Habituation: How a Robe Holds a Scent It Never Had
Part 6 explains what keeps the whole structure of arising-and-ceasing running: the doctrine of habituation (熏習), by which suchness, ignorance, false mind, and the false object-realm perpetuate defilement in a closed loop, and by which suchness, working the same mechanism in reverse, perpetuates purity instead. The section closes by asking why, if every sentient being already possesses suchness equally, some come to faith and others do not — and answers with an image that will return throughout the rest of the treatise: fire, already latent in wood, that still needs someone to strike the spark.
Four Factors, and a Scent With No Source
復次，有四種法熏習義故，染法、淨法起不斷絕。云何為四？一者、淨法，名為真如。二者、一切染因，名為無明。三者、妄心，名為業識。四者、妄境界、所謂六塵。
熏習義者，如世間衣服實無於香，若人以香而熏習故則有香氣。此亦如是，真如淨法實無於染，但以無明而熏習故則有染相。無明染法實無淨業，但以真如而熏習故則有淨用。
Furthermore, there is a meaning of habituation involving four kinds of dharma, by which defiled dharmas and pure dharmas arise without ever being cut off. What are the four? First, the pure dharma, called suchness. Second, the cause of all defilement, called ignorance. Third, false mind, called the karmic consciousness. Fourth, the false object-realm, that is, the six sense-objects.
As for the meaning of habituation: it is like a worldly garment, which in itself has no fragrance, yet if a person perfumes it with incense, it comes to bear a fragrant scent. This is just the same. Suchness, the pure dharma, in itself has no defilement, yet, habituated by ignorance, it comes to bear the mark of defilement. Ignorance, the defiled dharma, in itself has no pure activity, yet, habituated by suchness, it comes to bear a pure function.
Fazang asks why the defiled side of the ledger needs three separate factors — ignorance, false mind, and the false object-realm — while the pure side needs only suchness itself, and answers that the asymmetry is not incidental: 此三皆是染法，由此染法自性差別仗託因緣故，具說三種；淨法對染雖成熏義，然其體用竟未曾別，故但明一種 — all three defiled factors are stated separately because defilement, by its own nature, differentiates itself only by depending on distinct causes and conditions; purity, though it likewise forms a habituating relationship with defilement, never actually separates its essence from its function, and so needs only the one name. Defilement is intrinsically fragmented; purity, even while doing exactly the same kind of causal work, never is.
On the incense-robe simile, Fazang draws a fine but important distinction the English risks smoothing over: on the defiled side the text speaks only of a "mark" (相) of defilement, never a "function" (用) of it, and he explains why deliberately — 顯真無相隨熏現相，又顯妄法無體，故但云相，又當相自無返流之用，故云相不云用也 — this shows that true suchness, having no mark of its own, merely takes on the appearance of one once habituated; and it further shows that the defiled dharma has no essence of its own, and so, even at the very moment its mark appears, it has no genuine power to turn the current backward — hence "mark," never "function." Only the pure side of the relationship, where an actual capacity to reverse defilement is at stake, earns the word 用. Fazang then extends the same logic to the most difficult case Buddhist doctrine has to offer, the icchantika — a being traditionally described as having cut off every root of goodness — citing the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*: 闡提之人未來佛性力故，還生善根 (even the icchantika, through the power of a buddha-nature yet to come, will eventually regenerate roots of goodness). "The power of buddha-nature" named there, Fazang states flatly, 即此本覺內熏之力耳 — is nothing other than this very inner habituation by original enlightenment already at work in this passage. If suchness's habituating power reaches even the icchantika, the doctrine allows for no case, in principle, where it does not.
The Two Loops: Toward Defilement, and Back Toward Purity
云何熏習起染法不斷？所謂以依真如法故有於無明，以有無明染法因故即熏習真如；以熏習故則有妄心，以有妄心即熏習無明。不了真如法故，不覺念起現妄境界。以有妄境界染法緣故，即熏習妄心，令其念著造種種業，受於一切身心等苦。此妄境界熏習義則有二種。云何為二？一者、增長念熏習，二者、增長取熏習。妄心熏習義則有二種。云何為二？一者業識根本熏習，能受阿羅漢、辟支佛、一切菩薩生滅苦故。二者、增長分別事識熏習，能受凡夫業繫苦故。無明熏習義有二種。云何為二？一者、根本熏習，以能成就業識義故。二者、所起見愛熏習，以能成就分別事識義故。
云何熏習起淨法不斷？所謂以有真如法故能熏習無明，以熏習因緣力故，則令妄心厭生死苦、樂求涅槃。以此妄心有厭求因緣故，即熏習真如。自信己性，知心妄動無前境界，修遠離法，以如實知無前境界故，種種方便起隨順行，不取不念，乃至久遠熏習力故，無明則滅。以無明滅故心無有起，以無起故境界隨滅，以因緣俱滅故心相皆盡，名得涅槃成自然業。妄心熏習義有二種。云何為二？一者、分別事識熏習，依諸凡夫二乘人等，厭生死苦，隨力所能，以漸趣向無上道故。二者、意熏習，謂諸菩薩發心勇猛速趣涅槃故。
真如熏習義有二種。云何為二？一者、自體相熏習，二者、用熏習。自體相熏習者，從無始世來，具無漏法，備有不思議業，作境界之性。依此二義恒常熏習，以有力故，能令眾生厭生死苦、樂求涅槃，自信己身有真如法，發心修行。
How does habituation give rise to defiled dharmas without interruption? It is that, in dependence on the dharma of suchness, there is ignorance; and because there is the cause of ignorance, the defiled dharma, it in turn habituates suchness. Through this habituation there comes to be false mind; and because there is false mind, it in turn habituates ignorance. Not penetrating the dharma of suchness, unenlightened thought stirs and manifests a false object-realm. Because there is the false object-realm, the condition of the defiled dharma, it in turn habituates false mind, causing it to become attached in thought and to create all manner of karma, undergoing every kind of suffering of body and mind. This habituation by the false object-realm has, in turn, two aspects. What are the two? First, the habituation that increases thought. Second, the habituation that increases grasping. The habituation by false mind has, in turn, two aspects. What are the two? First, the fundamental habituation of the karmic consciousness, by which arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and all bodhisattvas undergo the suffering of arising-and-ceasing. Second, the habituation that increases the consciousness that discriminates objects, by which ordinary people undergo the suffering of karmic bondage. The habituation by ignorance has two aspects. What are the two? First, fundamental habituation, because it is able to bring the karmic consciousness to completion. Second, the habituation of views and craving thereby arisen, because it is able to bring the consciousness that discriminates objects to completion.
How does habituation give rise to pure dharmas without interruption? It is that, because there is the dharma of suchness, it is able to habituate ignorance; and through the power of this habituation as cause and condition, false mind is thereby led to be wearied by the suffering of birth-and-death and to delight in seeking nirvāṇa. Because this false mind now has the cause and condition of weariness and seeking, it in turn habituates suchness. Believing in its own nature, it knows that mind's false stirring has no object-realm actually confronting it, and cultivates the dharma of leaving this behind. Because it truly knows there is no object-realm actually confronting it, it gives rise, through all manner of skillful means, to practices that accord with this — neither grasping nor thinking — and, through the power of habituation sustained over a long time, ignorance is thereby extinguished. Because ignorance is extinguished, mind has no stirring; because there is no stirring, the object-realm ceases along with it; and because cause and condition are both extinguished, the marks of mind are entirely exhausted — this is called attaining nirvāṇa and accomplishing spontaneous activity. The habituation by false mind toward purity has two aspects. What are the two? First, the habituation of the consciousness that discriminates objects, by which ordinary people and those of the two vehicles, wearied by the suffering of birth-and-death, gradually advance toward the unsurpassed path according to their own capacity. Second, the habituation of will, by which bodhisattvas, resolving their minds with vigor, swiftly advance toward nirvāṇa.
The habituation by suchness has two aspects. What are the two? First, habituation by its own essence and attributes. Second, habituation by function. Habituation by its own essence and attributes: from beginningless time it is complete with undefiled dharmas and possesses inconceivable activity, forming the nature of an object-realm for contemplation. In dependence on these two aspects, it habituates constantly and, having power, is able to cause sentient beings to be wearied by the suffering of birth-and-death and to delight in seeking nirvāṇa, believing in themselves that they possess the dharma of suchness, and resolving to practice.
Fazang reads the toward-defilement loop as running through exactly the same four factors already named, each habituating the next in a closed circle: suchness gives rise to ignorance, ignorance's presence in turn habituates suchness, that habituation produces false mind, false mind in turn habituates ignorance further, and the resulting unenlightened thought manifests a false object-realm that then habituates false mind yet again, tightening the loop with every turn. He is careful to note that the two habituations distinguished under false mind — 業識根本熏習 (the fundamental habituation of the karmic consciousness) and 增長分別事識熏習 (the habituation that increases the discriminating consciousness) — correspond exactly to the two sufferings already distinguished elsewhere on this site's Yogācāra pages: even an arhat or advanced bodhisattva, having left behind the coarse suffering of ordinary birth-and-death, still undergoes the subtler suffering of the ālayavijñāna's own transformation, 猶受梨耶變易行苦 — the suffering of change proper to that consciousness alone, distinct from an ordinary person's suffering of literal rebirth. The doctrine of habituation, on this reading, is not describing two different mechanisms for two different kinds of being; it is describing one mechanism, operating at whatever depth a given being's own practice has not yet reached.
On the return loop, Fazang stresses that "habituation by essence and attributes" is not itself sufficient on its own — a point the very next section of the treatise will develop at length — but he flags here what this passage alone can already show: 作境界之性 ("forming the nature of an object-realm") means that suchness's own inner habituation does not only stir up weariness and longing in a sentient being from behind the scenes; it simultaneously supplies that same being's practice with something to actually contemplate, functioning at once as the hidden cause of the aspiration and as the visible object toward which that aspiration is then directed. Cause and object, on this account, are not two separate things a practitioner must locate independently — the very suchness quietly working within is also, the moment practice properly begins, what practice takes as its object.
Fire Already in the Wood, and Even an Enemy's Compassion
問曰：「若如是義者，一切眾生悉有真如，等皆熏習，云何有信、無信，無量前後差別？皆應一時自知有真如法，勤修方便等入涅槃。」
答曰：「真如本一，而有無量無邊無明，從本已來自性差別厚薄不同故。過恒沙等上煩惱依無明起差別，我見愛染煩惱依無明起差別。如是一切煩惱，依於無明所起，前後無量差別，唯如來能知故。又諸佛法有因有緣，因緣具足乃得成辦。如木中火性是火正因，若無人知，不假方便能自燒木，無有是處。眾生亦爾，雖有正因熏習之力，若不值遇諸佛菩薩善知識等以之為緣，能自斷煩惱入涅槃者，則無是處。若雖有外緣之力，而內淨法未有熏習力者，亦不能究竟厭生死苦、樂求涅槃。若因緣具足者，所謂自有熏習之力，又為諸佛菩薩等慈悲願護故，能起厭苦之心，信有涅槃，修習善根。以修善根成熟故，則值諸佛菩薩示教利喜，乃能進趣，向涅槃道。」
用熏習者，即是眾生外緣之力。如是外緣有無量義，略說二種。云何為二？一者、差別緣，二者、平等緣。差別緣者，此人依於諸佛菩薩等，從初發意始求道時乃至得佛，於中若見若念，或為眷屬父母諸親，或為給使，或為知友，或為怨家，或起四攝，乃至一切所作無量行緣，以起大悲熏習之力，能令眾生增長善根，若見若聞得利益故。此緣有二種。云何為二？一者、近緣，速得度故。二者、遠緣，久遠得度故。是近遠二緣，分別復有二種。云何為二？一者、增長行緣，二者、受道緣。平等緣者，一切諸佛菩薩，皆願度脫一切眾生，自然熏習恒常不捨。以同體智力故，隨應見聞而現作業。所謂眾生依於三昧，乃得平等見諸佛故。此體用熏習，分別復有二種。云何為二？一者、未相應，謂凡夫、二乘、初發意菩薩等，以意、意識熏習，依信力故而能修行；未得無分別心與體相應故，未得自在業修行與用相應故。二者、已相應，謂法身菩薩得無分別心，與諸佛智用相應，唯依法力自然修行，熏習真如，滅無明故。
復次，染法從無始已來熏習不斷，乃至得佛後則有斷。淨法熏習則無有斷，盡於未來。此義云何？以真如法常熏習故，妄心則滅、法身顯現，起用熏習，故無有斷。
Question: "If the meaning is as stated, then all sentient beings alike possess suchness, and all alike undergo its habituation — so how is it that there is faith and no faith, and immeasurable differences of earlier and later? All should, at one and the same time, know of themselves that they possess the dharma of suchness, and diligently cultivate skillful means, entering nirvāṇa equally."
Answer: "Suchness is fundamentally one, yet ignorance is immeasurable and boundless, differing in its own nature from the very outset — thick in some, thin in others. The superior afflictions, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, arise from ignorance in their differences; the afflictions of self-view and craving likewise arise from ignorance in their differences. All such afflictions, arising in dependence on ignorance, differ immeasurably, earlier and later — only the Tathāgata is able to know them fully. Further, the buddhas' dharma has both a cause and a condition; only when cause and condition are both complete is anything accomplished. It is like the nature of fire latent within wood, which is fire's proper cause — yet if no one knows of it, and no skillful means is applied, there is no possibility that the wood will of itself catch fire and burn. Sentient beings are just the same. Although they possess the power of habituation by the proper cause, if they do not encounter buddhas, bodhisattvas, and good spiritual friends to serve as the condition, there is no possibility that they will, of themselves, cut off the afflictions and enter nirvāṇa. And although they may have the power of an external condition, if the pure dharma within has not yet developed the power of habituation, they likewise will not be able ultimately to be wearied by the suffering of birth-and-death and to delight in seeking nirvāṇa. But if cause and condition are both complete — that is, if they themselves already possess the power of habituation, and are further protected by the compassionate vows of buddhas and bodhisattvas — they are able to give rise to a mind wearied of suffering, to believe that nirvāṇa exists, and to cultivate roots of goodness. And because these roots of goodness, once cultivated, ripen, they then encounter buddhas and bodhisattvas who instruct, benefit, and delight them, and are thereby able to advance further, toward the path of nirvāṇa."
Habituation by function: this is precisely the power of an external condition for sentient beings. Such external conditions have immeasurable meanings; stated briefly, there are two kinds. What are the two? First, the differentiated condition. Second, the equal condition. The differentiated condition: this is when a person, in dependence on buddhas and bodhisattvas, from the first setting of the mind on seeking the path up until attaining buddhahood, either sees them or thinks of them; they may appear as one's family, parents, or other relations, or as a servant, or as a friend, or even as an enemy, or may take up the four means of attraction — and, through all manner of immeasurable conditions of activity, arouse the power of great compassion's habituation, able to cause sentient beings' roots of goodness to increase, so that whether seen or heard, benefit is gained. This condition has two kinds. What are the two? First, the near condition, by which one is swiftly brought across. Second, the distant condition, by which one is brought across only after a long time. These near and distant conditions each, in turn, further divide into two. What are the two? First, the condition that increases practice. Second, the condition that receives the path. The equal condition: all buddhas and bodhisattvas alike vow to bring all sentient beings across, spontaneously habituating them constantly, never abandoning them; through the power of their wisdom of identical essence, they manifest activity in accordance with whatever is seen and heard. That is, it is only when sentient beings rely on samādhi that they attain the equal seeing of all buddhas. This habituation by essence and by function each, in turn, further divides into two. What are the two? First, not yet corresponding — that is, ordinary people, the two vehicles, and bodhisattvas who have just first resolved their minds, who, habituated through will and the discriminating consciousness, are able to practice only in dependence on the power of faith; not yet having attained the non-discriminating mind, they do not yet correspond with essence, and not yet having attained the free activity of practice, they do not yet correspond with function. Second, already corresponding — that is, bodhisattvas who have realized the dharma-body, who have attained the non-discriminating mind, correspond with the buddhas' wisdom and function; relying solely on the power of the dharma, they practice spontaneously, habituating suchness and extinguishing ignorance.
Furthermore, the habituation of the defiled dharma continues without interruption from beginningless time, only coming to an end once buddhahood is attained. The habituation of the pure dharma, however, has no interruption at all, continuing to the very end of future time. What does this mean? Because the dharma of suchness habituates constantly, false mind is thereby extinguished and the dharma-body is manifested, giving rise to the habituation of function — and for this reason it has no interruption.
On the fire-in-wood answer, Fazang parses its logical shape with some precision: 法中但明因緣具成得，略無不具失；喻中偏明不具失，略無具緣得；合中雙明二義 — the direct teaching states only the positive case, that cause and condition together produce success, and omits stating the negative case; the simile states only the negative case, that a lacking condition produces failure, and omits stating the positive; only the application, combining teaching and simile, states both together. Nothing in this exchange claims a sentient being's own inner cause is somehow insufficient — the fire really is already there in the wood. What it claims is only that latent fire and an unstruck match produce, between them, exactly nothing.
On the two kinds of condition, Fazang ties them back directly to the will-versus-discriminating-consciousness distinction Part 5 already established: 差別緣者，為於凡小事識熏習而作於緣…平等緣者，為諸菩薩業識熏習而作於緣，謂唯現佛身平等無二故 — the differentiated condition works on beings still operating through the coarse discriminating consciousness, and so appears in whatever varied form will actually reach them; the equal condition works on bodhisattvas whose practice has already reached the level of the karmic consciousness itself, and so appears uniformly, as buddha-body without variation, through a wisdom of identical essence with all things. Worth pausing on, within his fourfold breakdown of the differentiated condition's varied appearances, is the fourth: 怖之以入道 — frightening someone into entering the path. Fazang lists appearing as an enemy (怨家) alongside appearing as a parent, a servant, or a friend, as one more deliberate application of great compassion, not an exception to it. On this reading, the treatise is making a genuinely severe claim: that even hostility encountered on the path may, without one's ever recognizing it as such, be functioning as this same habituating compassion, appearing in the one form capable of actually reaching a given mind.
Part 6 Complete
This closes Part 6: the four factors that keep defilement and purity each perpetuating themselves, the fire latent in every sentient being that still needs a condition to strike it, and the differentiated and equal conditions — family, friend, teacher, even enemy — through which that striking actually happens. Part 7 turns from the mechanics of habituation to what suchness positively is and does in its own right: the doctrine of suchness's essence and attributes as the tathāgatagarbha, and of suchness's function as the buddha-bodies that appear to beings according to what their own practice has made them capable of seeing — closing the "revealing the true meaning" section that Part 2 opened.
Continue to Part 7 — The Tathāgatagarbha, and the Buddha-Bodies →