The Eighth Consciousness's Discriminating Nature and Self-Validating Cognition

Regarding the self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) of the eighth consciousness, the first point is that ordinary beings and pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattva) cannot observe the self-validating cognition of the eighth consciousness. The second point is that the content of the eighth consciousness's self-validating cognition differs from the content of the mind consciousness's self-validating cognition. The eighth consciousness has no self and does not know that there is a self, yet it can also know which dharmas have been set in motion; those that have already been set in motion, it does not run again, while those that have not finished running must continue to run, and it knows how they are to run.

The self-validating cognition of the eighth consciousness's selfless nature is very difficult to explain clearly in words. It is like the discerning nature and knowing nature of the eighth consciousness: does the eighth consciousness discern the six sense objects? Of course it discerns them; otherwise, how could it manifest the six sense objects, alter the six sense objects, and uphold the six sense objects? Yet this discernment of the eighth consciousness cannot, like the six consciousnesses, discern specific contents—after discerning the six sense objects, it knows what the discerned things are. After the eighth consciousness discerns the six sense objects, it knows nothing at all, and then continues to discern and to operate. The eighth consciousness's mechanized manner of discerning is like a computer discerning a program: a computer can also discern fonts and produce fonts, but it does not know what fonts are, whereas the mind consciousness knows what fonts are and what significance they have.

It is also like a washing machine, which discerns the instructions to wash clothes but does not know the specific content and meaning of the instructions, whereas the mind consciousness does know. The operation, discernment, and knowing nature of the eighth consciousness are like the mindlessness of a robot: it works, yet does not know exactly what it has done, whereas the mind consciousness knows.