Not Understanding the Meaning of the Six Sense Bases

Question: The Buddha said in the Vimalakīrti Sūtra that "the six entrances do not converge, and that which does not converge is bodhi." Does "not converging" mean not discriminating the six entrances? "Who obtained the Fifth Patriarch's robe and bowl? The one who does not converge with the Buddha-dharma obtained it." What does this "not converging" mean? The six consciousnesses, which arise depending on the external six entrances and the internal six entrances, both know and understand the six sense faculties, and also know and understand the six sense objects. But the eighth consciousness, the bodhi mind, neither knows the six sense faculties nor understands what they are, neither knows the six sense objects nor understands what they are. Does not knowing and not understanding the six sense faculties and six sense objects mean not discerning and not discriminating the six sense faculties and six sense objects? 

Answer: The six entrances are the eye entrance, ear entrance, nose entrance, tongue entrance, body entrance, and mind entrance, including the external six entrances: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas; and including the internal six entrances: the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, and body faculty within the supreme faculties (indriya), as well as the manas. These internal and external six entrances are all worldly dharmas. The first seven consciousnesses all correspond to worldly dharmas; they can discern and discriminate worldly dharmas, and can comprehend the worldly meanings of these worldly dharmas—this comprehension is what "converging" means. 

The eighth consciousness, however, cannot comprehend the worldly meanings of these worldly dharmas; it does not converge with these worldly dharmas. Otherwise, the eighth consciousness would, like the seven consciousnesses, give rise to a mind of craving and grasping toward worldly dharmas, afflictions would appear, and it would correspond to birth and death. This is why it is said that the eighth consciousness does not converge with the entrances. 

Yet the eighth consciousness has no ignorance; there is no dharma it does not know, no dharma it does not understand, and it can condition all dharmas—applying attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition toward all dharmas—and thus can truly discern all dharmas, know all dharmas, discriminate all dharmas, and understand all dharmas. If the eighth consciousness did not know or understand all dharmas, did not know or understand the six sense faculties and six sense objects, then how could He uphold the six sense faculties and six sense objects at every moment, every instant, and transform the six sense faculties and six sense objects? The eighth consciousness also applies feeling, perception, and volition toward the six sense faculties and six sense objects, making choices and engaging in subsequent actions; He necessarily knows and understands the six sense faculties and six sense objects, and that is precisely why He necessarily knows how to act. 

It is only that the eighth consciousness does not know the worldly dharma-marks of the six sense faculties and six sense objects, does not know their worldly content—all of this is content known by the seven consciousnesses. What does the eighth consciousness know, and what does it converge with? Without profound consciousness-only wisdom of the seeds (ālaya-jñāna), one cannot observe the knowing and converging of the eighth consciousness; in that case, one would have to ask the eighth consciousness itself. The eighth consciousness has no ignorance; it discriminates all dharmas with perfect clarity, without the slightest error or confusion. Unlike the seven consciousnesses, which often discriminate unclearly, leading to confused choices, confused actions, and confused karmic retribution, the eighth consciousness is never confused.