A Commentary on the Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness

Original text: 贤护。如木机关。系执一所。作种种业。或行走腾跃。或跳掷戏舞。于意云何, 机关所作。是谁之力。贤护白佛言。智慧狭浅。非能决了。

Explanation: The Buddha said, "Bhadrapāla, it is like a wooden contraption placed and fixed in one location, performing various deeds—perhaps walking and leaping, or jumping, tossing, playing, and dancing. What do you think? The deeds performed by this contraption—whose power is it?" Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha, "My wisdom is narrow and shallow; I am not able to decisively discern this." The Buddha said, "Bhadrapāla, it is like a wooden contraption: place it in a location and it performs various tasks. For example, a robot or a washing machine—set it up to do things within its capability, program it, and connect it to electricity, and the wooden automaton, the robot, and so forth begin to operate. In fact, it is not that the wooden automaton or the robot can operate by itself; it is the result of manipulation by a person behind the scenes. By the same token, the ālayavijñāna also operates according to its own 'program.' Once He operates, the five aggregates of sentient beings begin to function. How do the five aggregates function? The Buddha has explained it all clearly here. Walking and leaping, or jumping, tossing, playing, and dancing—these are all things done by the five aggregates." The Buddha said, "Bhadrapāla, what do you think? What force drives the deeds performed by the wooden contraption? Who is the one pressing that contraption's button? If the Buddha had made it a bit clearer here, we would no longer need to practice Chan investigation. For example, press the button on a washing machine and it starts running; flip the switch on an electric lamp and the lamp lights up; press the button on a robot and it starts working; press the button on an electric doll and it starts singing and dancing." The Buddha asked Bhadrapāla: "Who pressed these contraption buttons?" The Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla humbly said that his wisdom was narrow and shallow and he could not know. Perhaps the Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla was feigning ignorance, in order to let the Buddha expound the Dharma for sentient beings and thereby bring forth a Buddhist sutra.