Cheng Weishi Lun, Fascicle One
又無作用，不可執為因緣性故。若無能持染、淨種識，一切因果皆不得成。
Moreover, they have no function, and cannot be taken as having the nature of a causal condition. If there is no consciousness able to hold the seeds of defilement and purity, all cause and effect cannot be established.
有執大乘遣相空理為究竟者，依似比量，撥無此識及一切法，彼特違害前所引經。
Some hold that the Mahayana principle of the emptiness of negating characteristics is ultimate, and, relying on a false inference, they deny this consciousness and all dharmas; they specially contradict and harm the sutras cited earlier.
智、斷、證、修、染、淨因果皆執非實，成大邪見。
They hold that wisdom, cutting off, realization, cultivation, and the cause and effect of defilement and purity are all unreal, which becomes a great wrong view.
外道毀謗染、淨因果亦不謂全無，但執非實故。
Even the non-Buddhists who slander the cause and effect of defilement and purity do not say they are completely nonexistent, only that they are unreal.
若一切法皆非實有，菩薩不應為捨生死，精勤修集菩提資糧。誰有智者為除幻敵，求石女兒用為軍旅？
If all dharmas were unreal, bodhisattvas should not, in order to leave birth and death, diligently gather the provisions for enlightenment. What wise man, in order to get rid of a phantom enemy, would seek the son of a barren woman to use as his army?
故應信有能持種心，依之建立染、淨因果。
Therefore one should believe that there is a mind able to hold seeds, on which the cause and effect of defilement and purity are established.
彼心即是此第八識。
That mind is this eighth consciousness.
又契經說有異熟心，善、惡業感，若無此識，彼異熟心不應有故。
Moreover, the sutra says there is a mind of karmic maturation, brought about by wholesome and unwholesome karma; if there were no such consciousness, that mind of karmic maturation could not exist.
謂眼等識有間斷故，非一切時是業果故，如電、光等，非異熟心。異熟不應斷已更續，彼命根等，無斯事故。
The eye and other consciousnesses are interrupted and are not at all times the fruit of karma, like lightning and light and the like, and are not the mind of karmic maturation. Karmic maturation should not be cut off and then continue again, and for those life faculties and the like there is no such thing.
眼等六識，業所感者，猶如聲等，非恆續故，是異熟生，非真異熟。
The six consciousnesses such as the eye consciousness, brought about by karma, like sound and the like, because they are not constantly continuing, are produced from karmic maturation, but are not true karmic maturation.
定應許有真異熟心，酬牽引業，遍而無斷，變為身、器作有情依，身、器離心，理非有故。不相應法無實體故，諸轉識等非恆有故，若無此心，誰變身、器？復依何法恆立有情？
One must definitely admit that there is a mind of true karmic maturation, which repays the leading karma, pervades without interruption, and transforms into the body and the world as the basis of sentient beings; body and world apart from mind cannot exist in principle. Dharmas not associated with mind have no substance, and the active consciousnesses and the like are not constant; if there were not this mind, who would transform into body and world? And by what dharma would sentient beings be constantly established?
又在定中，或不在定，有別思慮、無思慮時，理有眾多身受生起。此若無者，不應後時身有怡適，或復勞損，若不恆有真異熟心，彼位如何有此身受？
Moreover, in absorption or out of absorption, when there are separate thinking or no thinking, in principle many bodily sensations arise. If this did not exist, the body should not later feel comfort or fatigue; if there were not constantly a mind of true karmic maturation, how could that state have these bodily sensations?
非佛起餘善心等位，必應現起真異熟心，如許起彼時，非佛有情故。
It is not that when the Buddha arises in other wholesome minds and the like a mind of true karmic maturation must appear; if one admitted it arose at that time, he would not be a sentient being, not a buddha.
由是恆有真異熟心，彼心即是此第八識。
Therefore there is constantly a mind of true karmic maturation, and that mind is this eighth consciousness.
又契經說：有情流轉五趣、四生。若無此識，彼趣、生體不應有故。
Moreover, the sutra says: sentient beings revolve through the five destinies and the four modes of birth. If there were not this consciousness, the substance of those destinies and births could not exist.
謂要實有、恆、遍、無雜，彼法可立正實趣、生。
That is, only what is real, constant, pervasive and unmixed can be established as a true destiny or birth.
非異熟法趣、生雜亂，住此起餘趣、生法故。
It is not that the destinies and births of karmically matured dharmas are mixed up, because staying here arises dharmas of other destinies and births.
諸異熟色及五識中業所感者不遍趣、生，無色界中全無彼故。
The karmically matured forms, and what is brought about by karma in the five consciousnesses, do not pervade all destinies and births, and in the formless realm they are entirely absent.
諸生得善及意識中業所感者，雖遍趣、生，起無雜亂而不恆有。
The innate wholesome dharmas, and what is brought about by karma in the mental consciousness, though they pervade destinies and births and arise without mixture, are not constant.
不相應行無實自體，皆不可立正實趣、生。
The conditioned dharmas not associated with mind have no real substance and cannot be established as true destinies or births.
唯異熟心及彼心所，實恆、遍、無雜，是正實趣、生。
Only the mind of karmic maturation and its mental factors are truly constant, pervasive and unmixed, and are the true destiny and birth.
此心若無，生無色界起善等位應非趣、生。設許趣、生攝諸有漏，生無色界起無漏心應非趣、生，便違正理。勿有前過及有此失，故唯異熟法是正實趣、生。
If this mind did not exist, then at the time of wholesome and other thoughts arising in beings born in the formless realm, they would not be destinies or births. Even if one admitted that destinies and births comprise all contaminated things, then when an uncontaminated mind arises in one born in the formless realm it would not be a destiny or birth, which contradicts right reasoning. To avoid the earlier fault and this fault, only karmically matured dharmas are the true destiny and birth.
由是如來非趣、生攝，佛無異熟無記法故，亦非界攝，非有漏故，世尊已捨苦、集諦故，諸戲論種已永斷故。
Hence the Tathagata is not included in destinies and births, because the Buddha has no neutral dharma of karmic maturation, and is also not included in the realms, because he is uncontaminated; the World-Honored One has abandoned the truths of suffering and origin, and the seeds of all conceptual proliferation have been forever cut off.
正實趣、生既唯異熟心及心所，彼心、心所離第八識理不得成，故知別有此第八識。
Since the true destinies and births are only the mind of karmic maturation and its mental factors, and that mind and those mental factors cannot be established in principle apart from the eighth consciousness, one therefore knows there is this separate eighth consciousness.
又契經說：有色根身是有執受，若無此識，彼能執受，不應有故。
Moreover, the sutra says: a body with material faculties is one that is held and sustained; if there were not this consciousness, that holding and sustaining would not exist.
謂五色根及彼依處，唯現在世是有執受，彼定由有能執受心，唯異熟心，先業所引，非善、染等，一類、能遍、相續執受有色根身；眼等轉識無如是義。
That is, the five material faculties and their supports, in the present life alone, are held and sustained, and they are definitely due to a mind able to hold and sustain; only the mind of karmic maturation, led by earlier karma and not wholesome or defiled and so on, of one kind, pervasive and continuous, holds and sustains the body with material faculties; the eye and other active consciousnesses have no such meaning.
此言意顯眼等轉識，皆無一類、能遍、相續執受自內有色根身，非顯能執受唯異熟心，勿諸佛色身無執受故；然能執受有漏色身唯異熟心，故作是說。
The meaning of these words is to show that the eye and other active consciousnesses do not, as one kind, pervasively and continuously hold and sustain the body with inner material faculties; it is not to show that only the mind of karmic maturation can hold and sustain, lest the buddhas' material bodies be without holding and sustaining; but only the mind of karmic maturation can hold and sustain a contaminated material body, and so it is said thus.
謂諸轉識現緣起故，如聲、風等，彼善、染等，非業引故，如非擇滅。異熟生者，非異熟故、非遍依故、不相續故，如電、光等，不能執受有漏色身。
That is, the active consciousnesses arise manifestly from conditions, like sound, wind and so on, and those wholesome and defiled ones are not drawn by karma, like cessation not through analysis. What is born of karmic maturation is not karmic maturation itself, is not pervasive support and is not continuous, like lightning and light and the like, and cannot hold and sustain a contaminated material body.
諸心識言，亦攝心所，定相應故，如唯識言。
The phrase "the minds and consciousnesses" also includes the mental factors, because they are definitely associated, like the phrase "consciousness-only".
非諸色根、不相應行可能執受有色根身，無所緣故，如虛空等。
It is not that the material faculties or the dharmas not associated with mind can hold and sustain a body with material faculties, because they have no object, like empty space and the like.
故應別有能執受心，彼心即是此第八識。
Therefore there should be a separate mind able to hold and sustain, and that mind is this eighth consciousness.
又契經說：壽、煖、識三，更互依持，得相續住。若無此識能持壽、煖，令久住識不應有故。
Moreover, the sutra says: life, warmth and consciousness, these three, support one another and so continue to abide. If there were not this consciousness able to hold life and warmth, the consciousness that makes them abide long could not exist.
謂諸轉識有間、有轉，如聲、風等，無恆持用，不可立為持壽、煖識。
That is, the active consciousnesses are interrupted and changeable, like sound, wind and the like, and have no constant holding function, and cannot be established as the consciousness that holds life and warmth.
唯異熟識無間、無轉，猶如壽、煖，有恆持用，故可立為持壽、煖識。
Only the karmically matured consciousness is uninterrupted and unchanging, like life and warmth, with a constant holding function, and so it can be established as the consciousness that holds life and warmth.
經說三法更互依持，而壽與煖一類相續，唯識不然，豈符正理？
The sutra says the three dharmas mutually support one another, and that life and warmth continue as one kind, while only consciousness is not so; how could that accord with right reasoning?
雖說三法更互依持，而許唯煖不遍三界，何不許識獨有間、轉？
Though it says the three dharmas mutually support one another, you admit that only warmth does not pervade the three realms; why do you not admit that consciousness alone is interrupted and changing?
此於前理，非為過難。謂若是處具有三法無間轉者，可恆相持。不爾，便無恆相持用。前以此理，顯三法中所說識言，非詮轉識，舉煖不遍，豈壞前理？故前所說，其理極成。
This is not a real difficulty for the earlier reasoning. That is, where the three dharmas turn without interruption, they can constantly support one another. Otherwise, there is no function of constant mutual support. The earlier reasoning used this to show that the "consciousness" spoken of among the three dharmas does not refer to the active consciousnesses, and to cite that warmth is not pervasive does not damage the earlier reasoning. So what was said before is fully established.
又三法中，壽、煖二種既唯有漏，故知彼識如壽與煖，定非無漏；生無色界起無漏心，爾時，何識能持彼壽？
Moreover, among the three dharmas, life and warmth are only contaminated, so one knows that that consciousness, like life and warmth, is definitely not uncontaminated; when an uncontaminated mind arises in one born in the formless realm, at that time, what consciousness holds that life?
由此故知有異熟識，一類、恆、遍、能持壽、煖，彼識即是此第八識。
From this one knows that there is a karmically matured consciousness, of one kind, constant, pervasive, able to hold life and warmth, and that consciousness is this eighth consciousness.
又契經說：諸有情類，受生、命終，必住散心，非無心定。若無此識，生、死時心不應有故。
Moreover, the sutra says: all sentient beings, at rebirth and at the end of life, must dwell in a scattered mind and not in the absorption without mind. If there were not this consciousness, there could be no mind at the time of birth and death.
謂生死時，身心惽昧，如睡無夢、極悶絕時，明瞭轉識必不現起。
That is, at the time of birth and death, body and mind are dim and confused, as in sleep without dreams or in extreme fainting, and the clear active consciousnesses surely do not manifest.
又此位中，六種轉識行相、所緣不可知故，如無心位，必不現行。
Moreover, in this state the aspects and objects of the six active consciousnesses cannot be known, as in the state without mind, and they surely do not manifestly act.
六種轉識行相、所緣有必可知，如餘時故。
The aspects and objects of the six active consciousnesses, when they exist, must be knowable, as at other times.
真異熟識極微細故，行相、所緣俱不可了，是引業果，一期相續，恆無轉變；是散、有心，名生死心，不違正理。
The true karmically matured consciousness is extremely subtle, and its aspects and objects cannot be discerned; it is the fruit of the leading karma, continues for one lifetime, and constantly has no change; it is a scattered, mind-possessing state, called the mind of birth and death, which does not contradict right reasoning.
有說：五識此位定無，意識取境，或因五識、或因他教、或定為因，生位，諸因既不可得；故受生位，意識亦無。
Some say: in this state the five consciousnesses surely do not exist, and the mental consciousness takes its object either because of the five consciousnesses, or because of another's teaching, or because of absorption as the cause; at the moment of birth, since all these causes cannot be found, the mental consciousness too is absent at the moment of rebirth.
若爾，有情生無色界，後時意識應永不生，定心必由散意識引，五識、他教彼界必無，引定散心無由起故。
If so, when a being is born in the formless realm, the mental consciousness should never arise afterward, because absorption mind must be led by the scattered mental consciousness, and the five consciousnesses and another's teaching are surely absent in that realm, so there would be no cause for the scattered mind that leads to absorption to arise.
若謂彼定由串習力，後時率爾能現在前。
If one says that absorption, by the power of habituation, can suddenly appear later.
彼初生時，寧不現起？又欲、色界初受生時，串習意識亦應現起。
Why does it not arise when they are first born? Moreover, at the first moment of rebirth in the desire and form realms, the habituated mental consciousness should also appear.
若由惛昧，初未現前。
If it is because of dimness that it does not appear at first.
此即前因，何勞別說？
That is the earlier cause; why bother to speak of another?
有餘部執：生、死等位，別有一類微細意識，行相、所緣俱不可了。應知即是此第八識，極成意識不如是故。
Other schools hold that: at birth, death and similar states, there is a separate kind of subtle mental consciousness whose aspects and objects cannot be discerned. One should know that it is this eighth consciousness; the commonly accepted mental consciousness is not like this.
又將死時，由善、惡業，下、上身分，冷觸漸起，若無此識，彼事不成。轉識不能執受身故。
Moreover, when one is about to die, according to wholesome or unwholesome karma, cold touch gradually arises in the lower or upper parts of the body; if there were not this consciousness, that matter could not be established. The active consciousnesses cannot hold and sustain the body.
眼等五識，各別依故；或不行故。第六意識，不住身故，境不定故，遍寄身中恆相續故，不應冷觸由彼漸生。
The five consciousnesses such as the eye consciousness each depend on separate supports, or do not operate at all. The sixth, the mental consciousness, does not dwell in the body, its object is not fixed, and it is lodged throughout the body in constant continuity; cold touch should not gradually arise from it.
唯異熟心，由先業力，恆、遍、相續執受身分。捨執受處，冷觸便生，壽、煖識三不相離故。
Only the karmically matured mind, by the power of earlier karma, constantly, pervasively and continuously holds and sustains the parts of the body. When the place of holding and sustaining is abandoned, cold touch arises, because life, warmth and consciousness are inseparable.
冷觸起處即是非情，雖變、亦緣，而不執受。故知定有此第八識。
Where cold touch arises is inanimate; though it is transformed and also taken as object, it is not held and sustained. So one knows there definitely exists this eighth consciousness.
又契經說：識緣名色，名色緣識，如是二法展轉相依，譬如蘆束，俱時而轉，若無此識，彼識自體，不應有故。
Moreover, the sutra says: consciousness conditions name and form, and name and form condition consciousness; these two dharmas depend on each other in turn, like a bundle of reeds, turning at the same time; if there were not this consciousness, the substance of that consciousness could not exist.
謂彼經中自作是釋：名謂非色四蘊，色謂羯邏藍等。此二與識相依而住，如二蘆束，更互為緣，恆俱時轉，不相捨離。
That sutra itself explains thus: "name" refers to the four non-material aggregates, and "form" refers to kalala (the first congealed state of rebirth) and so on. These two and consciousness abide depending on each other, like two bundles of reeds, mutually conditioning one another and constantly turning at the same time, not abandoning one another.
眼等轉識，攝在名中，此識若無，說誰為識？
The eye and other active consciousnesses are included in "name"; if this consciousness did not exist, what would be called consciousness?
亦不可說名中識蘊謂五識身，識謂第六，羯邏藍時無五識故。
Nor can it be said that the consciousness aggregate within name refers to the body of five consciousnesses and that consciousness refers to the sixth, because at the kalala stage there are no five consciousnesses.
又諸轉識有間、轉故，無力恆時執持名色，寧說恆與名色為緣？
Moreover, the active consciousnesses are interrupted and changeable and have no power to constantly hold name and form; how could they be said to constantly condition name and form?