唯識三十論頌

The Bodhisattva Dharmapāla and others, relying upon these Thirty Verses, composed the Treatise on the Establishment of Consciousness-Only. Here we shall briefly set forth the reasons.

Among these Thirty Verses, twenty-four verses clearly explain the characteristics of consciousness-only, one subsequent verse clearly explains the nature of consciousness-only, and the last five verses clearly explain the stages of practice of consciousness-only.

Entering into the twenty-four verses, the first one and a half verses briefly explain the characteristics of consciousness-only. The following twenty-two and a half verses explain extensively the characteristics of consciousness-only.

That is to say, someone may ask: If there is only consciousness, then why do the World-Honored One and the various holy teachings speak of self and dharmas? The verse is set forth in reply.

The verse says:

1 The expressions "self" and "dharmas," provisionally established,

Arise because of their many varied appearances.

Those appearances rest upon the transformations of consciousness,

And the consciousness that transforms is of three kinds:

2 Namely, the retributive, the cogitating,

And the consciousness that discriminates objects.

The following twenty-two and a half verses explain extensively the characteristics of consciousness-only. Because the preceding verse text briefly set forth the three transformers, it now explains more extensively and clearly the characteristics of the three transformers. So what then is the characteristic of the first transformer?

The verse says:

The first is the ālaya,

The retributive, and the all-seeds [consciousness].

3 Its appropriating and receiving are unknowable,

As are its location and its discerning; it is ever associated with contact,

Attention, sensation, conception, and volition,

And is associated only with the feeling of equanimity.

4 Its nature is unobscured and indeterminate.

The natures of contact and the rest are likewise so.

It flows on perpetually like a torrent of water,

And in the arhat it is brought to an end.

Having spoken of the first transformer, what then is the characteristic of the second transformer?

The verse says:

5 Next is the second transformer,

That consciousness named manas.

Resting upon the former and taking it as object,

It has cogitation as its nature and characteristic.

6 It is ever endowed with four defilements:

Namely, self-delusion and self-view,

And self-conceit and self-love,

Together with contact and the rest, all complete.

7 Its nature is obscured and indeterminate,

It is bound according to the place where it is born,

In the arhat, in the meditation of cessation,

And on the supramundane path, it is no more.

Having spoken of the second transformer, what then is the characteristic of the third transformer?

The verse says:

8 The third transformer of consciousness

Has six different kinds.

Discerning objects is its nature and characteristic,

And it is wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate.

9 These are the universally active mental factors,

The object-specific, the wholesome, the defilements,

The secondary defilements, and the indeterminate—all associated with the three feelings.

10 First, the universally active are contact and so forth;

Next, the object-specific are aspiration,

Resolve, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment.

Their objects of cognition are not the same.

11 The wholesome are faith, shame, and modesty,

The three roots of non-greed and the rest,

Diligence, calm, non-negligence,

Equanimity in action, and non-harming.

12 The defilements are greed, hatred,

Delusion, conceit, doubt, and evil views.

The secondary defilements are wrath,

Resentment, concealment, vexation, envy, stinginess,

13 Deceit, flattery, harmfulness, arrogance,

Shamelessness and immodesty,

Restlessness and torpor,

Lack of faith and indolence,

14 Negligence and loss of mindfulness,

Distraction, and incorrect understanding.

The indeterminate are remorse and drowsiness,

Investigation and analysis—the two each being twofold.

Having spoken of the mental factors associated with the six consciousnesses, how then are we to know their manifest arising and their stages?

The verse says:

15 Resting upon the root consciousness,

The five consciousnesses manifest according to conditions.

They arise either together or not,

Like waves dependent upon water.

16 The mental consciousness is ever manifesting,

Except for those born in the heaven of no-conception,

And in the two mindless meditations,

And in deep sleep and swooning.

Having extensively distinguished the characteristic of the transformers as the self-transforming and the two portions of the support: how are we to know that, resting upon the transformations of consciousness, self and dharmas are provisionally spoken of and are not separately really existent, and that therefore all is said to be only consciousness?

The verse says:

17 These various consciousnesses transform,

[Becoming] that which discriminates and that which is discriminated.

By reason of this, all are empty,

And all is only consciousness.

If there is only consciousness, and there are utterly no external conditions, then whence come the various discriminations?

The verse says:

18 Because of the all-seeds consciousness,

There is transformation thus and thus.

Through the power of successive transformation,

Discrimination arises in many kinds.

If there is inner consciousness but no external conditions, then whence does it come that sentient beings continue in birth-and-death?

The verse says:

19 Because of the habitual energy of the various actions,

Together with the habitual energy of the two graspings,

When the former retribution is exhausted,

The body of the subsequent retribution is born.

If there is only consciousness, then why does the World-Honored One in many places in the sūtras speak of the three natures?

It should be known that the three natures also are not apart from consciousness.

Why is this so?

The verse says:

20 Because of the various imaginings,

What is imagined is things of many kinds.

This nature pervasively imagined and grasped

Has utterly no self-nature.

21 The self-nature of dependent arising

Arises from conditions through discrimination.

The perfectly accomplished real [nature] therein

Is ever far removed from the former nature.

22 Therefore this, together with the dependent,

Is neither different nor not different.

Like the natures of impermanence and the rest,

Only when this is seen is that seen.

If there are the three natures, how can the World-Honored One say that all dharmas are without self-nature?

The verse says:

23 Precisely resting upon these three natures,

The three [natures of] non-nature are established.

Therefore the Buddha, with hidden intent, declared

That all dharmas are without nature.

24 The first is the non-nature of characteristics,

The next is the non-nature of self-arising,

The last, through being apart from the former nature,

Is the nature [conceived] as grasping at self and dharmas.

25 This is the supreme truth of all dharmas,

And it is precisely Thusness.

Because it is ever such in nature,

It is the true nature of consciousness-only.

The last five verses clearly explain the stages of practice of consciousness-only. The treatise says: "Such being the nature and characteristic of consciousness-only, upon what is its establishment based, and how many stages are there?"

That is to say, there is the full presence of two kinds of Mahāyāna lineage. The first is the lineage of inherent nature. This means the lineage that, resting upon the root consciousness from beginningless time until now, has naturally thus attained the uncontaminated dharma-cause. The second is the lineage that is developed through cultivation. This means that which is perfumed and developed through hearing the dharma that flows forth equally from the dharma-realm. Only when one is endowed with both natures can one awaken and enter.

What are the five stages?

The first is the stage of provisioning. This means cultivating the portion of the Mahāyāna conducive to liberation, and, resting upon the nature and characteristic, being able to understand deeply and believe correctly. What is its characteristic?

The verse says:

26 So long as consciousness has not yet arisen,

Seeking to abide in the nature of consciousness-only,

With regard to the two graspings and the latent tendencies,

One is not yet able to subdue and extinguish them.

The second is the stage of intensified effort. This means cultivating the portion of the Mahāyāna conducive to penetrating discernment. In the stage of intensified effort one is able gradually to eliminate the grasper and the grasped. What is its characteristic?

27 Setting up before oneself some slight thing,

Taking it to be the nature of consciousness-only,

Because there is still something attained,

One does not yet truly abide in consciousness-only.

The third is the stage of penetration. This means the bodhisattvas who abide in the path of seeing, who in the stage of penetration understand and penetrate things as they truly are. What is its characteristic?

28 When, with regard to the object of cognition,

The cognition has nothing attained,

Then one abides in consciousness-only,

Because one is apart from the characteristic of the two graspings.

The fourth is the stage of cultivation. This means the bodhisattvas who abide in the path of cultivation, who in the stage of cultivation see the principle as it truly is and constantly cultivate it. What is its characteristic?

29 Nothing attained, beyond conception,

This is the supramundane cognition.

Through abandoning the two coarse and heavy [hindrances],

One straightaway realizes the transformation of the basis.

The fifth is the stage of ultimate fulfillment. This means abiding in the unsurpassed, perfect, and complete enlightenment, emerging from the various hindrances, perfect and luminous, able to teach and transform sentient beings to the very end of future time. What is its characteristic?

30 This is the uncontaminated realm,

Beyond conception, wholesome, eternal,

The blissful body of liberation,

The dharma-body of the Great Muni.

THE THIRTY VERSES ON CONSCIOUSNESS-ONLY

(End)