Selected Lectures on the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra

 Original text:云何无攀无住。所谓诸爱永尽离欲。寂灭涅槃。及灭尽定。所以者何。所言攀者。诸烦恼缠。所言住者。烦恼随眠。于彼处所二种俱无。是故说言无攀无住。此谓涅槃无攀无住。又想名攀，受名为住，若于是处二种俱无。即说彼处无攀无住。如是显示灭想受定无攀无住。今此义中意取灭定。

 Explanation: What is called "no grasping and no abiding"? It means that all craving is forever exhausted, one is free from desire, the mind attains quiescence and enters the state of nirvāṇa, or one realizes the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti). Why is this said? Because "grasping" refers to being entangled by the various afflictions, and "abiding" refers to the latent dispositions of afflictions (anuśaya). Where both of these are absent, it is said to be "no grasping and no abiding." This is the meaning of nirvāṇa being without grasping and without abiding. Furthermore, perception (saṃjñā) is called grasping, and feeling (vedanā) is called abiding; where these two are both absent, that place is said to be without grasping and without abiding. In this way, it reveals that the cessation of perception and feeling attainment is without grasping and without abiding. In the present context, the meaning refers to the cessation attainment.

The cessation attainment is when the manas has extinguished the two mental factors of feeling and perception. Feeling is the meaning of abiding in dharmas—receiving the dharma objects is called abiding. Perception is the meaning of grasping—knowing and apprehending is grasping. Grasping means being entangled by afflictions; when the manas eradicates afflictions, there is no grasping. Eradicating afflictions is called the forever-exhaustion of all craving; the forever-exhaustion of all craving is precisely freedom from desire. When the manas is free from desire, all craving is forever exhausted, and it no longer grasps at dharmas. When the manas is free from desire, without grasping and without abiding, it enters Nirvāṇa without remainder. That sentient beings are not in Nirvāṇa without remainder shows that the manas has grasping, has craving, has desire, has abiding—receiving dharmas and perceiving dharmas, entangled by afflictions, the mind is not tranquil.

How rigorous the logic of contemplation here is—impeccable. Bodhisattva Maitreya clearly states: if sentient beings' manas has desire and craving, then there is grasping and abiding, and they cannot realize the cessation attainment, nor enter the state of nirvāṇa and attain liberation; if sentient beings' manas is free from desire and craving, then they can realize the cessation attainment and also realize nirvāṇa, which is called attaining liberation. Being free from desire—leaving behind all craving for the dharmas of the three realms—enables one to leave the three realms. Being free from hatred—eradicating the manifest affliction of hatred—requires not only eradicating the mind consciousness's hatred, but even more so eradicating the manas's hatred.

It is precisely because the manas has hatred that it directs the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome karmic actions. For example, when the mind consciousness becomes angry for no reason and inexplicably, it is caused by the manas's hatred. When the mind consciousness encounters matters, it tells itself not to get angry, that it must not get angry, yet it cannot control its anger—this shows that the manas does not obey the mind consciousness's commands and insists on getting angry. When the manas eradicates the mental factor of hatred, it no longer directs the six consciousnesses to create unwholesome karmic actions, no longer engages in mutual retaliation with sentient beings, and the deeply rooted knot of hatred is severed.

Bodhisattva Maitreya says that greed, hatred, and delusion are sentient beings' entrenched afflictions; "entrenched" means they are difficult to eradicate and pull out, the afflictions being very deep. This refers not merely to the mind consciousness's greed, hatred, and delusion, but mainly to the manas's greed, hatred, and delusion. The mind consciousness's greed, hatred, and delusion are easy to subdue and eradicate; the mind consciousness is intelligent and wise, and by studying Buddhism it can be transformed. The manas is not intelligent, does not easily understand the Dharma or comprehend the Dharma, and cannot deliberate, so it is difficult to transform; its greed, hatred, and delusion afflictions are deeply rooted and relatively entrenched.

If the manas is not subdued and only the mind consciousness is subdued, then the manas directs the mind consciousness; wherever the manas points, the mind consciousness must strike there, and one remains bound by the manas's greed, hatred, delusion, and ignorance. If the mind consciousness eradicates hatred but the manas has not, then when the manas's hatred arises and orders killing, the mind consciousness must inexplicably and helplessly go kill, trembling inside, thinking while killing that one should not do this—yet what can be done about it?

So-called impulsive crimes are entirely dominated by the manas; the mind consciousness does not even have time to deliberate before being dragged along by the manas. Only afterward, when the mind consciousness deliberates again, does it begin to regret having caused a great disaster. The manas knows it had a grudge with someone in a past life, so it hates that person; but the mind consciousness knows this person is useful and beneficial to itself, so it advises the manas: when you meet this person, you must be patient and curry favor with him. Yet when meeting this person, while currying favor, the manas simultaneously feels disgust, wishing it could beat him to death. This is the manas reluctantly obeying the mind consciousness's advice; as soon as the mind consciousness relaxes its vigilance slightly, the manas will flare up, directing the six consciousnesses to create actions of hatred in order to take revenge on that person.