What Exactly Is the Thought-Free Numinous Knowing Mind?

The eighth consciousness pervades all times, all stages, all places, all realms, and all dharmas. "Pervading all times" means that the eighth consciousness exists moment by moment, never departing from sentient beings, never departing from the seventh consciousness, the manas, and never departing from the five aggregates. "Pervading all stages" means that sentient beings in the three realms and nine stages all have the existence of the eighth consciousness; every sentient being has the eighth consciousness, and every sentient being existing in the three realms and nine stages has the eighth consciousness. Even those who leave the three realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder still have the eighth consciousness; it is only that there is no longer any sentient being self.

"Pervading all places" means that the eighth consciousness pervades the six sense faculties and also pervades the six sense objects; whenever a sentient being's six faculties contact the six sense objects, the eighth consciousness is present and manifest. "Pervading all realms" means that the eighth consciousness is present in the six sense faculties, present in the six sense objects, and also present in the six consciousnesses. "Pervading all dharmas" means that as long as a dharma exists, whether or not it can be cognized, the eighth consciousness upholds it; whether it is material form or mind, the eighth consciousness holds and sustains it; whether it is a conditioned dharma or an unconditioned dharma, the eighth consciousness upholds it. As long as there is an existing dharma—all people, affairs, things, and principles—the eighth consciousness upholds it.

Many people do not understand whether the thought-free knowing mind is the sixth consciousness or the eighth consciousness. Now let us analyze this thought-free knowing mind. "Thought-free" means that at this moment there happen to be no thoughts or delusive thinking; "knowing" means vividly aware knowing—knowing that one is free of thoughts, knowing that one has no thoughts, knowing that one temporarily has no delusive thinking or conceptualization, and even being able to know other states of mind while in the thought-free state. So how many consciousnesses are there in this thought-free state? Since the eighth consciousness pervades all times, the eighth consciousness must certainly be present at this time; otherwise, there would be no existence of the five aggregates, no existence of the seven consciousnesses, and no existence of the thought-free state at all.

Is the seventh consciousness present at this time? Of course it is. If there were no seventh consciousness, the sentient being would have entered nirvāṇa without remainder, and the state of thought-free knowing could not possibly occur. Is the sixth consciousness present here? Of course it is also present. Except in five situations where the sixth consciousness has ceased—namely, when asleep without dreaming, when unconscious, at death, in the concentration of no perception, and in the concentration of cessation—and the thought-free knowing state does not belong to these five situations, this shows that the mind of the sixth consciousness also exists. Moreover, it can still know the mental sense-object state of being without thoughts, which shows that in the thought-free knowing state there is still a knowing mind, which is precisely the sixth consciousness. As for whether the first five consciousnesses are present in the thought-free knowing state, as long as one can know the existence of the five sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, that is the knowing of the five consciousnesses.

Since in the thought-free knowing state there are at least these three consciousnesses—the eighth, the seventh, and the sixth—if someone claims to have become enlightened at this time, which consciousness did they awaken to? Here there is a great difference: if one awakens correctly, it is awakening to the eighth consciousness; if one awakens mistakenly, it is awakening to the sixth consciousness. The seventh consciousness is generally not easy to awaken to, and the eighth consciousness is also not easy to awaken to; this requires special conditions. These special conditions are the conditions of the bodhisattva's six perfections taught by the Buddha. If the conditions of the six perfections are not complete, it is impossible to awaken to the eighth consciousness, impossible to see one's true mind and become a great bodhisattva of true meaning, impossible to leave the stage of an ordinary being, and thereby to never fall into the three evil destinies in the future.

If this person's cultivation is deficient in merit, has not kept the precepts, their mental disposition is not yet good enough, their forbearance is insufficient, they are not diligent in the study and practice of generosity, precepts, forbearance, meditative concentration, and prajñā, their meditative concentration is not complete without even threshold concentration, their knowledge and view of the Buddha's teachings is incomplete, and they do not understand the nature of the eighth consciousness, then it is evident that this person, no matter what, cannot awaken to the eighth consciousness. If someone believes they have awakened at this time, they should carefully examine which consciousness they have actually awakened to. Only after learning and thoroughly understanding the natures of all eight consciousnesses can one judge one's own and others' awakening, and then one will know what has been awakened to.