The Principle of Consciousness, Mind, Contact, and Feeling

When discussing the three dharmas of sense faculties, sense objects, and consciousnesses, it is essential to address the five universal mental factors of the six consciousnesses: contact (sparśa), attention (manaskāra), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). The contact of the six consciousnesses arises from the conjunction of three elements. This threefold conjunction refers to the coming together of the sense faculty, the sense object, and the consciousness; none can be omitted, and their union is called contact. After the six sense faculties and six sense objects come into contact, the eighth consciousness gives rise to the six consciousnesses. These six consciousnesses then contact the six sense objects. Simultaneously, the six sense objects continue to contact the six sense faculties without interruption; they never depart from the sense faculties, because the internal sense objects arise at the location of the subtle sense faculties, and the mental faculty (manas) continuously contacts mental objects (dharmas). The contact mentioned here specifically refers to contact between sense faculties and sense objects; it does not include the contact of the mental faculty or the contact of the eighth consciousness. Naturally, the contact of the mental faculty and the eighth consciousness only needs to directly contact their own perceived aspects (nimitta) and does not require other sense faculties to induce it.

The contact of the mental faculty directly contacts the mental objects manifested by the eighth consciousness. The contact of the eighth consciousness directly contacts the sense faculties and the objective realm, meaning it contacts the bodily sense faculties, the material world, and karmic seeds. The contact mental factor of the six consciousnesses differs from that of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses. The contact mental factor of the six consciousnesses must be induced by sense faculties; contact exists only when inseparable from the six sense faculties. The feeling mental factor operates similarly. The feeling mental factor is the feeling that arises after the six consciousnesses contact the six sense faculties and six sense objects. This feeling encompasses not only reception and apprehension but also subsequent emotional experiences: painful feeling, pleasant feeling, and neutral feeling. However, the feeling of the seventh and eighth consciousnesses is purely receptive and apprehensive, completely devoid of emotional coloring. They lack painful or pleasant feelings and correspond only to the neutral feeling (neither painful nor pleasant).