Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness (48)

Original text：识之迁运。如日流光。如摩尼照。如木生火。又如种子。种之于地。体化地中。芽苗茎叶。备显于外。生白不白。赤等杂色。种种之花。种种力味。成熟所为。种种差别。同一大地。等资四大。各随其种。所生便异。

Explanation: The transmigration and movement of the ālayavijñāna, in and out [of bodies], is like sunlight illuminating all things: sunlight is formless and without appearance, yet it can endow all things with luster and warmth; if the sunlight were extinguished, all things would immediately lose their luster and warmth. In the same way, the ālayavijñāna enables sentient beings to have the activities of life and to lose the activities of life. The transmigration of the ālayavijñāna is like a maṇi jewel illuminating objects: the light of the maṇi jewel is formless and without appearance, yet it can endow objects with the color of jewel-light; when the ālayavijñāna transmigrates into a material body, that material body manifests. The transmigration of the ālayavijñāna is like wood producing fire: when the wood is ignited, fire emerges. There is no fire within the wood, yet due to causes and conditions, fire appears. The ālayavijñāna is also like this: due to the causes and conditions of karma, it transmigrates into another material body, and the material body is born.

The transmigration of the ālayavijñāna is also like seeds planted in the ground: the seeds completely dissolve into the earth, and the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves of the plant emerge, fully manifesting outside the soil, producing flowers of various mixed colors—white, non-white, red, and so forth. Then fruits are produced; the seeds differ, the fruits differ, and their flavors vary—all of these grow forth after the seeds ripen. The same great earth provides the same material nourishment of the four great elements, yet according to the differences in their seeds, the fruits produced differ in various ways.

After the seeds enter the soil and dissolve into the earth, they can no longer be found. Where have the seeds gone? And from where do the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves emerge? Once the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves have fully grown, the seeds have vanished without a trace. Where have the seeds gone? The arising and disappearance of all these phenomena each have their own causality. When the ālayavijñāna enters a chicken egg or a goose egg, it is likewise a matter of causes and conditions; thus the chicken egg and goose egg are formed, and chickens and geese are hatched from them. When the ālayavijñāna transmigrates into the body of a sentient being—whether a chicken egg, a goose egg, a womb-born life, or a transformation-born life—it is like the sun casting its light down, like a maṇi jewel illuminating all things with its radiance, and like wood being able to produce fire.

It is also like seeds planted in the ground: once the causes and conditions are complete, the seeds disappear, and the roots, sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves all grow forth; then flowers of various mixed colors are produced, and after the flowers emerge, fruits appear, and the flavors of the fruits are released. Because the seeds differ, the fruits produced also differ. If one seeks where the seeds have ultimately gone, they have no destination.

It is originally the same great earth, equally endowed on its surface with the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; relying on the nourishment of the four great elements, the roots, sprouts, seedlings, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and so forth grow forth. But because the seeds are different, the fruits that grow are also different. In every case, various kinds of fruits are produced according to their respective seeds.