Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 10 (Twelve Links of Dependent Origination)

(21) Original text: 问。若行为缘。彼亦识耶。设是识者。行为缘耶。答。应作四句。或行为缘非识。谓除识所余有支。或识非行为缘。谓无漏识。及无覆无记识。除异熟生。或亦识亦行为缘。谓后有种子识及果识。除如是相。是第四句。由此道理。乃至触缘受。随其所应。四句应知。 

Explanation: Question: If some dharmas arise with volitional formations (saṃskāra) as their condition, are such dharmas also consciousness? If a dharma is consciousness, is that consciousness conditioned by volitional formations? Answer: This question should be explained in four alternatives: First, some dharmas are conditioned by volitional formations, yet these dharmas are not consciousness; they are the other links apart from consciousness, such as name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and aging-and-death. Second, some consciousnesses are not conditioned by volitional formations, such as consciousnesses that no longer have afflictive outflows, and consciousnesses that are unobscured and indeterminate (avyākṛta), excluding those of the viviparous and other maturation-born types (vipāka-ja). Third, there are also consciousnesses that are conditioned by volitional formations, such as the seed-consciousness and the retributive consciousness that lead to future existence. Fourth, apart from such characteristics as these, all the rest are subsumed under the fourth alternative. 

By the same reasoning, it can be known that name-and-form conditioned by consciousness, the six sense bases conditioned by name-and-form, contact conditioned by the six sense bases, feeling conditioned by contact, and so on, all correspond to these four alternatives. Name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and aging-and-death — these links are all conditioned by volitional formations; they are dharmas that arise after the manas' volitional formations operate. The operation of any dharma is the result of the manas' volitional formations; if the volitional formations do not operate, none of the subsequent dharmas will appear. However, the direct existence-link of volitional formations is the six consciousnesses; the direct condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses is volitional formations, while the direct condition for name-and-form through aging-and-death is the preceding link, with volitional formations being the indirect condition. Another point is that once the six consciousnesses are free from the outflow of afflictive defilement, the direct condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses is no longer the manas' formations of ignorance but the manas' formations of enlightenment; these no longer belong to the dharmas of the twelve links of dependent origination, and their retribution has already transcended the birth-and-death cycle of the twelve links of dependent origination. Sentient beings have also eliminated the maturation-born nature (vipāka-ja) of the seeds, no longer transmigrating through the six realms, and the phenomenon of being born at different times, in different places, in different worlds, and in different bodies no longer exists — this is the realm of bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above. 

Both the seed-consciousness and the retributive consciousness refer to the six consciousnesses. The seed-consciousness, in this life, takes volitional formations as its condition to create karmic actions, leaving behind karmic seeds that moisten the name-and-form of future lives; after the name-and-form of later lives arises, the retributive six consciousnesses arise upon that name-and-form to receive the retribution. Both of these consciousnesses arise with volitional formations as their condition. With the formations of ignorance as the condition, only ignorant six consciousnesses can arise; only with enlightened formations, untainted formations, can untainted six consciousnesses arise, including the untainted seed-consciousness and the untainted retributive consciousness. This also shows that the manas is the basis of defilement and purity for the six consciousnesses; the mind consciousness cannot purify itself unilaterally, nor can it unilaterally eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and eradicate afflictions; it must rely on the manas to eradicate the view of self and eradicate afflictions, thereby attaining the untainted state.