Can One Attain Enlightenment When There Is No Consciousness After Death?

The situations in which only the seventh consciousness and the eighth consciousness exist without the six consciousnesses are the following: when one is unconscious, when one is asleep and dreamless, when one has entered the samādhi of no perception (asaṃjñā-samāpatti), when one has entered the samādhi of cessation (nirodha-samāpatti), and after death when the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) has not yet arisen. In the last situation, not only are the six consciousnesses absent, but the five aggregates are also absent; only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses remain. These two consciousness-minds are formless and without characteristics. At this time, the seventh consciousness of an ordinary person is in a dazed state, anxiously searching for a new body of the five aggregates to rely upon. Can the Buddha discover the seventh and eighth consciousnesses at this time? It is unknown. Without the eighth consciousness, the seventh consciousness cannot exist alone; without the seventh consciousness, the eighth consciousness cannot operate any dharma and remains in a state of nirvāṇa—even the Buddha cannot discover the eighth consciousness. Only when the two consciousnesses function together in concert can they be discovered by someone, but ordinary people cannot discover them.

So, in a situation where there are no five aggregates and no six consciousnesses, but only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses, can one attain enlightenment? That depends on clarifying who it is that awakens, and what is awakened to. Awakening, of course, means the deluded mind awakens, awakening to the eighth consciousness. With no six consciousnesses and no five aggregates, the only deluded mind at this time is the seventh consciousness. Can the seventh consciousness awaken on its own? Probably, apart from the Buddha having this ability, bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above may perhaps be able to awaken; for everyone else it is probably very difficult, and ordinary beings absolutely cannot. Because the discriminative power of the manas is extremely low, without the assistance of the mind consciousness, the manas by itself cannot clearly discern the six sense objects—let alone the eighth consciousness, which is the most subtle of all.

In the situation where only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses exist without the six consciousnesses and the five aggregates, the eighth consciousness merely sustains the existence of the seventh consciousness and cannot operate any dharma. Realizing the eighth consciousness must be accomplished on the basis of the eighth consciousness's functioning; if the eighth consciousness does not function, the eighth consciousness cannot be realized. Even the Buddha cannot realize the eighth consciousness while it abides in nirvāṇa. And in the situation where there are the five aggregates but no six consciousnesses—only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses—can the eighth consciousness be realized? Absolutely not.