唯識略解
A Brief Explanation of Consciousness-Only
夫搜剔陰陽之奧。囊括造化之精。洞洪濛之源。破渾沌之竅。超儒老而獨高。冠百氏而弘深舍唯識之宗而他求未之有也。夫唯遮境有。識簡心空。遮境則識外無法。簡空則非同枯滅。是以夷斷常之坑。塞生滅之路。圓彰中道刊定因明。魔外望絕。凡聖共遵耳。然識有八種。有心王心所之殊。苟非智慧空靈思量妙絕。豈易窺其庭哉。阿賴耶識等。大略窮其所由生。直以真如。照極反昧。生滅與不生滅和合。謂之證自證分。即如醒人。忽爾昏作。人語雖聞。而不能了了。謂之醒耶。又不能了了。謂之昏耶。人語又聞。此之謂昏醒相半。迷悟之關也。此等時節。有人喚之。則昏隨醒矣。不喚則醒隨昏矣。醒既隨昏。而外不能了境。又不作夢。惟昏然而已。謂之自證分。此等時節。位無能所。冥然獨存也。少頃頓夢種種悲歡苦樂。據能觀而言。謂之見分。即所觀之所即相分。或問曰。見相二分。前後生耶。抗然生耶。余應之曰。見相二分。謂之前後生者。現量之中。不許有無分別。纔生分別。現量滅矣。謂之抗生。則能所弗同也。此四分乃八識之本故。有志於此宗者。不可不留神焉。四分通澈。則八識之綱。思過半矣。
They delved into the mysteries of yin and yang, encompassed the essence of creation, penetrated the source of the vast and primal, and broke through the aperture of chaos. They surpassed Confucianism and Daoism in lone eminence, and stood foremost among the hundred schools in breadth and depth. Apart from the school of Consciousness-Only, to seek this elsewhere is to find nothing at all.
Now, Consciousness-Only negates the existence of objects and clarifies that the mind is empty. In negating objects, it shows that outside consciousness there are no things. In clarifying emptiness, it shows that this is not the same as utter annihilation. Thus it levels the pit of eternalism and nihilism, blocks the road of arising and ceasing, perfectly reveals the Middle Way, and settled the science of logic. Demons and outsiders abandon all hope; ordinary beings and sages alike follow it.
Yet consciousness has eight kinds, with the distinction between the mind-king and mental factors. If not for wisdom that is empty and luminous and a subtlety of thought beyond compare, how could one easily peer into its courtyard? As for the storehouse consciousness and the rest, we may roughly trace whence they arise. Directly because true suchness, when illuminated to the utmost, turns back into obscurity, arising-and-ceasing and non-arising-and-ceasing combine. This is called the aspect of self-verification and verification. It is like a person who is awake suddenly growing drowsy: though they hear people speaking, they cannot understand clearly. Would you call them awake? Yet they cannot understand clearly. Would you call them asleep? Yet they still hear people speaking. This is what is meant by half asleep and half awake—the threshold between delusion and awakening.
At such a time, if someone calls out to them, then drowsiness follows wakefulness. If no one calls, then wakefulness follows drowsiness. Once wakefulness follows drowsiness, outwardly they cannot discern objects, and they do not dream either—they are simply dim and blank. This is called the aspect of self-verification. At such a time, there is no subject or object in position; it remains darkly and alone. After a moment, suddenly they dream of all sorts of sorrow and joy, pain and pleasure. From the standpoint of what can observe, this is called the seeing aspect. What is observed—namely, the observed objects—is the aspect of appearance.
Someone may ask: Do the seeing and appearance aspects arise successively, or do they arise simultaneously? I answer: If one says the seeing and appearance aspects arise successively, then within direct perception no discrimination is allowed. The moment discrimination arises, direct perception is gone. If one says they arise simultaneously, then the observer and the observed are not the same. These four aspects are the very foundation of the eight consciousnesses. Therefore, those with aspiration for this school must not fail to pay close attention. Once the four aspects are thoroughly understood, then the outline of the eight consciousnesses is more than half grasped.
夫八識四分。乃相宗之綱骨也。阿賴耶識。末那識。分別識。眼耳鼻舌身五識。謂之八識。證自證分。自證分。見分。相分。謂之四分。究本言之。八識四分。初無別體。特以真如隨緣。乃成種種耳。夫真如隨緣之旨。最難明了。良以。真如清淨。初無薰染。如何瞥起隨緣耶。於此參之不已。忽然悟入。所謂八識四分。不煩少檢。唯識之書。便能了了矣。故曰性宗通而相宗不通。則性宗所見。猶未圓滿。通相宗而不通性宗。則相宗所見。亦未精徹。性相俱通。而未悟達磨之禪。則如葉公畵龍。頭角望之非不宛然也。欲其濟亢旱。興雷雨。斷不能焉。是以有志於出世。而荷擔法道。若性。若相。若禪宗。敢不竭誠。而留神哉。惟相宗名義數多。若非心智妙密。委曲精搜。實未易明也。今則取大略。稍論而疏之。但粗曉蒙孺耳。大抵阿賴耶識。通前眼耳鼻舌身五識。當併而發揮之。似覺易明。蓋阿賴耶識。及前五識。皆屬現量。又皆上品果中轉也。若第七識第六識。則三品皆具。三品者。見道為下品。修道為中品。究竟為上品。故七六因中轉也。或曰。前五識成無漏相應心品。現身益物。何以先言第八成無漏耶。以圓明初發。乃第八識相應心品。成大圓鏡智故。其前五根。即第八識所變相分。能變本識。既成無漏。所變五根。自當即成無漏矣。能發五根既成無漏。則所發五識。遂成無漏何疑哉。或曰。既言八識轉成四智。何故却言相應心品耶。對曰。唯識第十云。此四品總攝佛地一切有為功德皆盡。此轉有漏八識七識六識五識相應心品。如次而得智。雖非識。而依識。轉識為主。故說識轉得。又有漏位。智劣識強。無漏位中。智強識劣。為勸有情依智捨識。故說轉識成智也。大乘所緣緣義曰。言是帶己相者。帶與己相。各有二義。言帶有二義者。一則挾帶。即能緣心。親挾境體而緣。二則變帶。即能緣心。變起相分而緣也。親挾者謂之實境。變起者謂之假境。假境者何。即實境影子也。影子者何。謂前五識。親挾實境。乃任運而緣。不帶名言現量中也。譬諸明鏡物臨即照。原無心也。纔覺妍醜。現量已滅。即落比量矣。余是知假境影子。意識所緣耳。又能緣心。變起相分而緣。亦假境也。今安慧宗中。妄謂因中無漏五識。能緣真如。殊不知五識成智。必待第八識轉。而為。根本智。然後五識轉成所作智也。此中目此智。為後得者何也。謂根本而後得也。以五識及第八識。皆屬現量果上同轉故也。彼謂因中五識未轉智。而能緣真如。非妄而何。縱於果上。識雖轉智。第能照俗。而不能緣真如。故護法師曰。果中猶自不詮真。況因中乎。
The eight consciousnesses and four parts are the backbone of the Consciousness-Only school. The storehouse consciousness, the manas consciousness, the discriminating consciousness, and the five consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body—these are called the eight consciousnesses. The part of self-verifying verification, the part of self-verification, the seeing part, and the object part—these are called the four parts. Ultimately speaking, the eight consciousnesses and four parts have no separate essence of their own; it is only because true suchness follows conditions that they take on various forms.
Now, the meaning of true suchness following conditions is the hardest to understand clearly. Since true suchness is pure and undefiled from the start, how could it suddenly give rise to following conditions? Keep contemplating this without stop, and suddenly you will break through. Then the so-called eight consciousnesses and four parts will be understood without much checking, and the texts on Consciousness-Only will become clear to you.
Therefore it is said: If you understand the Nature school but not the Characteristics school, then what you see in the Nature school is still not complete. If you understand the Characteristics school but not the Nature school, then what you see in the Characteristics school is also not thorough. If you understand both Nature and Characteristics but have not awakened to Bodhidharma's Zen, then you are like Lord She painting a dragon: its head and horns may look perfectly lifelike, but if you want it to relieve a drought and bring thunder and rain, it absolutely cannot.
So those who aspire to transcend the world and shoulder the Dharma way—whether in Nature, Characteristics, or Zen—how could they dare not apply wholehearted sincerity and pay close attention? However, the Characteristics school has many names and categories. Unless one's mind is subtle and precise, carefully investigating every detail, it is truly not easy to understand. Here I will take only the general outline and discuss and explain it briefly, merely enough to give beginners a rough understanding.
Broadly speaking, the storehouse consciousness and the first five consciousnesses—eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body—should be explained together, as that seems easier to understand. The storehouse consciousness and the first five consciousnesses all belong to direct perception, and all are transformed only at the superior grade on the result level. As for the seventh and sixth consciousnesses, they possess all three grades. The three grades are: the path of seeing as the lower grade, the path of cultivation as the middle grade, and the ultimate as the superior grade. Thus the seventh and sixth consciousnesses are transformed within the causal stage.
Someone may ask: When the first five consciousnesses become undefiled corresponding mental factors, manifesting in the world to benefit beings, why speak first of the eighth consciousness becoming undefiled? Because when perfect clarity first arises, it is the mental factors corresponding to the eighth consciousness that accomplish the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom. The first five faculties are the object part transformed by the eighth consciousness. Once the fundamental consciousness that does the transforming becomes undefiled, the five faculties it transforms naturally become undefiled as well. Once the five faculties that produce them become undefiled, how can there be doubt that the five consciousnesses they produce become undefiled?
Someone may ask: If it is said that the eight consciousnesses transform into four wisdoms, why then speak of corresponding mental factors? Answer: The Tenth Fascicle of the Consciousness-Only text says that these four categories completely encompass all conditioned merits of the Buddha-ground. These transform the defiled eight consciousnesses, seven consciousnesses, six consciousnesses, and five consciousnesses into corresponding mental factors, obtaining wisdom in due order. Although wisdom is not consciousness, it relies on consciousness. Since transforming consciousness is primary, it is said that consciousness is transformed and wisdom is attained. Moreover, in the defiled stage, wisdom is weak and consciousness is strong. In the undefiled stage, wisdom is strong and consciousness is weak. To encourage sentient beings to rely on wisdom and abandon consciousness, it is said that consciousness is transformed into wisdom.
The meaning of the object-condition in the Mahayana says: "Bearing its own appearance"—both "bearing" and "its own appearance" each have two meanings. "Bearing" has two meanings: first, carrying along, which means the perceiving mind directly carries the object's substance and perceives it; second, transforming and carrying, which means the perceiving mind transforms and produces an object part and perceives that. What is directly carried is called the actual object. What is transformed and produced is called the apparent object. What is the apparent object? It is the shadow of the actual object. What is the shadow? It means that the first five consciousnesses directly carry the actual object and perceive it spontaneously, without bringing in names and concepts—this is direct perception. It is like a bright mirror: when an object approaches, it reflects it, originally with no intention. As soon as beauty or ugliness is noticed, direct perception has already ceased, and one has fallen into inferential perception. From this I know that the shadow of the apparent object is what the mental consciousness perceives. Also, the perceiving mind transforms and produces an object part and perceives it—this too is an apparent object.
Now in the Anhui tradition, there is a mistaken claim that in the causal stage the undefiled five consciousnesses can perceive true suchness. They do not realize that the five consciousnesses accomplish wisdom only after the eighth consciousness transforms and becomes fundamental wisdom; only then do the five consciousnesses transform into the Wisdom of Accomplishing What Must Be Done. Why is this wisdom here called "subsequently attained"? Because it is attained after the fundamental. This is because the five consciousnesses and the eighth consciousness both belong to direct perception and are transformed together on the result level. If they say that in the causal stage the five consciousnesses have not yet transformed into wisdom and yet can perceive true suchness, is that not mistaken? Even on the result level, although consciousness transforms into wisdom, it can only illuminate conventional truth and cannot perceive true suchness. Therefore Master Dharmapala said: Even in the result stage it still does not reveal the true; how much less in the causal stage!
八識規矩解(終)
Explanation of the Eight Consciousnesses in Verses