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Commentary on the Treatise on the Great Vehicle
In the store consciousness, Alaya-vijñana, we distinguish between two kinds of appearances.
Shared appearance (cộng tướng) is the seed of the world of collective manifestation, the general aspect that manifests as the external material world, without feeling, known as “le monde réceptacle,” containing all material phenomena.
Unshared appearance (bất cộng tướng) is the individual seed within, which has feeling, the particular aspect of each individual, arising through the six sense organs, the six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses.
The Manifestation-only teaching (Vijnapti-mātra) emphasizes that all phenomena are only manifestations of consciousness, without a fixed self-nature, arising on the basis of dependent co-arising (y tha khởi). In Alaya there are also:
- The heavy and the light appearances, distinguishing the seeds of afflictions (klesha) from wholesome dharmas with outflows;
- The appearance of what is exhausted (the result of retribution already matured) and the appearance of what continues (the continuation of name and form through habitual energies);
- Appearances likened to illusions, mirages, dreams, and hallucinations.
When we contemplate the imagined nature (biến kế sở chấp) and clearly see the nature of dependent co-arising, all attachments dissolve, and we dwell peacefully in the perfected nature (nishpanna), realizing freedom and liberation from all bondage.
