Commentary on the Mahayana Vijnaptimatrata Sutra
Section 3: The Ālayavijñāna Transfers the Body Like the Wind Element
Original text: 贤护。识舍此身。随善恶业。迁受余报。譬如风大。出深山邃谷。入于薝卜。众香之林。其风便香。经于粪秽。死尸臭恶。秽污之所。其风便臭。
Explanation: Bhadrapāla, at the time of a sentient being's approaching death, the Ālayavijñāna abandons this physical body and, in accordance with the wholesome and unwholesome karma created, transfers to the physical body of the next life, where the five aggregates will again receive the remaining retribution. It is like the wind element emerging from deep mountains and secluded valleys and drifting into a forest of campaka trees and many fragrances—the wind then becomes fragrant. When it passes through excrement, filth, foul corpses, and polluted places, the wind then becomes foul-smelling.
When sentient beings act through body, speech, and mind, the moment-by-moment bodily, verbal, and mental actions become karmic seeds, which are collected and stored by the Ālayavijñāna. At the time of death, all the wholesome and unwholesome karma created in this life manifests in full; within a very short time, the mind consciousness discerns all the wholesome and unwholesome karma created throughout this lifetime, and the person inwardly knows clearly where he is about to go. Then, in accordance with the karmic seeds, the Ālayavijñāna transforms and generates the physical body of the next life. The Ālayavijñāna, following the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma, transfers the remaining retribution onto another physical body, sending the sentient being off to receive retribution: if wholesome karma is strong, he receives a wholesome retribution; if unwholesome karma is strong, he receives an unwholesome retribution.
The Ālayavijñāna is likened to the wind element, and fragrance is likened to wholesome karma. The wind element emerges from deep mountains and secluded valleys and enters a fragrant forest of campaka trees. The campaka is a fragrant tree with a scent; when the wind blows into the forest, it carries the fragrance out with it as it leaves. This is a metaphor for the Ālayavijñāna carrying away the wholesome karma created by sentient beings from within their bodies and bringing it to the physical body of the next life. That next-life physical body then receives wholesome retribution in accordance with the wholesome karma, and the retributive body comes into existence.
When the wind element passes through excrement, filth, foul corpses, and polluted places, it carries those foul odors and drifts to other places. The foul odor is a metaphor for the unwholesome karma created by sentient beings. When a sentient being creates unwholesome karma, at the time of his death the Ālayavijñāna carries the seeds of unwholesome karma to another physical body, transferring the seeds of unwholesome karma into the five aggregates of the next life, and the sentient being's unwholesome retribution then manifests. However, wholesome and unwholesome karma are not created by the Ālayavijñāna; they are created by the sentient being's own seven consciousnesses. The Ālayavijñāna merely complies with them, then carries away the karmic seeds and brings the retribution of wholesome and unwholesome karma to fruition. The Buddha's metaphor of the wind element is very apt: the wind element itself has no fragrance or foulness; what it carries are merely the odors of material objects from various places. Likewise, the Ālayavijñāna has no karma and creates no karma; what it carries are only the seeds of karma created by sentient beings' five-aggregate bodies.
Original text: 若风香臭俱至。风则香臭并兼。盛者先显。风无形质。香臭无形。然风持香臭。迁之于远。
Explanation: If the wind element has passed through both fragrant places and foul places, then it carries both fragrance and foulness. Whichever odor is stronger and has greater force will manifest first—whether it is a mixed odor, or sometimes fragrance and sometimes foulness, is not certain.
The Buddha's likening of the Ālayavijñāna to the wind is indeed very apt, and the likening of wholesome and unwholesome karma to fragrance and foulness is also very apt. When the wind element has passed through places with fragrance or foulness, it then carries both odors. "并兼" (carrying both together) means carrying them all at once; "盛者先显" (the stronger manifests first) means that whichever force is greater, that odor manifests.
Original text: 识弃此身。持善恶业。迁受余报。亦复如是。犹彼风大。持物香臭。至于他所。
Explanation: The Ālayavijñāna, like the wind element, complies with the manas, cooperating in the creation of both wholesome and unwholesome karma, and retains all the seeds. At death, it carries the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma into the five-aggregate body of the next life; at death, whichever karma—wholesome or unwholesome—is heavier, one goes to receive retribution in accordance with that heavier karma.
To avoid suffering in the three evil destinies, we should, in ordinary times and in our later years, cultivate great wholesome karma and quickly repent of unwholesome karma. After repentance, and before death, we should keep in mind the wholesome karma we have done in this life. If the wholesome karma is insufficient, we should do more wholesome deeds to make up for it, and again make pure and great vows, so that the power of the vow exceeds the karmic force of the unwholesome karma; then we can temporarily escape the retribution of unwholesome karma. If wholesome karma always exceeds unwholesome karma, the conditions for wholesome karma will always mature first, while the conditions for unwholesome karma always remain hidden; then in the future, the karmic seeds of unwholesome karma may have an uncertain outcome—perhaps they can disappear. Some minor unwholesome karma, after being buried for a long time, gradually withers as karmic seeds and no longer manifests.
The wind element has no form or color, and the fragrance and foulness it carries also have no physical substance, yet the wind can carry fragrance and foulness as it drifts to distant places. The farther it blows, the fainter the odor becomes; during the drifting process, the odor dissipates bit by bit, so the farther the wind drifts, the fainter the odor. The Ālayavijñāna itself is also without form or mark, and the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma are themselves also without form or mark. If karmic seeds had form and mark, they could not exist within the formless and markless Ālayavijñāna, for that would make the Ālayavijñāna something with marks—which in fact is impossible.
The Ālayavijñāna abandons the physical body that is about to perish and, carrying the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma, transfers to another physical body to receive the remaining retribution. "迁" (transfer) means to change, to flow on to another physical body and let that other physical body receive the retribution—just like the wind. The Ālayavijñāna carries wholesome and unwholesome karma and lets another physical body receive the retribution, just like the wind element carrying the fragrance or foulness of objects as it drifts to distant places.
Original text: 又如人梦。见众色像。种种事业。而不自知。安眠而卧。福德之人。命尽识迁。亦复如是。安隐不觉。如梦迁化。无所恐惧。
Explanation: For example, when a person is dreaming, he sees various forms and images and dreams that he has engaged in all sorts of activities—activities being the karmic actions created through body, speech, and mind—yet the person does not know that he is lying in bed asleep. For a person of merit, it is the same when the Ālayavijñāna transfers at the end of his lifespan: it is like dreaming—one moment he has slipped into another physical body. Strictly speaking, it is that the Ālayavijñāna manifests another physical body without the mind consciousness being aware of it. A person of great merit who has done wholesome karma feels no pain when the Ālayavijñāna departs at death; he passes away peacefully and directly ascends to the heavens to enjoy blessings, without passing through the antarā-bhava. Like dreaming, he has no fear at all, and upon arriving in the heavens he knows that he has become a deva.
Before death, the wholesome and unwholesome karma created in this life can all manifest, flashing by in an instant, and he knows he is going to ascend to the heavens to enjoy blessings. A person of great merit has no pain and no struggle at the time of death; the time the Ālayavijñāna takes to leave the physical body is relatively short—transforming as in a dream, without any fear, he ascends to the heavens peacefully and at ease. As mentioned earlier, for a person who has created unwholesome karma, evil signs appear at death—limbs flailing about, eyes rolling—which are evil signs; his eyes and physical body are not under his control, utterly different from the rebirth of a person of great merit who has done wholesome karma.
Original text: 识之迁出。不由喉口。及诸窍穴。莫测所从。莫知径户。
Explanation: For a person of great merit, when the Ālayavijñāna leaves the physical body, it does not depart through the throat or mouth, nor through any of the body's apertures. For a person of great merit, when the Ālayavijñāna leaves the body, no one knows where it exits from, and there is no specific location.
The apertures refer to the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and the places of urination and defecation—all of these are apertures. At the time of death, the place from which the Ālayavijñāna exits the physical body differs, indicating different places of rebirth: exiting through the throat may mean rebirth among humans, because the throat and the heart are relatively close; exiting through the knees means going to the animal destiny; exiting through the soles of the feet means rebirth in hell; exiting through the navel means rebirth as a hungry ghost; exiting through the chest means rebirth in the human destiny; exiting through the forehead means rebirth in the heavenly destiny; exiting through the crown of the head means going to other buddha-lands; there is no indication of where asuras exit from. Here it says that for one who ascends to the heavens, the Ālayavijñāna is not known to leave from any particular place, which shows that a person of wholesome karma dies without awareness, without pain.
