Mahāyāna Sūtra of Revealing 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 entering/exiting of the Ālayavijñāna is like the sunlight illuminating all things: sunlight is formless and markless, yet it can give all things 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 vital activities and to lose vital activities. The transmigration of the Ālayavijñāna is like a maṇi jewel illuminating objects: the light of the maṇi jewel is formless and markless, yet it can give objects the color of jewel-light; when the Ālayavijñāna transmigrates into a material body, that material body can manifest. The transmigration of the Ālayavijñāna is also 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 entirely dissolve into the great earth, and the plant's sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves grow out, fully manifesting outside the soil, producing variegated flowers of various colors. Then fruits are produced; the seeds differ, the fruits differ, and their flavors vary — all of these grow forth after the seeds mature. The same great earth provides the same nutrients of the four great elements, yet according to the differences in the seeds, the fruits produced exhibit all kinds of differences.

After the seeds enter the soil and dissolve into the earth, they can no longer be found. Where did the seeds go? From where did the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves emerge? After the sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves have fully grown, the seeds vanish without a trace. Where did the seeds go? The arising and ceasing of all these phenomena each has its own causality. When the Ālayavijñāna enters a chicken egg or a goose egg, it is likewise a matter of cause and condition; 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: after the causes and conditions are complete, the seeds disappear, and the roots, sprouts, seedlings, stems, and leaves all grow out; then various variegated flowers are produced, and after the flowers grow out, fruits appear, and the flavors of the fruits are given off. Because the seeds differ, the fruits produced also differ. If one seeks where the seeds ultimately went, they have no place of going.

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 element seeds, the roots, sprouts, seedlings, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and so forth grow out. But because the seeds are different, the fruits that grow are also different. Each produces its various kinds of fruit in accordance with its own seed.