The Eighth Consciousness and Nirvāṇa Without Remainder Are Neither the Same Nor Different (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa)

A dharma that has entering and exiting is a dharma subject to arising, ceasing, and change; it is not an everlasting dharma. Therefore, the eighth consciousness neither enters nirvāṇa without remainder nor exits from nirvāṇa without remainder. The eighth consciousness is not within nirvāṇa without remainder, nor is it outside nirvāṇa without remainder; it is neither identical with nor different from nirvāṇa without remainder.

The eighth consciousness is a dharma abandoned by the worldly; it does not keep company with any worldly dharma. After all worldly dharmas—the five aggregates and the eighteen realms—have ceased, the eighth consciousness does not cease along with them but abides serenely and independently. It is precisely because of this that nirvāṇa without remainder exists; otherwise, there would not even be nirvāṇa without remainder. If, after the five aggregates and the eighteen realms ceased, everything were simply finished once and for all and nothing existed at all, then there would be no future lives and no lives after those. After the five aggregates and the eighteen realms come into being, the eighth consciousness is not born along with them, because the eighth consciousness originally exists, fully present and ready-made, needing no birth.