Arising is due to consciousness. Ceasing begins with form
In the Yogācāra (Consciousness-Only) teaching there is a saying: “The three realms are mind-only; all phenomena are consciousness-only.” Everything in this world arises from the transformation of consciousness.
Someone then asks: If all things are merely manifestations of consciousness and have no real existence, then where do rivers and mountains come from and where will they go? When did they begin, and when will they disappear? Yet why do we still see cars and people, and still perceive all kinds of functions and actions? These rivers and mountains existed before we were born, and they still remain after we die—so how can it be said they are “consciousness transformations”? Or take a computer: before science created it, no one knew it; after it was created, people came to know it—so how can that be called a transformation of consciousness?
Answer: We should understand that these rivers and mountains existed before we were born, and remain after we die—but for whom do they exist? For whom do they not exist? Who knows they exist? Who knows they remain? If, while we are alive in the present, we claim to know the mountains and rivers before we were born or after we die, then that is imagination. And imagination is not external consciousness.
It is not that there are mountains and we see mountains—that is consciousness transformation. It is not that there are rivers and we see rivers—that is consciousness transformation. It is “not so, yet seen as so”—that is consciousness transformation. “Consciousness-Only” means only awareness exists; it arises from awareness or depends on awareness (that which is known by consciousness).
As the ancient masters said: “The boundless seas of sand are not separated by the tip of a hair; the ten directions, past and present, are never apart from a single thought.”
There are two kinds of consciousness transformation:
1. Transformation through causes and conditions (dependent arising): things manifest only when sufficient causes and conditions are present. For example, a rope exists due to the conditions of intertwined fibers; it has form and function, unlike the non-existent “rabbit’s horn” or “turtle’s hair.” All phenomena in the world are likewise. Consciousness discriminates names and forms, impressions are stored in the storehouse consciousness over many lifetimes, forming latent seeds (habits, tendencies). When consciousness arises, these seeds manifest corresponding appearances as they were previously imprinted. Within this, there is the perceiving aspect (seeing part) with the ability to know, and the perceived aspect (object part) as the object of knowledge. Perceiver and perceived are thus dependent transformations. Here there is only seeing and being seen, knowing and being known—nothing else. There is no independent mountain, river, person, or object. This is transformation through causes and conditions.
2. Transformation through discrimination: this refers to what is created by deluded mental distinctions and is entirely subjective illusion, such as mistaking a rope for a snake, or as when a mentally disturbed person sees a changing world different from ordinary reality. Likewise, the perceiving aspect and perceived aspect mentioned above are not truly “self” and “things”; however, ordinary beings wrongly discriminate them as self and phenomena, as people and objects. If these notions of self and phenomena are repeatedly imprinted into the storehouse consciousness as latent seeds, then when consciousness arises, it immediately perceives self and phenomena.
What is produced by discriminatory transformation can easily be changed or removed. What arises from causal transformation is harder to change or eliminate. And what is manifested by the individual consciousness of each person is called individual transformation, which is easy to change; while what is commonly manifested by the consciousness of many sentient beings is called shared transformation, which is harder to change.
All appearances that we call “existence” are manifestations of consciousness in these two ways. This is called transformation by consciousness. To say “consciousness-only transformation” is the same as saying “dependent on consciousness, arising through consciousness.” As stated: “Those phenomena arise dependent on consciousness.” That is, all dharmas depend on consciousness to arise.
Various Buddhist schools developed and systematized these mental phenomena. Most clearly, the Sarvāstivāda school systematized them into 75 dharmas, with mind as primary. Later, the Yogācāra school systematized them into 200 dharmas, and the Consciousness-Only school reduced them to 100 dharmas, grouped into five categories, with consciousness as central.
The five categories and one hundred dharmas are:
1. Form (matter) is the appearance perceived by consciousness; apart from consciousness, there is no form.
2. Mind-kings are the essential nature of consciousness.
3. Mental factors are the companions and dependents of consciousness.
4. Non-associated formations are the “shadow” created from the combination of form, mind, and mental factors.
5. Unconditioned dharmas are the true nature of consciousness.
Consciousness is one among all dharmas, but it has the special ability to know others and to know itself. It is the main force within every sentient being. This very knowing gives rise to the unity of dependent origination among all phenomena. Without name, without form, without beginning or end, without center or limit (neither inside nor outside), it arises in countless forms. Then beings become deluded, chase after illusory appearances, cling to them, create karma, become bound, and thus generate suffering.
“‘Only’ means to distinguish and exclude external objects; ‘consciousness’ means to understand and indicate inner mind.” In the world, people see things thanks to sunlight, moonlight, or lamps; that is not true seeing, but visual consciousness. When it is dark and nothing is seen, people say there is no seeing—but can you see darkness itself?
When seeing brightness, the seeing is not brightness.
When seeing darkness, the seeing is not darkness.
When seeing emptiness, the seeing is not emptiness.
When seeing obstruction, the seeing is not obstruction.
In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha explained to Ānanda the difference between visual consciousness and the nature of seeing. So what is the difference between visual consciousness and the nature of seeing? The nature of seeing is the true capacity of awareness; visual consciousness is one of the faculties used to perceive in daily life. The nature of seeing is the essence of seeing, while “visual consciousness” is perception through the eyes. Therefore, when you see an iPhone, the nature of seeing is not the iPhone. The nature of seeing is separate from the iPhone and has nothing to do with it. That “seeing” or the image of the iPhone in the mind is produced by visual consciousness or cognitive awareness.
The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: “Originally there is not a single thing.” This does not mean that externally there is nothing; externally everything exists, but within the mind there is nothing. Therefore, cultivation means correcting one’s perception by gradually reducing discriminating mind. Where does practice begin?
It begins with eliminating the “form aggregate” (rūpa skandha). In the Diamond Sūtra, practice begins with “form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form…”. If the mind does not cling to form, then form is emptiness. The origin of the form aggregate arises in layers. The form aggregate arises in interdependent cycles, mutually supporting one another. How do arising and ceasing occur? When form disappears, the aggregate becomes emptiness. It arises from consciousness, and its dissolution begins when physical form ceases.
Form, feeling, perception, volition, consciousness.
Arising is due to consciousness. Ceasing begins with form.
To speak of Consciousness-Only is to offer an instruction: to awaken people, to realize and observe their own mind, to look back at the ever-transforming power within themselves, to refine it, cultivate it, and correct its transformations so that it brings benefit rather than suffering. The teaching of “consciousness transformation” also serves to counter the tendency to look outward and become alienated, turning attention back inward to recognize oneself as the master of all phenomena, as seeing one’s original face. From there, one gradually abandons mistaken perception that causes suffering and transforms it into Prajñā wisdom, great perfect mirror-like wisdom, establishing a state of peace and freedom.
