The Principle of the Eye Faculty's Contact with Form Objects

When the eye faculty contacts form objects (rūpa-viṣaya), this is divided into the outer eye faculty contacting outer form objects, and the inner eye faculty contacting inner form objects. Only when the inner eye faculty contacts inner form objects can eye consciousness arise to discern form objects. But the eye faculty is material form, not mind—how could it actively contact form objects? For example, if there are trees, stones, grass, and fresh flowers before one's eyes, why would the eye faculty choose to contact only the fresh flowers, and then eye consciousness discerns only the flowers and not the other objects? How long does the eye faculty's contact with form objects take, how long does eye consciousness take to discern the fresh flowers, and what determines this?

All of this is determined by the manas. The manas is the master of the five-aggregate body, the one who makes decisions. Of course, the manas is a false master, merely borrowing the tiger's might while relying on the true master behind it without knowing it. When this false master, the manas, faces numerous inner form objects, it alone selects the fresh flowers, because the mind takes delight in the flowers, and there is currently nothing else to attend to, so it wants to admire the flowers. If there were important matters at hand, it would have no time for the flowers. When the manas wants to look at the flowers, the form object of the flowers is already present at the inner eye faculty; as soon as the manas makes its decision, eye consciousness will arise. In this way, the three—eye faculty, form object, and eye consciousness—combine in contact, and eye consciousness discerns the form object of the fresh flowers. How long eye consciousness discerns is determined by the manas; when the manas has admired enough and no longer wants to look at the flowers, eye consciousness ceases on the flowers and arises elsewhere.

In this process, seeds fall and settle, and future becoming will be produced. Among them, the manas's craving and the mind consciousness's craving are also faithfully recorded, becoming seeds. Eye consciousness also has slight craving; only by following along with the manas and mind consciousness can it have craving—it simply cannot make decisions on its own, being completely involuntary.

If we wish to be liberated from the suffering of the world, we should not let our actions leave behind seeds, especially seeds of greed, aversion, and delusion. What should we do then? We must control the six consciousnesses so that they do not create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, or create fewer of them, and when creating them, do not give rise to afflictions of greed, aversion, and delusion; if seeds must be left behind, let them be pure karmic seeds. Who decides to create fewer karmic actions? It is decided by the manas. The source of karmic actions lies in the manas; it is because the manas, due to various reasons, various mental activities, and various ignorances, wants to create actions that karmic actions appear, karmic seeds are retained, and future suffering appears. In this way, the source of the suffering of birth and death has been found, and henceforth how one should conduct oneself in the world should be clear. Reduce contact, reduce the duration of contact; if contact is unavoidable, then when contacting, reduce or extinguish mental activities, let the mind be as empty as possible, and do not leave behind seeds of afflictions. Train yourself in this way gradually, and liberation will have hope.