The Neutral Feeling of the Eight Consciousnesses

The characteristic of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) is a mind without regard toward the object\: one feels neither suffering nor pleasure—a state of mind that is neither painful nor pleasant. All eight consciousnesses have neutral feeling. The appearance of neutral feeling in the seventh consciousness arises, first, because He cannot specifically and minutely discern the six sense objects; He cannot perceive pain, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, spiciness, and other such states of the six sense objects, and therefore there is no feeling of suffering or pleasure in the mind. Second, the objects He faces are calm and bland, not significant, so there is no feeling of suffering or pleasure—only neutral feeling. Once the six consciousnesses discern a significant and especially meaningful state among the six sense objects—especially when its impact and meaning for the self are extraordinary—the manas will have feelings of suffering or pleasure rather than neutral feeling, and He will direct the six consciousnesses to manifest His own feelings of suffering or pleasure, such as dancing and jumping for joy with great delight, trembling all over with rage, wailing and crying in agony, and so on—all of these are the emotional outbursts of the manas.

The neutral feeling of the six consciousnesses differs slightly from that of the seventh consciousness. The six consciousnesses directly discern the six sense objects, and after discerning them, they do not feel that the six sense objects are particularly good or particularly bad; the state of mind is somewhat neutral, peaceful, and moderate, feeling that the six sense objects may be present or absent—it makes no difference—and the six sense objects will not have any impact on oneself; neither delighting in nor loathing them, and having no expectations, thus the six consciousnesses feel neither suffering nor pleasure toward the six sense objects. This is the neutral feeling of the six consciousnesses.

The tathāgatagarbha also has neutral feeling, but the tathāgatagarbha's neutral feeling is again different from that of the preceding seven consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha's neutral feeling is not within the states of the six sense objects; the tathāgatagarbha does not correspond to the myriad dharmas of the six sense objects, because the tathāgatagarbha does not engage with the six sense objects, does not discriminate the six sense objects, and does not discern the six sense objects, and therefore does not experience the six sense objects. Thus the tathāgatagarbha's neutral feeling is simply not experiencing the six sense objects—having no feeling toward the six sense objects—conveniently spoken of as neutral feeling. The neutral feeling of the seven consciousnesses, however, is a feeling toward the six sense objects: when the seven consciousnesses face the six sense objects, they are neither interested in nor averse to them—it is this kind of neutral feeling, a feeling that arises after discriminating the six sense objects but without specific discernment.

The tathāgatagarbha's neutral feeling arises because He Himself cannot discriminate the good or bad, right or wrong, large or small, long or short, square or round of the six sense objects; therefore His own mind has no feelings and no emotions. The neutral feeling of the true mind and that of the deluded mind differ in this way. Neutral feeling means facing objects with indifference—neither liking nor loathing them, but feeling that they do not matter. Whether one sees the six sense objects or not, whether the six sense objects exist or not, either is fine—this is the feeling of the seven-consciousness mind, and this is called the neutral feeling of the seven consciousnesses.

This neutral feeling of the tathāgatagarbha is a feeling that does not discern specific objects; He does not know what the specific things actually are, has no definitions or concepts, and has no initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra); therefore the eighth consciousness has that bland, unremarkable kind of neutral feeling. The tathāgatagarbha also has another kind of neutral feeling, which is His neutral feeling after discernment. What does He discern? He discerns the sentient beings' faculties and physical bodies and the material environment, discerns karmic seeds, and discernes the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses. After discerning the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses, the tathāgatagarbha will not say that the seven consciousnesses are too pure, or consider that the mind of the seven consciousnesses is too defiled; therefore He will not generate feelings of liking or loathing toward the seven consciousnesses. His is complete neutral feeling: He does not care at all how the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses are, and will still cooperate with the operation of the seven consciousnesses. After the tathāgatagarbha discerns the karmic seeds of sentient beings, He will not say that this karmic seed is very good or that karmic seed is very bad; therefore He will neither like the karmic seeds nor reject them, and will still faithfully output the karmic seeds, realizing the retribution that sentient beings deserve. This is the tathāgatagarbha's neutral feeling.

When the tathāgatagarbha records and stores the karmic seeds of sentient beings, He will not say: this karmic seed is too terrible—if I record it, this sentient being will be in for a miserable future, so I will conceal it and not record or store it. Nor will the tathāgatagarbha say: this karmic action created by sentient beings is so excellent that I must store it well and not let it be lost. Therefore, toward the karmic actions of sentient beings, the tathāgatagarbha will not generate feelings of pleasure or suffering; He is entirely in neutral feeling. When the tathāgatagarbha discerns the faculties, physical bodies, and material environment of sentient beings, He will not say how good this body and environment are, nor will He say that this body and environment are too terrible and that He should transform them into something better. Therefore, the tathāgatagarbha will not generate feelings of suffering or pleasure toward the faculties, physical bodies, and material environment; this too is entirely neutral feeling.