Dependent Nature and Imputed Nature

Question: Since the manas is of the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva), clinging everywhere from heaven above to earth below, and since He is the consciousness that acts as the master, He will surely lead the six consciousnesses along; the six consciousnesses also cling everywhere, so they should also be of the imputed nature. The six consciousnesses are born of the tathāgatagarbha in dependence on conditions, so they are of the dependent nature (paratantra-svabhāva); depending on causes and conditions is precisely dependence on the other. The manas is also born of the tathāgatagarbha in dependence on karmic seeds, so He should also be of the dependent nature. From the perspective of arising from the real, the manas is spoken of as dependent nature; from the perspective of false perception of marks, He is spoken of as imputed nature. Therefore, external sense objects and internal sense objects, all consciousnesses and karmic seeds, are all born of the tathāgatagarbha and are all of the dependent nature. Only what is not born of the tathāgatagarbha is of the imputed nature. So should the manas not rather be said to be of the dependent nature?

Answer: The manas existed from the very beginning, before beginningless kalpas. At that time, the tathāgatagarbha mind-substance did not yet contain karmic seeds created by the five aggregates, yet the manas still existed. The reason for His existence is that the manas has ignorance, called beginningless ignorance (ādyanidāna-avidyā); the ignorance of a single thought is also beginningless, and is also called beginningless ignorance. The conditions for the manas's birth and existence are extremely few: the tathāgatagarbha, ignorance, and the power of the vows of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas suffice. Therefore, the dependent nature of the manas is not evident.

The manas's most prominent characteristic is His grasping nature. In the stage of the ordinary person, there is not a single dharma He does not grasp, which is called the imputed nature (parikalpita-svabhāva). Because of this grasping nature, segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) and transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa) have no end. The birth and existence of the six consciousnesses arise mainly in dependence on the manas's imputed grasping nature. The conditions for the birth of the six consciousnesses are more numerous than those for the manas; only when causes and conditions are complete can the six consciousnesses be born, and therefore the six consciousnesses are said to be of the dependent nature. Although the six consciousnesses also have a grasping nature, their grasping nature is still influenced, perfumed, and regulated by the manas; compared with that of the manas, their grasping nature is not prominent. In terms of their main characteristic, the six consciousnesses are of the dependent nature and cannot be said to be of the imputed nature, because the six consciousnesses cannot operate universally upon all dharmas; there are many places where they are not universal, and therefore one cannot say the six consciousnesses are of the imputed nature.