Without the eighth consciousness, there is no seventh consciousness

Without the eighth consciousness, there would be no seventh consciousness. The two consciousnesses must be bound together and operate jointly; only then can the seventh consciousness function, and only then can the eighth consciousness also function. As long as the seventh consciousness has not dissolved karmic obstructions, when karmic seeds ripen, the seventh consciousness will inevitably follow the ripened karmic seeds into manifest activity and enter the womb to receive retribution. It cannot be said that the eighth consciousness relinquishes the aggregates at death, because the eighth consciousness has no retributive results, since it does not engage in worldly bodily, verbal, and mental actions.

Cultivation first involves subduing the self, then suppressing the self, then eliminating the self, and finally removing attachment. There is a sequence and a set of steps: if the earlier stages are not accomplished, the later stages cannot be accomplished.