Discrimination, too, is not the manas

"Discriminating yet not by the mind" is what the Sixth Patriarch taught in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. The "discriminating" in the Sixth Patriarch's phrase "discriminating yet not by the mind" is generally understood by ordinary people as the discriminating nature of the deluded mind, the seventh consciousness, but the true meaning of the Sixth Patriarch's words refers to the discriminating nature of the eighth consciousness, the fundamental mind. This dharma is very profound. The Sixth Patriarch's teachings all rest upon the tathāgatagarbha, the eighth consciousness; everything he taught revolved around the tathāgatagarbha, the eighth consciousness, and did not rest upon delusive dharmas.

The true meaning of "discriminating yet not by the mind" refers to the discriminating nature of the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Although the eighth consciousness can discriminate all dharmas, He has no mind to discriminate; there is no mental activity of deliberately intending to discriminate, no active desire to discriminate any dharma, yet He automatically and effortlessly discriminates all dharmas. Discriminating all dharmas without mind, He gives rise to no obstruction whatsoever—unconcerned with affairs, affairs absent from the mind, at ease according to conditions, comprehending the characteristics of all dharmas yet nothing is comprehended, performing all deeds yet nothing is done. Such a mind is like empty space, free and at ease, ever leisurely and carefree.

If the mind of the seventh consciousness were also like the eighth consciousness, what suffering in the world would there be to speak of, what burdens would there be to speak of, what world would there be to speak of? With the mind utterly empty, moving through the world would be like moving through empty space. Such great freedom is the freedom of the Buddha-mind, the realm of all Buddhas. So is the eighth consciousness not exceedingly worthy of our study and emulation? Most worthy indeed. Even at the cost of countless lives, one should take refuge in and submit to the eighth consciousness. Moreover, submitting to the eighth consciousness precisely liberates us from the suffering of birth and death accumulated over immeasurable kalpas, letting us constantly drink the nectar free of attachment, free and unfettered, in ultimate great bliss.

As for the discriminating nature of the eighth consciousness, for example, discriminating seeds—which seed's conditions have ripened, which seed's conditions have not ripened, which karmic retribution should be realized and which should not—the eighth consciousness can discern all of this; He possesses this discriminating nature. But this discriminating nature of His is a discrimination that is naturally so (dharmatā); it has its own inherent operating principles. He does not intentionally discriminate or fabricate; therefore His discrimination is without intent, without His own volition, without His own mental activity. It is in this way that He operates all dharmas. Does He have a discriminating nature toward all dharmas? He has a discriminating nature toward all of them, and likewise without mental activity—effortlessly and spontaneously functioning without mind or intent. Those who have not seen their true mind find it very difficult to resonate with this discriminating nature and cannot experience it; they may well confuse this discriminating nature with the discriminating nature of the first seven consciousnesses. But the eighth consciousness does not have the discriminating nature and mental activity of the first seven consciousnesses; He does not apply deliberate mind, so the discrimination of the eighth consciousness is without intent.