唯識三十論頌

Bodhisattvas such as Dharmapāla and others, relying on these thirty verses, composed the Treatise on the Establishment of Consciousness-Only (Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi). Here we shall briefly set forth the reasons.

Among these thirty verses, twenty-four verses elucidate the characteristics of consciousness-only, the next verse elucidates the nature of consciousness-only, and the last five verses elucidate the stages of practice of consciousness-only.

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

That is, someone asks: If there is only consciousness, why do the World-Honored One and the various holy teachings speak of self and dharmas? The verse responds.

The verse says:

1. Through provisional designation we speak of self and dharmas;

There arise their many varied characteristics.

Those characteristics depend upon the transformation of consciousness.

This consciousness that transforms is of three kinds:

2. They are Maturation, Cogitation,

And the consciousness that Discerns objects.

Next, the twenty and a half verses explain extensively the characteristics of consciousness-only. Since the preceding verse-text briefly set forth the three transformers, we now explain extensively and more clearly the characteristics of the three transformers. So what is the characteristic of the first transformer?

The verse says:

First, the ālaya;

It is Maturation, and All-Seeds.

3. Unknowable are its appropriation, perception,

And location; ever associated with contact,

Attention, sensation, conception, and volition,

It is associated only with equanimous sensation.

4. It is unobscured and indeterminate in nature.

Contact and the rest are likewise so.

It turns on ever like a torrent of water,

And is relinquished at the stage of arhatship.

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

The verse says:

5. Next is the second transformer,

This consciousness named manas.

Dependent on that, it turns; conditioned by that,

It has cogitation as its nature and characteristic.

6. It is ever accompanied by the four afflictions:

Namely, self-delusion and self-view,

And self-conceit and self-love,

Together with contact and the rest, complete.

7. It is obscured and indeterminate in nature,

Bound according to wherever it is born.

For the arhat, in the absorption of cessation,

And on the supramundane path, it exists no more.

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

The verse says:

8. The third transformer of consciousness

Has six distinct kinds.

Discerning objects is its nature and characteristic;

It is good, bad, and indeterminate.

9. These are the mental factors: the universal,

The object-specific, the good, the afflictions,

The secondary afflictions, and the indeterminate—

All associated with the three sensations.

10. First, the universal are Contact and the rest;

Next, the object-specific are Desire,

Resolve, Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight.

Their conditioning objects are not the same.

11. The good are Faith, Shame, and Modesty,

The three roots beginning with Non-greed,

Vigor, Tranquility, Non-heedlessness,

Equanimity in action, and Non-harming.

12. The afflictions are greed, hatred,

Delusion, conceit, doubt, and wrong views.

The secondary afflictions are wrath,

Resentment, concealment, vexation, envy, miserliness,

13. Deceit, flattery, harming, arrogance,

Lack of shame and lack of modesty,

Restlessness and torpor,

Lack of faith and indolence,

14. Heedlessness and forgetfulness,

Distraction, and wrong comprehension.

The indeterminate are remorse and drowsiness,

Investigation and analysis—each pair being twofold.

Having explained the mental factors associated with the six consciousnesses, how then is one to know their manifest arising and their stations?

The verse says:

15. Depending on the root consciousness,

The five consciousnesses manifest according to conditions.

They arise together, or not,

Like waves dependent on water.

16. The mind-consciousness ever manifests and arises,

Except for those born among the No-conception gods,

And in the two mindless absorptions,

And in deep sleep and fainting.

Having extensively distinguished the characteristic of the transformer as that which transforms itself and the two parts that are its support: How is one to know that, dependent on the transformation of consciousness, self and dharmas are provisionally spoken of and have no separate real existence, and that therefore one says all is consciousness-only?

The verse says:

17. These consciousnesses transform and change;

They discriminate, and they are discriminated.

Because of this, all of these are nonexistent;

All is therefore consciousness-only.

If there is only consciousness, with no external conditions whatsoever, then from where do the various discriminations arise?

The verse says:

18. Owing to the All-Seeds consciousness,

Such and such transformations occur.

Through the power of mutual succession,

Discrimination gives rise to manifold kinds.

If there is inner consciousness but no external conditions, then from where do sentient beings come to be reborn in continuous succession through birth and death?

The verse says:

19. Owing to the karmic latent impressions,

Together with the latent impressions of the two graspings,

When a former maturation is exhausted,

The next maturated body is born.

If there is only consciousness, 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, too, are not apart from consciousness.

Why is this so?

The verse says:

20. Owing to the various imaginations,

One imagines manifold kinds of things.

This nature pervasively imagined and grasped

Has utterly no self-nature.

21. The nature of dependent-arising

Arises through conditions and discrimination.

The perfected real nature lies therein,

Ever apart from the former nature.

22. Thus this and the dependent-arising

Are neither different nor not different.

Like the natures of impermanence and the rest,

When one sees this, only then does one see that.

If there are three natures, how does the World-Honored One say that all dharmas have no self-nature?

The verse says:

23. Precisely in dependence on these three natures

Are established those three non-natures.

Therefore the Buddha, with hidden intent, declared

That all dharmas have no nature.

24. The first is the non-nature of characteristics;

Next is the non-nature of self-arising.

The last, being apart from the former nature,

Is the nature of grasping at self and dharmas.

25. This is the supreme truth of all dharmas,

Which is none other than True Suchness.

Because it is ever thus in its nature,

It is the true nature of consciousness-only.

The last five lines of verse elucidate the stages of practice of consciousness-only. The treatise says: "Upon what basis is the nature and characteristic of consciousness-only thus established, and how many stages are there?"

That is, one must possess fully the two kinds of Mahāyāna lineage: First is the lineage of intrinsic nature. This means the lineage that, from beginningless time until now, has rested upon the root consciousness and so naturally attained the uncontaminated dharma-cause. Second is the lineage acquired through cultivation. This means that which is brought to fruition by hearing and perfuming through the equally-flowing dharma of the dharma-realm. Only when one possesses both of these natures can one realize and enter.

What are the five stages?

The first is the stage of provisioning. This means cultivating the Mahāyāna factors conducive to liberation, whereby, relying on nature and characteristic, one is able to understand deeply and believe rightly. What is this 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 latent tendencies of the two graspings,

One is still unable to subdue and extinguish them.

The second is the stage of intensified effort. This means cultivating the Mahāyāna factors conducive to penetrating discernment. In the stage of intensified effort one is able gradually to eliminate the grasper and the grasped. What is this 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 truly abide in consciousness-only.

The third is the stage of penetrating realization. This means the bodhisattvas who abide in the path of seeing, who in the stage of penetration comprehend and see in accordance with reality. What is this characteristic?

28. When, with regard to the conditioning object,

Knowledge attains nothing whatsoever,

At that time 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 true principle and cultivate it continually. What is this characteristic?

29. Without attainment, inconceivable,

It is the supramundane knowledge.

Through abandoning the two coarse and heavy hindrances,

One forthwith realizes the transformation of the basis.

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

30. This is the uncontaminated realm,

Inconceivable, good, and eternal,

The blissful body of liberation,

The Dharma-body of the Great Sage.

THE THIRTY VERSES OF THE TREATISE ON CONSCIOUSNESS-ONLY

(End)