The Meaning of Defilement and Purity

Discrimination is consciousness; non-discrimination is wisdom. Relying on consciousness, there is defilement; relying on wisdom, there is purity. In defilement there is birth-and-death; in purity there are no buddhas. Its meaning is: that which can discriminate the six sense objects and all the myriad dharmas of the world is the deluded mind of the seventh consciousness, while that which cannot discriminate what the supramundane six sense objects are is the wisdom mind, the eighth consciousness. If one relies on the mind-nature of the seventh consciousness, it is a defiled mind that is not pure; only by relying on the mind-nature of the wisdom mind, the eighth consciousness, can one gradually become pure. The defiled consciousness-mind transmigrates through birth-and-death and suffers the afflictions of birth and death, whereas within the pure mind there are no dharmas, nor are there any buddhas.