The Perceiving Aspect, Self-Awareness Aspect, and Self-Verifying Awareness Aspect of the Sixth and Seventh Consciousnesses

The mental faculty possesses the self-witnessing aspect, which cognizes dharmas. When mental images arise within the mind, that is the self-witnessing aspect. The mental faculty can know what dharmas it has cognized; this is the self-verifying aspect. The mental faculty also has moments of being utterly self-assured; this is the self-verifying aspect. When the mental faculty is stubbornly attached to its own views, that is the self-verifying aspect. An old stubborn person, stubborn to the core, unwilling to change their viewpoints and opinions, believing they are right—within this lies the self-verifying aspect; otherwise, they would not be stubborn or obstinate. In the dreamless state of sleep, the mental faculty still contacts and cognizes dharmas; it can know the six dusts and observe the six dusts, yet the conscious mind does not know what exactly the mental faculty is doing.

The self-verifying aspect is the mind-consciousness turning back to observe itself. In the second dhyāna, the conscious mind exists, and its perceiving aspect, self-witnessing aspect, and self-verifying aspect are all present, though very subtle. When wisdom is insufficient, one cannot understand the conditions of one's own perceiving aspect, perceived aspect, self-witnessing aspect, and self-verifying aspect. By studying more about dhyāna and then entering samādhi to experience it, one can understand more.

The mental faculty has the perceiving aspect, perceived aspect, self-witnessing aspect, and self-verifying aspect. Before the sixth and seventh consciousnesses transform into wisdom, one cannot distinguish these aspects or observe them. For bodhisattvas below the first bhūmi, the mental faculty seems to lack the self-verifying aspect and cannot turn back to observe itself, whereas bodhisattvas above the first bhūmi can observe that the mental faculty possesses the self-verifying aspect. Some profound Dharma teachings are not spoken by the Buddha to bodhisattvas below the first bhūmi, fearing that the bodhisattvas might misunderstand them due to lack of comprehension.

The dreamless state of sleep requires investigation when the conscious mind is clear. The conscious mind must possess wisdom to be able to investigate it. During the dreamless state of sleep, the mental faculty possesses awareness: it knows the realms of the six dusts, knows the body faculty, and knows itself. Relying on the tathāgatagarbha's function of perceiving all dharmas, it possesses its own function of perceiving all dharmas. Without wisdom, it mistakes the dharmas perceived by the tathāgatagarbha as dharmas perceived by itself, thereby giving rise to clinging and attachment, considering all dharmas as belonging to itself. It also engages in incessant deliberation about "I, I, I," constantly maintaining and protecting the self, and can weigh various gains and losses, advantages and disadvantages. When the body experiences various conditions, it weighs whether it needs to wake up to deal with them, can make judgments and decisions, and possesses its own viewpoints and opinions, mostly based on experience.

The "I" of the mental faculty encompasses everything comprehensively: it takes the five consciousnesses as "I," takes the conscious mind as "I," takes the eighth consciousness as "I," also takes its own functions as "I," takes the five sense faculties as "I," takes the realms of the six dusts as "belonging to me," and even takes dharmas beyond the six dusts as "belonging to me." Thus, it clings and attaches without cease, and deliberates incessantly.

When the conscious mind contemplates or investigates any dharma, it does not operate alone; there is always the cooperative function of the mental faculty. When the conscious mind observes, ponders, investigates the mental faculty, or searches for the mental faculty, the mental faculty also accompanies the conscious mind in seeking itself. Thus, the mental faculty can also investigate itself and ultimately observe itself.

When the conscious mind finally realizes the existence of the mental faculty and observes its functioning, the mental faculty can also, accompanying the conscious mind, realize its own existence and, accompanying the conscious mind, cognize itself. In the universe and the vessel-like world, there is no conscious mind, yet scientists can understand certain things about the universe; events on Earth spanning thousands or tens of thousands of years, scientists can also deduce. In future lifetimes, the present conscious mind does not exist, yet scientists can predict the future. Within the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha, there is no conscious mind, yet the conscious mind can observe the deep and subtle functioning of the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, the functioning of the mental faculty can certainly also be observed and known by the conscious mind. When the conscious mind transforms consciousness into wisdom, it can accomplish anything. How else could one attain buddhahood?