The True Meaning of Receiving Perfuming and Holding Seeds

Some people say that the sixth consciousness cannot perfume the seventh consciousness, but can only perfume the tathāgatagarbha. Is this statement correct? The key is to look at the relationship among the sixth consciousness, the seventh consciousness, and the tathāgatagarbha—what is the purpose of the sixth consciousness's perfuming, and can the tathāgatagarbha be perfumed? For example, when the sixth consciousness encounters the Buddha-dharma and feels that the Buddha-dharma is wonderful, capable of eliminating ignorance and attaining liberation, it then diligently studies and practices, single-mindedly seeking liberation. In this process of study and practice, is it the tathāgatagarbha that is perfumed, or the seventh consciousness? Of course it is the seventh consciousness that is perfumed; it is the seventh consciousness that undergoes change, while the tathāgatagarbha neither receives perfuming nor changes. But after the seventh consciousness is perfumed, the karmic seeds will be stored in the tathāgatagarbha, so that the tathāgatagarbha comes to contain wholesome karmic seeds of studying and practicing Buddhism—conventionally speaking, this is described as the tathāgatagarbha being perfumed, but in essence the tathāgatagarbha is not perfumed, because He remains immovable in the face of all dharmas, neither wholesome nor unwholesome, and therefore receives no perfuming.

When the sixth consciousness studies and practices Buddhism, it cannot perfume the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha will never study and practice Buddhism, so the sixth consciousness cannot perfume the tathāgatagarbha. The sixth consciousness has ignorance and wants to eliminate ignorance—can it perfume the tathāgatagarbha and thereby eliminate ignorance? Obviously not. Because the tathāgatagarbha has no ignorance; since there is no ignorance, there is no need to eliminate it. Therefore the sixth consciousness cannot perfume the tathāgatagarbha and can only perfume the seventh consciousness. The tathāgatagarbha is unarmed, deaf, mute, and blind; He cannot study and practice Buddhism, cannot eliminate afflictions, or abandon evil and turn to good—moreover, He has no afflictions to eliminate and no ignorance to remove.

The sixth consciousness wants to become a Buddha, wants liberation, wants nirvāṇa—no matter how it perfumes, the tathāgatagarbha has none of these mental activities or thoughts; otherwise it would fall into worldly mental activities. Therefore the sixth consciousness can only perfume the seventh consciousness to produce these thoughts, vows, and practices. The tathāgatagarbha is Himself the Tathāgata, liberated and at ease, Himself abiding in the nirvāṇa realm of neither arising nor ceasing, neither moving nor still, neither coming nor going—suchness is immovable—so He will not have thoughts of becoming a Buddha or attaining nirvāṇa. To have the tathāgatagarbha cultivate the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment: first, He cannot understand them; second, there is no need. To have Him cultivate precepts, samādhi, and wisdom—He inherently possesses precepts, samādhi, and wisdom, without needing instruction. To have Him eliminate afflictions—He has no afflictions at all. Those who want to perfume the tathāgatagarbha simply do not understand what the tathāgatagarbha is, do not know what perfuming is, or what the meaning and result of perfuming are. It is merely all kinds of restless speculation, all kinds of deluded thinking—putting a head on top of a head, adding legs to a snake—tossing about for decades and still not knowing why one studies Buddhism.

Since beginningless kalpas, the manas has always been together with ignorance, entangled by ignorance. After the six consciousnesses arise, the manas transmits ignorance to the six consciousnesses, perfuming the sixth consciousness. After studying Buddhism, when the sixth consciousness awakens, it will lead the manas to awaken together, perfuming the manas to gradually cultivate away ignorance, bit by bit becoming clear. In this process, when the manas is perfumed, seeds are formed and stored in the tathāgatagarbha for preservation, to be used in future lives.

How are they used in future lives? When the seeds' conditions ripen, they again perfume the sixth consciousness; after the sixth consciousness awakens, it studies and practices Buddhism, perfuming the manas, and new seeds are again formed and stored in the tathāgatagarbha. In this way, like a rolling snowball, the seeds perfuming the manas become more and more numerous and larger and larger, and ignorance becomes thinner and thinner, until finally all ignorance is exhausted and the sentient being becomes a Buddha. The tathāgatagarbha, throughout this process, continuously stores and outputs the perfumed seeds—His merit is indispensable. If there were no tathāgatagarbha to store and output seeds, practice would be merely a game; cultivating would be the same as cultivating in vain, with not a single hair preserved, and no merit available for use in future lives. The process of the tathāgatagarbha storing seeds is called receiving perfuming and holding seeds.

Classical texts cannot be unpacked, nor their profound meaning deeply understood, by just anyone. The extremely profound Buddha-dharma also cannot be accurately fathomed by everyone through mere mental speculation—no one should be self-assured, thinking themselves to be this or that. To achieve this or that is extremely difficult, requiring immense wholesome roots, merit, and wisdom. There are also people who say that one can cultivate to buddhahood without the tathāgatagarbha—one wonders what they think they could use to become a Buddha. Not even recognizing one's own master, one's benefactor of countless kalpas—one's head truly needs to be opened up.