Lankavatara Sutra of the Great Vehicle, Volume Three: Commentary

Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Volume Three

Original text: 佛言。大慧。我所说者。分别尔炎识灭名为涅盘。大慧言。世尊。岂不建立八种识耶。佛言建立。大慧言。若建立者。云何但说意识灭非七识灭。佛言。大慧。以彼为因及所缘故。七识得生。

大慧。意识分别境界起执著时。生诸习气长养藏识。由是意俱我我所执思量随转无别体相。藏识为因为所缘故。执著自心所现境界。心聚生起展转为因。大慧。譬如海浪自心所现。境界风吹而有起灭。是故意识灭时七识亦灭。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Mahāmati, the nirvāṇa I speak of is when the six consciousnesses, which are capable of various discriminations and afflictions, cease, and no longer engage in discrimination—that is nirvāṇa. Bodhisattva Mahāmati asked the World-Honored One: Do not sentient beings have eight kinds of consciousness? The Buddha said: Yes, there are eight kinds of consciousness. Mahāmati said: Since there are eight kinds of consciousness, why do you only say that when the mind consciousness ceases, sentient beings attain nirvāṇa, and not say that nirvāṇa is attained when the seven consciousnesses cease? The World-Honored One said: Mahāmati, the seven consciousnesses can arise and operate only by taking the ceaseless discrimination and grasping of the six consciousnesses as cause and condition.

When the six consciousnesses continually discriminate the six sense objects and grasp them as real, they perfume the seventh consciousness, causing the seventh consciousness to form habitual tendencies; the seeds of these habitual tendencies are stored in the eighth consciousness, the Ālayavijñāna. The eighth consciousness is perfumed, causing the karmic seeds within it to arise and cease. When a sentient being's body of the five aggregates is born, the seventh consciousness, the manas, relying on the eighth consciousness, possesses the innate grasping of self and grasping of what belongs to self; the manas's nature of constant, attentive deliberation (manasikāra) then begins to operate—all because the six consciousnesses continually discriminate and grasp, storing seeds.

This passage can easily cause misunderstanding—the mistaken notion that once the mind consciousness ceases, the manas ceases along with it, and one thereby enters nirvāṇa. But if one contemplates deeply and finely, sorting out the causes and consequences of nirvāṇa and the hidden logical relationships behind it, the misunderstanding will be resolved. When the mind consciousness, which the Buddha described as possessing the nature of discrimination and affliction, ceases and no longer produces discrimination and affliction, with no activity whatsoever, no new karmic seeds are stored into the tathāgatagarbha; the manas is also no longer newly perfumed by the mind consciousness, and its own mental factor of deliberation (cetanā) no longer operates. Being without mind toward worldly dharmas, it will gradually withdraw from the world, and thus the state of nirvāṇa is reached, liberated from the bonds of the world. This is a long-term process: the mind consciousness gradually ceases to discriminate, ceases to be afflicted, ceases to fabricate; the manas gradually weakens its deliberation, eliminates deliberation, makes no choices, does nothing, and finally nirvāṇa's tranquility is attained. This cessation of the mind consciousness is first the cessation of mental activity (citta-saṃskāra); it is not the kind of cessation that occurs every day in sleep or coma—that kind of cessation is passive and temporary; the nature of discrimination and affliction has not ceased, and upon waking, karmic activities continue, causing the manas to deliberate and choose unceasingly, with saṃsāra never ending. From another perspective, the mind consciousness not discriminating and not being afflicted, the cessation of mental activity, is precisely the result of the manas's choice. When the manas does not wish to discriminate and be afflicted in the world, and does not direct the mind consciousness to fabricate, the mind consciousness naturally rests until it ceases; this cessation is permanent cessation, not the daily cessation followed by arising. Because the manas's mind is unconditioned (asaṃskṛta), the mind consciousness becomes unconditioned; the mind consciousness's unconditionedness in turn prompts the manas to be unconditioned. When the manas is completely unconditioned, the mind consciousness permanently ceases and does not arise, and the manas automatically ceases—thus nirvāṇa is automatically attained.

When the mind consciousness has wisdom and can be autonomous and unconditioned toward worldly dharmas, it gradually ceases to discriminate worldly dharmas and gradually becomes free of afflictions; the manas gradually becomes unable to direct the mind consciousness, and thus its mind rests, no longer directing the mind consciousness to discriminate and be afflicted. In this way, the mind consciousness does not fabricate, which forces the manas to be unconditioned, and one will tend toward tranquil nirvāṇa, liberated from the suffering of the world. This is called the mind consciousness perfuming the manas, and the manas receiving the perfume until cultivation is accomplished.