Eliminating the View of Self as Consciousness III

Consciousness can be divided into two types: sense-concomitant mental consciousness and independent mental consciousness. The mental consciousness that arises simultaneously with the five senses and performs the function of discernment is called sense-concomitant mental consciousness, while the mental consciousness that functions independently without the presence of the five senses is called independent mental consciousness. This mental consciousness associated with the eye consciousness, while perceiving form, simultaneously analyzes the quality, origin, and meaning of this form-dust, as well as how dull or interesting this form-dust is. It thereby produces perception of form, discrimination of form, understanding of form, and judgment of form—all of which are the discriminative functions of the mental consciousness.

What causes mental consciousness to arise? The arising of mental consciousness requires the eye faculty, form-dust, the mental faculty (manas), the eighth consciousness, the seeds of consciousness within oneself, and other such conditions. Due to the presence of these causal conditions, our mental consciousness can manifest and discern the specific meaning of form-dust, perceive form, judge form, contemplate form, plan how to deal with form, and speculate about form. This is the mental consciousness associated with eye consciousness. If even one condition is lacking, mental consciousness cannot arise and cannot manifest to perform discernment. From this, we can understand how delusional our mental consciousness is.