"Explanation of the Mahāyāna Vijñapti Sūtra"

Benevolent Guardian, it is like a wooden automaton fixed in one place, performing various activities—walking, leaping, jumping, or dancing. What do you think? By whose power are the actions of this automaton performed? Benevolent Guardian replied to the Buddha, "My wisdom is shallow and limited; I am unable to determine this."

Explanation: The Buddha said, "Benevolent Guardian, it is like a wooden automaton placed in one location to perform various tasks—such as a robot or a washing machine—set to carry out actions within its capabilities. Once programmed and powered, the wooden automaton or robot begins to operate. In truth, it is not the wooden figure or robot itself that operates, but the result of human manipulation behind it. Similarly, the ālaya-vijñāna operates according to its own programming. Once it operates, the five aggregates of sentient beings begin to function. How do the five aggregates operate? The Buddha explains it clearly here: 'walking, leaping, jumping, or dancing'—these are all actions performed by the five aggregates."

The Buddha said, "Benevolent Guardian, what do you think? What force drives the actions of the wooden automaton? Who pressed the button for this mechanism? If the Buddha had explained it more plainly here, we wouldn’t need to engage in Chan meditation. For example, press a button, and a washing machine begins to run; flip a switch, and a light turns on; press a button, and a robot starts working; press the button on an electric doll, and it begins to sing and dance."

The Buddha asked Benevolent Guardian: "Who pressed the button for these mechanisms?" The Bodhisattva Benevolent Guardian humbly replied that his wisdom was shallow and limited, and he could not know. Perhaps the Bodhisattva pretended not to know so that the Buddha would expound the Dharma for sentient beings, thereby unfolding a sutra.