Sinweiy already brought out the 一切唯心所现 (all are mind-only
appearances), 唯识所变 (all are changed/distorted by consciousness),
which is what I had in mind of posting.
We have to dwell a little into yogacara teaching, wisdom is the
realization that everything is non-dual mind, while consciousness
is dualistic knowledge. There are eight consciousnesses, and from
the eighth consciousness, karmic seeds project a world of subject
and object. From the karmic seeds of eighth consciousness springs
all the other seven consciousnesses. Therefore, what we conceive of
as a solid world, and an existing self or subject, are all just the
projections of a sentient being's consciousness - no "external
world" exists apart from such thought-constructs and projections.
In short, yogacara teaches that there is no subjectively existing
self or objectively existing world. All there is, is mind. Under
dualistic cognition, it is consciousness, freed from dualistic
constructs, it is wisdom. All appearances are the display of mind
(originally whole and beyond any designations), and are distorted
by dualistic consciousness ("the impressions").
As asunthatneversets points out, "The impressions themselves
dictate external and internal, self and objects, apart from the
impression none of these can be found, experience is whole and
beyond any designations.
Everything is imputed. No thing exists apart from
imputation."
When we talk about 心, we have to understand the context in which it
is spoken of. Is it 妄心 (false mind) which refers to the sentient
being's false projections that imputes a truly existent self and a
truly existent object, a subject and object, inside and outside,
dichotomy? Or is it talking about 真心 which means the true mind or
true nature of mind? When sutra says “心生则种种法生，心灭则种种法灭”, this means
the dualistic thought-projections of consciousness. When the sutras
say 唯心所现, it simply means the mind-appearances (prior to
thought-projections).
妄心 is the projection of a separate self, a subjective perceiver,
agent, that is like an inner person behind my eyes looking outside
at "the outside world out there", and the outer world is projected
to consist of objects existing in an outside-there fashion, all
possessing their own intrinsic existence and characteristics. The
cause of 妄心 is ignorance - the fundamental ignorance （根本无明） which
posits a truely existent person or subjective self, and truly
existing inherent objects, which leads to
proliferation/attachments/afflictions.
万法唯心造 is as Namdrol explained,
The mind that is the all-creating king, as Norbu Rinpoche
makes clear, is the mind that does not recognize itself, and so
enters into samsara, creating its own experience of samsara.
All conditioned phenomena are a product of ignorance, according to
Dzogchen view, and so therefore, everything is not real. The basis
of that ignorance is the basis, which is also not established as
real.
In Dzogchen, everything is unreal, from top to bottom. The
basis, in Dzogchen, is described as being "empty not established in
any way at all". If the basis is not real, then whatever arises
from that basis is not real.
In Dzoghen, dependent origination begins from the non-recognition
of the state of the basis, when this happens, one enters into
grasping self and other, and then the chain of dependent
origination begins.
Dzogchen however, unlike Yogacara does not establish mind as
being existent or real - being empty and unestablished, i.e. its
philosophical viewpoint is similar to Prasangika Madhyamika, except
its view is not introduced via inferential analysis.
We can generally equate 妄心 with 识, because 识 means 分别心. It is a
dualistic form of knowing arising only due to ignorance. In
post-Yogacara teaching, consciousness is understood as dualistic
vision, to be distinguished from Wisdom which is non-dualistic. But
in Pali suttas, the original teachings of the Buddha, no such
division was being taught - so there is no talk about converting
consciousness into wisdom （转识成智）- consciousness is simply these six
types of cognizance that arises whether you are awakened... except
that for the awakened and liberated, there is
cognizance/consciousness without taints or ignorance, while for the
unawakened there is the instant of cognizance/consciousness quickly
followed by the taints, the craving, attachment, and identification
with 'I, me, mine'. In other words in the Pali definition, it is
not the 'cognizance/consciousness' that is the problem, it is the
taints, the ignorance, the grasping that is the problem. Whereas in
the Yogacarin scheme, consciousness is intrinsically dualistic and
problematic.
For post-Yogacara teachings, consciousness is understood to be
dualistic vision, so consciousness must be transformed into wisdom.
In Dzogchen, it is not too different in this respect, as Namdrol
once said: Further, there is no rigpa to speak of that exists
separate from the earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness
that make up the universe and sentient beings. Rigpa is merely a
different way of talking about these six things. In their pure
state (their actual state) we talk about the radiance of the five
wisdoms of rig pa. In their impure state we talk about how the five
elements arise from consciousness. One coin, two sides. And it is
completely empty from beginning to end, and top to bottom, free
from all extremes and not established in anyway. (
http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2009/10/dzogchen-rigpa-and-dependent.html
)
In my second Chinese essay summary:
http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/p/chinese-articles.html
深入观行, 婆酰迦经。
了悟经旨, 直指无心。
无执能所, 忘却身心。
方知见性, 只需明相。
明相见性, 见色明心。
真心空性, 随缘显相。
迷时幻相, 悟时真心。
山河大地, 原是法身。
色声香味, 尽是妙心。
So going back to topic: 一切唯心所现, 唯识所变
Why is 唯心所现?
We can say that 心 (真心）here is talking about this mirror-like
awareness, our perceiving mind, that mind which is clearly and
undeniably present, and aware. Without which, nothing can appear!
(Seeing, hearing, all are the self-aware essence) But the analogy
of a mirror is not accurate enough. Why? It can be taken to imply a
separate awareness that is 'perceiving' the world at a distance,
but this is wrong. It still falls under the dualistic framework and
a person having such a framework plus insight into the mirror
bright clarity falls into the 'I AM'/Eternal Witness level of
understanding.
Dogen Zenji said: I come to realize that mind is no other
than mountains and rivers and the great wide earth, the sun and the
moon and stars.
So when looking at the mountains and rivers, there is in fact no
looker that is looking - the seeing is JUST the scenery! The
shapes, colours, forms, mountains and rivers and the great wide
earth. No such thing as a subject and object dichotomy. Everything
is mind, mind is just the moment to moment experience of "the sun,
the moon and stars" - it is not that there is a mind in here
watching something outside-mind.
So understand that everything is the mind-nature's natural
radiance.
唯识所变?
Means under the power of ignorance, we no longer perceive reality
in their actual state. We perceive reality through a veil of
projected thoughtforms, which solidifies the self into an inner
subject and the world into multiple objects outside. Pure
experience, pure mind, becomes dichotomized and reified. This is
the power of dualistic consciousness - a magical spell that blinds
us from seeing the truth, that puts us in a spell of a make-belief
world that prevents us from seeing Suchness. It is like a cataract
that makes us perceive flowers in the empty sky where there is
actually none, like the poor eyesight which makes someone mistaken
a rope for a snake. This is 唯识所变
转识成智 (turning consciousness to wisdom) means we realize, all along
there is no self! There is no objects! 本来没有我... 人法二空显真如 - the
twofold emptiness reveals true suchness.
Why? It is like the awakening insight that suddenly cures the
cataract forever - one realizes there never was flowers in the sky!
There never was a snake! Those are delusions. (There never was a
self, there never was substantial dharmas in what dependently
originates).
This frees us from the delusion of self and other, subject and
object. Immediately, the "唯识所变" effect is no more, you no longer
see a rope as a snake, and everything is turned into the wisdom
which is the cognition of true mind as it is.
So as David Loy pointed out,
That saṁsāra is nirvāṇa is a major tenet of Mahāyāna philosophy.
"Nothing of saṁsāra is different from nirvāṇa, nothing of nirvāṇa
is different from saṁsāra. That which is the limit of nirvāṇa is
also the limit of saṁsāra; there is not the slightest difference
between the two." [1] And yet there must be some difference between
them, for otherwise no distinction would have been made and there
would be no need for two words to describe the same state. So
Nāgārjuna also distinguishes them: "That which, taken as causal or
dependent, is the process of being born and passing on, is, taken
noncausally and beyond all dependence, declared to be nirvāṇa." [2]
There is only one reality -- this world, right here -- but this
world may be experienced in two different ways. Saṁsāra is the
"relative" world as usually experienced, in which "I" dualistically
perceive "it" as a collection of objects which interact causally in
space and time. Nirvāṇa is the world as it is in itself,
nondualistic in that it incorporates both subject and object into a
whole which, Mādhyamika insists, cannot be characterized
(Chandrakīrti: "Nirvāṇa or Reality is that which is absolved of all
thought-construction"), but which Yogācāra nevertheless sometimes
calls "Mind" or "Buddhanature," and so forth.
It should be emphasized also that "Mind" is nothing substantial -
it is just the insubstantial stream of experiencing, vividly
luminous and present, dependently originated, and self-releasing
every moment. There is no actual "self" to mind-streams.
In Buddhism Plain and Simple page 115, by Zen Teacher Steve
Hagen:
With the two types of views there are two kinds of minds. As human
beings, we all have what we could call ordinary minds - the mind
that you've always assumed you've had. It's a calculating mind, a
discriminating mind, a fragmented mind. It's the mind of ordinary
consciousness, the mind of self and other. We generally think of it
as "my mind."
But there's another mind that is unborn, ungrown, and
unconditioned. Unlike "your mind," it is unbound, for there is
nothing beyond it. To this Mind, there is no "other mind."
This Mind is nothing other than the Whole. It's simply thus, the
fabric of the world itself - the ongoing arising and falling away
that are matter, energy and events.
Speaking of this Mind, the great Chinese Zen master Huang Po
said,
All buddhas and ordinary people are just One Mind... This Mind is
beyond all measurements, names, oppositions: this very being is It;
as soon as you stir your mind you turn away from It.
This Mind is self-evident - it's always switched on, so to speak.
We can - and, in fact, we do - see It in every moment. If we would
refrain from stirring our minds (rest our frontal lobes, as my Zen
teacher used to say) and let our conceptualising die down, like the
ripples on a pond after the stirring wind has ceased, we would
realise - we would know Mind directly.
Also read this very well written article:
http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2012/03/sun-that-never-sets.html
