The Perceiving-Aspect of Ālayavijñāna

The perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the Ālayavijñāna is the seeing of the Ālayavijñāna itself. The Ālayavijñāna sees all dharmas through the operation of the five universal mental factors (sarvatraga-caittas) — attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and deliberation (cetanā) — and then grasps and manifests those dharmas. Only at that point can the manas (the seventh consciousness, the mind faculty) perceive the dharmas; before this, only the Ālayavijñāna alone can see them. However, the manas cannot perceive the perceiving-aspect function of the Ālayavijñāna. Only after attaining buddhahood, or as a bodhisattva of several bhūmis, can one perceive the operation of the mental factors within the perceiving-aspect function of the tathāgatagarbha. The manas of ordinary sentient beings and pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattvas) lacks such great wisdom and meditative concentration (samādhi) power; even bodhisattvas of several bhūmis may not necessarily be able to see it clearly and completely.