Lectures on the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness

Original text: 贤护白佛言。世尊。众生虽知有识。如宝闭在箧中。不显不知。世尊。不知此识。作何形状。何故名识。众生死时。手足乱动。眼色变异。制不自由。诸根丧灭。诸大乖离。识迁于身。去至何所。自性如何。作何色相。云何舍离此身。更受余身。

"The eyes change color, and one cannot control oneself"—the eyeballs become cloudy because the eye consciousness is gradually disappearing from the body, and at this time the ālayavijñāna and the manas are also about to depart one after another. When he tries to look at his family members and relatives, he can no longer see them; the eye consciousness disappears without his being able to control it, but at this time his mind consciousness has not yet disappeared and still has awareness. At this point vision begins to blur, until in the end he can see nothing at all; the ears can no longer hear sounds either—all these functions gradually cease. He knows he is about to die, yet he has absolutely no control over it.

His manas was originally the one that could exercise control, so why can it not exercise control at this time? The manas originally always insisted "I want this, I don't want that," wanting to dominate this and control that, but at this moment it has no way to do so. This is called transmigrating according to karma: when the karmic conditions of death appear, the manas simply cannot exercise control. What is it that can exercise control? In fact, it is still the power of karma. And where does this karma come from? It is the karmic seeds of actions created by the five aggregates that the ālayavijñāna has collected and stored, which are then transmitted out and manifest; that is to say, in the end, what truly exercises control is still the ālayavijñāna. Whatever five aggregates He produces in accordance with the karmic seeds, that is what five aggregates sentient beings have; therefore He is the true master.

The manas is only a false, superficial master; it can only make decisions about certain minor matters, but when a real decision is needed, it cannot make it. At the time of death, the manas does not not-want to die, yet it must die all the same; when undergoing retribution for evil karma, it does not want to undergo it, but it must undergo it all the same—it can do nothing about these things at all. However, the creation of karma by the five-aggregate body is decided by the manas, brought about by the manas's ignorance; therefore the retribution is ultimately determined by the manas.

"The faculties perish and the great elements fall away." After the physical body dies, the eye faculty no longer functions, and the ālayavijñāna can no longer manifest the material sense-object through the eye faculty; at this time the inner material sense-object also ceases to exist, and the eye consciousness can no longer continue to arise. It is when faculty and sense-object make contact that consciousness is generated; when the gross physical sense organ in front no longer works, and the supreme faculty at the back of the head also no longer works, can the external material sense-object still come in? It cannot come in, because the faculty can no longer perform its function of transmission.

Without the inner material sense-object, there is no eye consciousness, so he cannot see people. The same applies to the ear faculty: the ear faculty must also decay; although the shape of the ears is still there, the transmission nerves no longer function, and sounds cannot be transmitted in. When the ear faculty fails, the sound sense-object also disappears; sounds can no longer be transmitted to the supreme faculty to manifest the inner sound sense-object, and the ear consciousness gradually disappears. The sounds he hears become fainter and fainter, until finally he can hear nothing. The nose faculty can no longer perform its transmission function; the scent sense-object cannot be transmitted in, and the nose consciousness gradually disappears. The tongue consciousness follows the same principle. Gradually the body faculty also ceases to function; the eighth consciousness no longer transmits the tangible sense-object, and without the tangible sense-object, the body consciousness also gradually ceases to function, and the whole body slowly loses all sensation.

What state is the manas in at this time? At this time the manas is also helpless. It knows perfectly well in its mind that this body can no longer be used, but it still holds on, because the mind consciousness has not yet perished. When the mind consciousness also perishes, the manas, feeling that there is no hope at all, will withdraw from the body, and the ālayavijñāna then follows and departs, for it cannot sustain the physical body alone—the ālayavijñāna is the last to leave. In fact, it is not the last to leave; it departs simultaneously with the manas. If the manas is not present, the ālayavijñāna immediately cannot sustain the body and cannot remain in the physical body; if the ālayavijñāna were to leave first, the manas could not exist either and must perish. Therefore the ālayavijñāna can neither leave first nor leave last; it must depart simultaneously with the manas.