A Commentary 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。

Although there are many people who study Buddhism, those with truly great wholesome karma are extremely few; eighty percent or even more will fall into the three evil destinies—even though they study Buddhism in this very life, they still cannot escape the three evil destinies. This is because the wholesome karma they create in this life is very small, while their unwholesome karma from past lives and the present life is abundant and heavy. For example, if there is greed in the mind, a heavy greedy and stingy mind will certainly lead to rebirth in the hungry ghost destiny. There is also the karma of anger and delusion: one leads to hell to receive retribution, the other leads to rebirth as an animal to receive retribution. Among those who study Buddhism, these unwholesome karmic afflictions have almost never been eliminated or subdued. The afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion only begin to be eliminated when one attains the third fruit; even at the attainment of the first fruit they cannot yet be eliminated. However, after attaining the first fruit, the three fetters are severed, and there is no longer the bondage of karma leading to the three evil destinies, so one will not be reborn into the three evil destinies.

Some might say that the Buddhist scriptures teach that keeping the five precepts secures a human rebirth, and since they themselves keep the five precepts, they will surely obtain a human body. But this is by no means certain. First, one cannot correctly judge whether one has truly kept the five precepts well. Second, even if one has genuinely kept the five precepts well, if unwholesome conditions from past lives happen to ripen, then one must follow those unwholesome conditions into the three evil destinies and transmigrate through birth and death, with no choice in the matter. As for the merit of keeping the five precepts, one can only receive its wholesome retribution when wholesome conditions ripen. Heavenly beings also keep the five precepts—beings of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm all do not violate the five precepts and have never committed any unwholesome karma—yet after death many of them fall directly into hell. This shows that the unwholesome conditions for hell have ripened, and there is no escaping it. When the heavenly beings' blessings are exhausted, they descend into hell, because the seeds of their unwholesome karma from beginningless kalpas still exist. If the conditions for wholesome karma are small—not yet ripened, their force not strong enough—they will still fall into the evil destinies. Where a sentient being is reborn at the time of death depends on which projecting karma has the greater force, and which karmic condition ripens first.

Although some people have committed unwholesome karma, if they can sincerely make pure and great vows, then at the time of death, if the power of their wholesome vows is greater than the karmic force of their unwholesome karma, they can rely on this great power of vows to be reborn in a wholesome destiny. Therefore, for those who study Buddhism, attaining the first fruit is a matter of the utmost urgency. If one attains the first fruit in this life, and in the next life attains the first fruit again, or attains the second fruit, then life after life one will not fall into the three evil destinies to suffer. Later, by continuing to attain the third and fourth fruits and eliminating afflictions, one can achieve liberation of mind (cetovimutti) and liberation by wisdom (paññāvimutti). The third fruit involves eliminating the two afflictions of greed and anger, which requires cultivating to the first dhyāna. Attaining the first dhyāna is of course somewhat more difficult, but after the first dhyāna, eliminating afflictions is no longer so difficult.

Yet quite a few people claim they have eliminated greed, feeling as if they are not greedy for worldly dharmas and have no interest in anything in this world. But in reality they have not eliminated even the slightest bit; that is a state of suppression, not a state of elimination. Because they have not eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), have not attained the first dhyāna, and have not cultivated away the five hindrances, it is impossible for them to eliminate the affliction of greed. There are also some people who, on the surface, no longer engage in sexual activity, and so claim they have already eliminated the affliction of lust. In fact, that is merely a superficial suppression and restraint; mentally it has not been eliminated. In the antarā-bhava (the neutrino-body between lives), they will still take rebirth because of lust. As long as one takes rebirth due to sexual desire and acquires the physical body of the next life, lust has not been eliminated. Those who can truly eliminate lust will no longer take rebirth—with the exception of bodhisattvas who have attained the first dhyāna.