation before enlightenment can never achieve mental emptiness. Only after enlightenment, through continuous effective observation of the eighth consciousness and the five-aggregate world, can the mind gradually become somewhat empty. After eliminating afflictions and attaining the stages of enlightenment, the mind can become largely empty, and only after the eighth stage of Bodhisattvahood can the vast majority become empty. Only through genuine realization of the eighth consciousness can one gradually transform and rely on its pure nature. Upon successful transformation and reliance, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses transform into wisdom, becoming Bodhisattvas on the stages of enlightenment; complete transformation and reliance result in Buddhahood. Therefore, the emptiness of the eighth consciousness cannot replace the emptiness of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses must undergo cultivation and realization to recognize and realize emptiness; only then can the mind become empty. Otherwise, the mouth may speak of emptiness while the mind remains unempty, and the demon of afflictions will not depart.

Before the sixth and seventh consciousnesses fully succeed in transforming and relying on the eighth consciousness, the various pure natures possessed by the eighth consciousness do not mean the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are the same. For example, the eighth consciousness never upholds precepts, but the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot refrain from upholding precepts like the eighth consciousness. This is because the eighth consciousness has no ignorance or afflictions and will never violate precepts, so it does not need to uphold them; it also has no mind to violate anything. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses, however, are heavily tainted by afflictions, constantly creating unwholesome karma for personal gain. If they do not uphold precepts, unwholesome karma will be endless, unwholesome retribution will be endless, and liberation from the suffering of lower realms and the six paths of rebirth will be impossible.

Another example: the eighth consciousness does not cultivate concentration, but the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot refrain from cultivating concentration like the eighth consciousness. This is because the mind of the eighth consciousness is never scattered, never clings to any dharmas, and possesses supreme wisdom; its mind is constantly in concentration, neither entering nor exiting concentration. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are incapable of this; scattered like a monkey, thoughts constantly change without stability, the mental water is turbid, unable to clearly perceive truth and reality, burdened by ignorance and afflictions. Therefore, they must cultivate concentration to subdue their own minds, gain the capacity for wholesome contemplation, and seek genuine wisdom and liberation. Yet another example: the eighth consciousness does not eliminate afflictions, but the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot refrain from eliminating afflictions. This is because the eighth consciousness has no afflictions to eliminate, while the sixth and seventh consciousnesses harbor immense ignorance and afflictions. If not eliminated, they sink into the sea of birth-and-death suffering, with no hope of escape.

If one wishes to compare with the eighth consciousness, then compare how the eighth consciousness is pure within the five desires and six dusts of the world; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should also be pure like it. Compare how the eighth consciousness is selfless and without ego; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should also be selfless and without ego like it. Observe how the eighth consciousness tirelessly and diligently serves sentient beings without cease; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should learn from this. Observe how the eighth consciousness possesses all wisdom; the sixth and seventh consciousnesses should learn even more from this. Only through such comparison can one swiftly attain Buddhahood. However, without genuine realization of the eighth consciousness, one cannot truly compare with it. The imagined nature of the eighth consciousness cannot become one's genuine object of reliance and cannot transform one's own mind. Therefore, diligent cultivation of the six paramitas of a Bodhisattva is still necessary to achieve realization.

Online discussions about emptiness are filled with elaborate and fanciful talk of emptiness. In reality, despite loudly proclaiming various kinds of emptiness, the mind remains incapable of becoming empty. One must genuinely realize emptiness, perceive emptiness, for the mind to begin emptying, bit by bit. Without realizing emptiness, it's all slogans, all imagination and thought, which is useless. But regarding the methods of actual practice, if one has not cultivated them in past lives, one does not know how to actually practice or realize; it's all imagined practice, imagined realization. Ultimately, this stems from insufficient merit and causes and conditions such as meditative concentration, precepts, and wisdom.

II. Does the Mental Faculty Also Tacitly Contain the Tathagatagarbha?

Question: The mental faculty tacitly contains all dharmas, including tacitly containing the Tathagatagarbha. The Tathagatagarbha does not act as the master of all dharmas, has no self-nature, and must operate together with the mental faculty, being inseparable from it. Can it be said that the mental faculty is the king of minds, while the Tathagatagarbha is the mental associate of the mental faculty?

Answer: Although the mental faculty tacitly contains all dharmas, this "all dharmas" does not include the Tathagatagarbha, because the mental faculty does not know of the Tathagatagarbha's existence, nor does it know its specific functions. The mental faculty tacitly contains the functional roles initiated by the Tathagatagarbha, liking and clinging to those roles initiated by the Tathagatagarbha, yet it does not know these functions belong to the Tathagatagarbha, mistakenly believing them to be its own functions, thus continuously craving and clinging to them.

If the mental faculty could tacitly contain the Tathagatagarbha, it should know the operation of the Tathagatagarbha, know that the five-aggregate worldly dharmas are all operated by the Tathagatagarbha, and that it itself has nothing to do with it. In that case, the mental faculty could not only eliminate the view of self but also eliminate self-attachment and dharma-attachment; the ignorance in its mind should be eradicated. In fact, this is not the case. Therefore, it is said that the mental faculty does not tacitly contain the Tathagatagarbha but tacitly contains the functional roles initiated by the Tathagatagarbha and all dharmas manifested by it, mistakenly taking those functions of the Tathagatagarbha as its own functions, called "internally grasping the functions of the Tathagatagarbha as self." Hence, the mental faculty gives rise to many afflictions such as arrogance, self-love, self-attachment, etc., burdened by profound ignorance.

Although the Tathagatagarbha lacks a masterful nature and does not actively govern all dharmas, always following the mental faculty to operate all dharmas and being inseparable from it, the Tathagatagarbha does not belong to the mental faculty. It is not a mental associate of the mental faculty; on the contrary, the Tathagatagarbha is the king of minds, and the mental faculty is the mental associate, belonging to the Tathagatagarbha. This is because the Tathagatagarbha determines the existence or non-existence of the mental faculty and provides the seeds for its survival. Therefore, the Tathagatagarbha is the king of minds for the mental faculty, and the mental faculty is the mental associate of the Tathagatagarbha. From another perspective, the Tathagatagarbha does not always follow the mental faculty. Often, the Tathagatagarbha follows karmic seeds; many wishes and desires of the mental faculty cannot be fulfilled by the Tathagatagarbha, yet it continuously outputs karmic seeds, following the karmic seeds. Therefore, the mental faculty cannot be the king of minds for the Tathagatagarbha; the Tathagatagarbha cannot be a mental associate of the mental faculty and does not belong to it.

III. Who is the True Master Between the Tathagatagarbha and the Mental Faculty?

The dharmas corresponding to and discerned by the Tathagatagarbha are more numerous than those corresponding to and discerned by the mental faculty. The dharmas corresponding to and discerned by the mental faculty are far more numerous than those corresponding to and discerned by the mental consciousness. From this, we can see: First, the Tathagatagarbha gives birth to all dharmas; it encompasses everything. Second, it reflects the masterful nature of the mental faculty over the mental consciousness; the mental faculty is the master and representative of deluded dharmas. Third, it reflects the dependent nature and non-autonomy of the mental consciousness.

Regarding the processing of all dharmas, it superficially appears to be done by the mental consciousness, but in reality, it is all directed and processed by the mental faculty behind the scenes. Essentially, it is all processed by the Tathagatagarbha using the seven great seeds. The Tathagatagarbha is the true master of all dharmas. Its processing speed is instantaneous; at the very moment, without the slightest separation from the dharmas. The Tathagatagarbha's processing of dharmas is based, first, on karmic seeds, and second, on the mental faculty's desires and choices regarding the dharmas.

The mental faculty processes the parts it can clearly discern quite rapidly, often finishing before the mental consciousness is aware. The mental consciousness is late to perceive, like minor changes in the physical body that the mental faculty immediately handles, occasionally requiring the mental consciousness's assistance. For dharmas the mental faculty cannot clearly discern, it relies on the mental consciousness's discernment, and its processing also relies on the mental consciousness, making its processing slower than the mental consciousness. The mental consciousness alone cannot handle anything; it always cooperates with the mental faculty, either assisting the mental faculty or coercing it. If the mental faculty does not agree, the mental consciousness can accomplish nothing, though it is not excluded that the mental faculty can be deceived or forced by the mental consciousness.

IV. The Five Aggregates and Name-and-Form

The five aggregates are also called name-and-form. Form is the aggregate of form; name refers to the four aggregates of feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. These four aggregates are invisible, merely names. Form includes the sense bases (internal) and the six dusts (external), but does not include the essential realm. When the mental faculty and the eighth consciousness first enter the womb, there is only the fertilized egg as form, no other form; only the mental faculty as name, no other name. All dharmas are merely names, without real substance or self-nature, except for the noumenon and functional nature of the Tathagatagarbha. In Consciousness-Only, the five dharmas and three natures are: characteristics, names, discrimination, correct wisdom, and suchness. All dharmas born from the eighth consciousness have dharma characteristics; false names are assigned to each characteristic; discrimination is applied by the conscious mind; correct cognition is correct wisdom; all these dharmas are "thus," false appearances born from and displayed by the Tathagatagarbha.

Physical actions are jointly operated by the body consciousness and mental consciousness. Verbal actions are operated by the body consciousness and mental consciousness. Mental actions include the mental activities of the surface consciousness and the deep mental activities of the mental faculty. Behind physical, verbal, and mental actions, there are always simultaneous mental activities of the mental faculty. We assign names to certain functions of the six consciousnesses, calling them the aggregate of mental formations, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of consciousness—all merely names, without actual functional roles. What is the actual functional role? It is all the functional roles of the eighth consciousness.

Who aggregates the accumulation of the aggregate of mental formations? Who aggregates the accumulation of the aggregate of perception? Who aggregates the accumulation of the aggregate of feeling? Who aggregates the accumulation of the aggregate of consciousness? The eighth consciousness completely possesses the functional role of accumulation. In the profound teachings of Mahayana, the eighth consciousness should also have the function of aggregation, capable of aggregating the five aggregates, cooperating with the mental faculty to give birth to the five aggregates. The seventh consciousness, the mental faculty, certainly also has an aggregating function, mobilizing the eighth consciousness to aggregate all dharmas; its contribution is indispensable.

The functional roles of the conscious mind on the five sense faculties of the physical body are called feeling, perception, and volition. The physical body and conscious mind combined have the functional roles of the five aggregates. The physical body is the tool of the conscious mind; the six consciousnesses are the tools of the mental faculty.

V. The Meaning of "Delusion Has No Cause, It Arises Due to Confusion"

"Delusion has no cause; it arises due to confusion." This does not conflict with the law of dependent origination, because beginningless kalpas ago, the mental faculty had ignorance within its mental substance for no reason, yet there was no cause that produced this ignorance. Due to the mental faculty's ignorance, all deluded dharmas were born. The arising of these deluded dharmas occurred solely because the mental faculty was confused and inverted. This is the meaning of "delusion has no cause; it arises due to confusion." Because the mental faculty has this ignorance, the Tathagatagarbha gives birth to all subsequent series of dharmas, which aligns with the twelve links of dependent origination.

VI. The Manifestation of the Mental Faculty and Tathagatagarbha After Death

At the time of death, after the mental faculty decisively leaves the body, the eighth consciousness cooperates by leaving the body, and the person dies. The death process is complex, possibly taking eight or more hours to truly die. As the eighth consciousness relinquishes the body, the physical body becomes cold and stiff because the four great elements decompose; the body loses its fire, wind, water, and earth properties.

What is the mental faculty doing at this time? Has it left the body? When the six consciousnesses cease, the mental faculty will leave the body. However, because the mental faculty clings to all dharmas, including its own corpse, it will inevitably still care for its corpse. Consequently, the Tathagatagarbha cannot completely disregard the corpse, though the manner of its care is certainly vastly different from managing a five-aggregate body. Therefore, the corpse ultimately cannot possess the functions of a five-aggregate body and will gradually decay and disappear. Then the mental faculty clings to the remaining bones, so the Tathagatagarbha cannot completely disregard the bones either. The manner of care differs from managing the five-aggregate body and the corpse, resulting in the bones gradually weathering and disappearing.

Even if the mental faculty does not cling to the corpse or bones, the corpse and bones still carry personal marks and information that cannot be erased. Those with great spiritual powers can know all the past and future information of the bone's owner from a single bone. "If you don't want others to know, don't do it yourself"—the traces of created karma can never be erased. Each person has performed countless farces over countless kalpas, forgetting their own while only seeing others'.

VII. What Dharmas Do the Mental Faculty and the Eighth Consciousness Perceive?

The mental faculty follows the eighth consciousness moment by moment, inseparable from it. The eighth consciousness also accompanies the mental faculty moment by moment; the two are inseparable. Without the mental faculty, the eighth consciousness cannot manifest any dharma; separated from the eighth consciousness, the mental faculty perishes and no dharma can be perceived. Therefore, the dharmas perceived by the mental faculty all come from the eighth consciousness, relying on the eighth consciousness to perceive dharmas. As long as the eighth consciousness manifests a dharma, the mental faculty, relying on it, can perceive it. So the question arises: What exactly does the mental faculty perceive? Is it the same content perceived by the eighth consciousness?

We should know that the eighth consciousness is the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya), while the mental faculty is conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya). Therefore, what the eighth consciousness perceives is not the connotation of conventional dharmas; it differs from what the mental faculty perceives. The mental faculty also cannot perceive the connotation of the dharmas perceived by the eighth consciousness. Their identities, statuses, and functional roles differ; their perspectives, levels, sequences, and connotations regarding dharmas will not be the same.

Their functions in inducing dharmas also differ. After perceiving dharmas, their roles in choosing dharmas differ. After choosing, their processing of dharmas differs. Overall, the mental attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition regarding dharmas differ between the mental faculty and the eighth consciousness. Because the mental faculty is conventional truth, representing ignorance and afflictions, while the eighth consciousness is the ultimate truth, representing the absence of ignorance and afflictions, the mental faculty has ignorance and afflictions, while the eighth consciousness has no ignorance and no afflictions.

Because the mental faculty perceives conventional dharmas, it induces afflictions and gives rise to the sense of self. The eighth consciousness does not perceive conventional dharmas, so there is no conventional affliction to speak of; it is pure, non-active, and without self. Therefore, if we expound the Dharma without dwelling in conventional appearances, we too, like the eighth consciousness, will not induce a sense of self, will not give rise to afflictions, and the mind will become pure, radiating great light.

What dharmas exactly does the mental faculty perceive? Since the mental faculty cannot perceive what the eighth consciousness perceives yet closely relies on the eighth consciousness to perceive conventional dharmas, after the eighth consciousness perceives dharmas, it continuously propagates, manifests, and transforms them. The dharmas after being transformed by the eighth consciousness are conventional dharmas, and only this part can be perceived by the mental faculty.

What the eighth consciousness perceives is the most original dharmas, the most fundamental dharmas, untouched and unprocessed by the seven consciousnesses, which cannot reach them. After the eighth consciousness perceives the original dharmas, it absorbs the four great element particles within the dharmas and begins to propagate them, forming images, which belong to the conventional dharmas. The mental faculty perceives these images. During propagation, the eighth consciousness passes through intermediate media; the four great element particles are partially obstructed, and the dharmas propagated by the eighth consciousness are partially altered. No matter how many times the dharmas propagated by the eighth consciousness change along the way, the mental faculty can perceive them by relying on it, until the dharmas land in the subtle physical sense base (indriya) in the back of the brain. The mental faculty can continuously perceive throughout.

Therefore, the dharmas perceived by the mental faculty are the various levels of conventional dharmas transformed by the eighth consciousness after perceiving the original dharmas. The mental faculty can perceive all the dharmas propagated by the eighth consciousness along the way. Thus, the mental faculty can know the changing states of these dharmas throughout the journey. To the mental consciousness and the six consciousnesses, the mental faculty is called "knowing beforehand," called "premonition" and "inspiration." Without language, words, or thought, it can know all dharmas and judge everything, much of which the mental consciousness cannot refute or resist.

What are the original dharmas perceived by the eighth consciousness? Naturally, they are inseparable from the four great seeds constituting the dharmas—the structure, appearance, proportion, and composition of the seeds. This part does not cause the eighth consciousness to produce afflictions. If the seven consciousnesses all perceived this content, they naturally would not produce any afflictions either, because it is not conventional dharmas; it has no conventional benefit or utility value.

After the eighth consciousness perceives the original dharmas and transforms them into conventional dharmas, does it still perceive them? Naturally, it continues to perceive them; otherwise, the mental faculty could not perceive them. However, although the eighth consciousness can also perceive the dharmas seen by the mental faculty, it absolutely does not dwell in conventional appearances. The eighth consciousness does not perceive the conventional appearances of dharmas; it perceives all dharmas as the ultimate truth appearances, meaning the seed content contained within the dharmas. Therefore, the eighth consciousness perceives all dharmas of the great chiliocosm, unable not to perceive, yet without afflictions, without ignorance, without unknowing, illuminating the great chiliocosm with bright light, without desiring to possess it, without self-mind, greed, or hatred.

The conventional dharmas perceived by the seven consciousnesses are all perceived incorrectly, not the true reality. Due to ignorance, there are afflictions. What is the true reality of dharmas? It is the seed content perceived by the eighth consciousness—nothing else. All dharmas are seeds; nothing else. All seeds belong to the eighth consciousness; therefore, the eighth consciousness is the great wealthy elder, having no need to possess anything, much less covet anything. Only the poor have greed; the poor inevitably hope to obtain something; those with impoverished minds are insatiably greedy. The eighth consciousness is very content, yet it does not express a contented state of mind; it has no state of mind, no feelings, never sighing over tens of thousands or billions, remaining tranquil and still.

The eighth consciousness is the original Buddha Dharma, the original Buddhism. Without the eighth consciousness, no dharmas exist—not even the mental faculty, much less the six consciousnesses or the five aggregates. Without the eighth consciousness, the seven consciousnesses cannot perceive any dharmas. Not studying the eighth consciousness, only extracting an extremely small part of the dharmas derived from it, is foolishness. Therefore, the Buddha said Arhats are foolish people, and ordinary beings are ignorant people.

VIII. The Connection Between the Mental Faculty and the Eighth Consciousness

The mental faculty and the eighth consciousness are closely connected. The mental faculty cannot exist apart from the eighth consciousness; separated, it perishes. This does not hinder each having its own nature and characteristics, each having its own functions. What the mental faculty discerns are dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness. Because it discerns many dharmas with insufficient subtle wisdom, it can only discern a general outline. To discern details, it must have the six consciousnesses assist in discernment before it can make choices.

The eighth consciousness has no self-nature; it entirely relies on karmic seeds to create all dharmas, and also relies on causes and conditions and the mental faculty's wishes to give birth to all dharmas. If the eighth consciousness needs to operate some dharmas, the mental faculty must operate simultaneously. If there are no deluded conventional dharmas needing operation, the eighth consciousness enters nirvana and remains inactive.

IX. The Mental Faculty and Tathagatagarbha Are Inseparable

Without the eighth consciousness, there is no seventh consciousness. The two consciousnesses must be bound together, operating jointly, for the seventh consciousness to function and the eighth consciousness to function. As long as the seventh consciousness has not exhausted its karma, when the karmic seeds ripen, it will inevitably follow the ripened karmic seeds to manifest, take rebirth, and receive retribution. It cannot be said that the eighth consciousness relinquishes retribution, because the eighth consciousness has no karmic retribution, as it does not create worldly physical, verbal, or mental actions.

Cultivation has stages and steps: first subdue the self, suppress the self, then eliminate the self, finally relinquish attachments. Without accomplishing the former, the latter cannot be achieved.

X. The Mental Faculty and Tathagatagarbha Are Like Fish and Water

If fish are metaphorically deluded dharmas and water is the wondrous bright true mind, fish cannot survive without water; deluded dharmas cannot exist without true dharmas. When fish move, water moves, creating waves; when fish are still, water is still, calm and smooth. When the mental faculty moves, the Tathagatagarbha moves, manifesting realms; when the mental faculty is still, the Tathagatagarbha is still, in the nirvana of perfect stillness.

XI. Who is Suited to Be the Movie Producer: Mental Faculty or Tathagatagarbha?

Production means manufacturing, requiring funds and raw materials. The mental faculty lacks these; it has no warehouse, cannot store anything. Only the Tathagatagarbha possesses all these dharmas, has the seeds of all dharmas, and can create all dharmas. This corresponds to the role of the producer. The Tathagatagarbha produces based on karmic seeds; karmic seeds are the Tathagatagarbha's choices. This is conditioned dharmas (saṃskṛta-dharma).

The Tathagatagarbha also has a conditioned nature; all dharmas are conditioned by the Tathagatagarbha. If the Tathagatagarbha were completely unconditioned (asaṃskṛta), not managing anything, the world would not be born or exist, the five aggregates would not exist, even the mental faculty would not exist. What kind of "movie" there is is indeed decided by the Tathagatagarbha, not by the mental faculty, which cannot decide. Deciding the "movie" determines the karmic retribution; cause and effect are thus repaid.

XII. The Tathagatagarbha's Record of the Mental Faculty and Mental Consciousness's Karmic Actions

Question: When a movie actor plays a villain or an evil character, acting very realistically and deeply immersed in the role, how does the Tathagatagarbha record the actor's karmic actions? What about the karmic seeds?

Answer: Acting is also called pretending; the mental actions are not truly so. So-called acting or pretending means the mental consciousness thinks how it should act, while the mental faculty's thoughts are inconsistent. The behavior is fabricated by the mental consciousness; the mental consciousness strives to genuinely manifest mental actions not possessed by the mental faculty, making it seem real, as if it truly happened.

Karmic actions subjectively arising from the mental consciousness differ greatly from karmic actions led and controlled by the mental faculty. The stored karmic seeds differ, so the retribution differs. It's like a child in a family doing something bad versus a parent doing something bad—the nature differs, so the punishment and blame differ. The child receives light blame, the parent receives heavy blame.

And when the child is blamed, it inevitably implicates the parent, requiring the parent to take the blame. Karma created subjectively by the mental consciousness is minor, but the blame still falls on the mental faculty. Karma autonomously created by the mental faculty results in blame entirely falling on the mental faculty itself; the parent must bear all responsibility. However, what the parent should suffer may also be borne concretely by the child or borne on behalf of the child, because the parent is noble. Similarly, the karmic retribution of the mental faculty will also be borne concretely by the six consciousnesses on its behalf, because the mental faculty, as the master, is noble.

What karmic seeds are stored when creating karma determines what retribution will be received in the future. This depends entirely on the mental faculty's mental actions, or primarily on them. The actor is the mental consciousness, pretending to be an evil person doing bad things; the mental faculty is not evil, so in essence, it is not evil and cannot store unwholesome karmic seeds. If the mental faculty becomes moved during the game, generating mental actions identical to those in the play, then it is no longer acting; it is purely creating karma, and the karmic seeds are recorded as they are. If the mental faculty is unmoved, only the mental consciousness is pretending, there are still karmic seeds; all behavioral actions must still be recorded. However, the nature of the karmic seeds differs; what kind of karmic seeds and retribution there are is entirely determined by the mental faculty's mental actions.

If the mental consciousness, during the game, does not act well, does not act convincingly, it indicates insufficient skill of the mental consciousness, insufficient correspondence with the villain role, and also indicates the mental faculty is not evil—it has not tainted the mental consciousness to be evil—forcing it to strive to pretend to be evil, performing inadequately. But even if the mental faculty is a very good person, if the mental consciousness has superb acting skills, skilled at acting and pretending, immersion into the role will be fast and deep. The stored karmic seeds are also seeds of acting and pretending, not seeds of the mental faculty being evil, so the retribution is not bad. If one pretends to be evil for a long time, it will subtly taint the mental faculty, making it unconsciously familiar with evil, accustomed to evil, and possibly leading it to act evilly at some point.

Similarly, in the process of cultivating and realizing the Buddha Dharma, if only the mental consciousness attains the fruit while the mental faculty does not, it is false realization, not genuine realization—equivalent to acting. It still stores seeds, but the wholesome fruit is minor. Genuine realization is realization led by the mental faculty. If the master attains the fruit, what can the subordinates say? They receive the fruit and enjoy the fruit position along with the master. It cannot be said that the mental faculty master has not attained the fruit while the subordinate mental consciousness alone can attain the fruit and enjoy the fruit position—how can a servant be above the master, usurping the master's position? There is no such principle.

XIII. The Respective Perceived Aspects (Pratibhāsa) of the Mental Faculty and Tathagatagarbha

Question: When the external six sense bases contact the external six dusts, the resulting external six entrances are the external perceived aspect. Before they become internal six entrances, is it the mental faculty that "adheres out" the four great seeds from the Tathagatagarbha to make contact?

Answer: The external six dusts are originally born from the four great seeds of the Tathagatagarbha. After being born, the Tathagatagarbha continuously outputs four great seeds to sustain the existence of the external six dusts. Therefore, the external six dusts can only be contacted by the Tathagatagarbha. What the mental faculty contacts is the part transformed by the Tathagatagarbha after absorbing the four great elements of the external six dusts; it cannot contact the actual external six dust realms born from the Tathagatagarbha's actual four great seeds.

How does the mental faculty "adhere out" the four great seeds from the Tathagatagarbha? The external six dusts jointly manifested by the Tathagatagarbhas of beings sharing collective karma can only be contacted by the Tathagatagarbha. The four great seeds of these external six dusts are constantly arising, ceasing, and changing; the four great element particles are continuously emitted. The Tathagatagarbhas of various beings contact them, absorb them, and propagate them. This process is like a mirror reflecting images; the mental faculty can then contact the images propagated by the Tathagatagarbha. Then, through the six sense bases, they are transmitted into the subtle physical sense bases, becoming the internal six dusts. Throughout the series of processes where the Tathagatagarbha manifests images, the mental faculty, relying on the Tathagatagarbha, can discern them, only whether it can discern them clearly. Therefore, the mental faculty can react very quickly to some dharmas; before the mental consciousness even reacts, the mental faculty has already handled it. The mental faculty is foreknowing and forefeeling; the mental consciousness is late knowing and late feeling. Only for dharmas the mental faculty truly cannot discern does it rely on the mental consciousness's discernment, which is late knowing and late feeling.