The Dharma of Smṛti as a Mental Factor in the Eighth Consciousness

The eighth consciousness also possesses the mental factor of recollection (smṛti). For instance, while the eighth consciousness is discerning karmic seeds within the womb, it simultaneously projects the four great elements (mahābhūta) to form the material body of the fetus. Upon discerning a karmic seed, it retains the memory of that seed and, based on it, projects the corresponding four great elements to shape the physical body. As the eighth consciousness develops organs such as the ears, it remembers precisely how much it has formed, what it has formed, and contemplates how to proceed with further formation, when to form what, how much of the four great elements to use, and what the proportional structure should be. This precise knowing constitutes the mental factor of recollection, though it cannot articulate this process as fluently as the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna). The eighth consciousness remembers when to resume forming any dharmas it is currently upholding and transforming that remain incomplete, knowing precisely when to form what and where. It holds these recollections and thoughts. All dharmas are recollected by the eighth consciousness, just as the Sixth Patriarch said: "Suchness (tathatā) neither thinks nor does not think."

The eighth consciousness also possesses the mental factor of concentration (samādhi). Phrases like "the nāga is ever in samādhi, never without it," "the śūraṅgama samādhi," and "the adamantine jewel samādhi" refer to the concentration of the eighth consciousness. It is supremely steadfast, neither entering nor exiting. No dharma can disrupt this concentration, nor can any dharma cause the eighth consciousness to emerge from samādhi, scatter its mind, induce torpor, or provoke restlessness (auddhatya). No worldly concentration (samādhi) can compare to even one ten-thousandth of the eighth consciousness's samādhi. When the eighth consciousness seeks to actualize wholesome or unwholesome karmic seeds, fulfilling causes, conditions, and results, no dharma can obstruct it. It cannot be coerced by threats or enticed by offers, unmoved by the eight winds, seated serenely upon the purple-golden lotus. Towards all dharmas, worldly or transcendental, the eighth consciousness neither grasps nor seeks. It adheres to no benefit, not even aspiring to Buddhahood. Desireless and unattached, its power of concentration is like a vajra (adamantine).

The eighth consciousness also possesses the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā). The wisdom of the eighth consciousness is called prajñāpāramitā (the perfection of wisdom). It is the great wisdom that reaches the other shore beyond birth and death (saṃsāra), the great wisdom that does not immerse itself in birth and death but is liberated from all dharmas, the great wisdom that discerns all dharmas and creates all dharmas. The wisdom with which the eighth consciousness discerns karmic seeds as they truly are, and the wisdom by which it projects the six great elements (ṣaḍdhātu) to gradually or instantaneously transform all dharmas based on those seeds — even the sixth and seventh consciousnesses (mano-vijñāna and kliṣṭa-manas), upon attaining Buddhahood, cannot come close to matching it. The great wisdom with which the eighth consciousness knows the state of all things as they truly are — the sixth and seventh consciousnesses cannot approach it by any means. Though the wisdom of a Buddha's sixth and seventh consciousnesses may fathom the ultimate, it still cannot compare to the wisdom of the eighth consciousness.