The Activities of the Eight Consciousnesses: The Mental Factor of Volition

The scope of "activities" is very broad, encompassing the activities of the eight consciousnesses. In a broad sense, it refers to movement, operation, motion, behavior, change, flux, and so on. In short, all phenomena that flow and cease not belong to the scope of activities. Thus, it appears that within both the mundane and supramundane realms, there fundamentally exists no principle or thing that does not move or operate. This includes Tathāgatagarbha, which is also constantly active, never having ceased, and will never cease. It has observable activities, yet amidst all activities, the mind remains tranquil and unmoving.

Why is this so? Firstly, because Tathāgatagarbha possesses the five universal mental factors. These five mental factors have never ceased for even an instant; they are perpetually operating. Even within the state of Nirvana without residue, the five universal mental factors of Tathāgatagarbha continue to operate unceasingly. Secondly, Tathāgatagarbha itself has its own mental seeds of consciousness that are constantly arising and ceasing moment by moment. It is this process that enables Tathāgatagarbha to exist perpetually, to operate continuously without a moment's stagnation, thus constituting a consciousness that is neither born nor perishes.

As long as the five universal mental factors of Tathāgatagarbha exist, they are operating. This is activity. Moreover, the mental factor of volition (cetanā) itself represents both the meaning of choice and the meaning of operation and activity. It is precisely the activity of Tathāgatagarbha that causes all dharmas to be born and operate continuously, to undergo constant birth and death. Therefore, broadly speaking, Tathāgatagarbha can also be included within the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra-skandha), though this aggregate is not subject to birth and death. Tathāgatagarbha possesses the functional capacity to aggregate all dharmas. Hence, broadly speaking, Tathāgatagarbha can also be called the aggregate of consciousness (vijñāna-skandha), and it is the most fundamental aggregate of consciousness—the aggregate of consciousness that is neither born nor perishes. It is precisely due to the functional nature of Tathāgatagarbha as the aggregate of consciousness that it can aggregate all dharmas, causing them to undergo birth, death, and change, causing sentient beings to cycle endlessly through rebirth, and causing the world to be ever-changing and unpredictable.

How exactly does Tathāgatagarbha operate? Firstly, it outputs seeds, withdraws seeds, creates all dharmas of the five-aggregate world, causes all dharmas to undergo constant birth, death, and change without cessation, and stores and releases karmic seeds. Secondly, regarding karmic seeds and all dharmas of the five-aggregate world, it continuously makes contact, attends, feels, perceives, and volitions (i.e., the five universal mental factors: sparsa, manaskāra, vedanā, saṃjñā, cetanā), causing all dharmas to operate ceaselessly according to conditions. Even though Tathāgatagarbha thus operates continuously without cessation, this does not in the slightest affect its own intrinsically quiescent and unconditioned nature. It does not affect its mental activity of neither seeing, hearing, desiring, nor seeking regarding all dharmas. It does not affect its mental activity of being unshaken and unmoved regarding all dharmas.

The activities of the seventh consciousness include the activities of ignorance within the twelve links of dependent origination, as well as the activities of the sages who are free from ignorance. The activity of ignorance is the activity of the cycle of birth and death. The activity free from ignorance is the activity of liberation from birth and death. The activities of the seventh consciousness play a decisively key role in both birth-and-death and liberation. It is precisely the activities of the seventh consciousness that prompt Tathāgatagarbha to aggregate the karmic seeds of the birth-and-death cycle of the five aggregates, thereby aggregating the five-aggregate world. Therefore, broadly speaking again, the seventh consciousness also belongs to the categories of the aggregate of formations and the aggregate of consciousness.

The activities of the six consciousnesses are easy to observe and understand. The six consciousnesses are of dependent nature; they are passively arisen activities. Whether broadly or narrowly defined, the six consciousnesses are all subsumed under the aggregate of consciousness. This is because the bodily, verbal, and mental activities created by the six consciousnesses are precisely the cause for the aggregation of karmic seeds, the cause for the manifestation of the five-aggregate world, and the cause for the aggregation of name-and-form (nāmarūpa). Although this aggregation is passive, it constitutes a significant portion of the function of aggregation.