Conjoined Operation of Eye-Consciousness (II)

When we look at a form, we must pause for a moment upon the first glance. In that pause, how many kshanas have passed? Only after discernment lasting a second or half a second can we know what this form is. The Buddha said: In the snap of a finger, eighty-one thousand seeds arise and cease, amounting to eighty-one thousand kshanas. How incredibly rapid, then, must be the flow of consciousness seeds! No wonder we are unaware of the phenomenon of arising and cessation—it occurs so swiftly that we cannot perceive it.

This indicates that in the first and second kshanas, we do not know what the form dust is. Only from the third or fourth kshana onward can we begin to perceive a little of the form dust, while some may require the fifth kshana or even longer to discern a small part. Those with visual impairments might need a minute or half a minute; the exact duration varies depending on one's discernment capacity—specifically, the discernment abilities of both the eye consciousness and the mental consciousness. The weaker the discernment capacity, the longer the time required. For instance, those who are nearsighted or farsighted, or have other visual impairments, need more time to discern form dust. Others with inferior wisdom and shallow understanding require even longer to distinguish it.

Yet, throughout this process of seeing, the eighth consciousness never ceases its operation. From the very first kshana, before it gives rise to internal form dust, it continuously transmits particles of external form dust. It ceaselessly transmits them through the optic nerves to the supramundane faculty, where it manifests apparent form. After manifesting apparent form, it further manifests shape form, manifested form, and unmanifested form based on the apparent form. Simultaneously, it continuously extracts particles of the four great elements from the external form dust, then proceeds to manifest apparent form, shape form, manifested form, and unmanifested form again. If at any kshana the eighth consciousness were to cease—stopping the transmission of the four great elements to the supramundane faculty and no longer manifesting these internal form dusts—then the eye consciousness would immediately vanish, making form dust invisible, and the mental consciousness would also immediately disappear, unable to discern form dust. In other words, without the arising of eye consciousness and mental consciousness, these two consciousnesses naturally cannot distinguish form dust.

Therefore, the eighth consciousness never ceases its operation for even a single kshana; it perpetually transmits and manifests these form dusts. Once these form dusts are transmitted to the supramundane faculty at the back of the brain, the internal form dust becomes manifest. The eighth consciousness never rests for even an instant; it continuously manifests. Should it cease for a single kshana, the form dust would stop manifesting, and both eye consciousness and mental consciousness would entirely cease, rendering discernment impossible. Without form dust, there can be no consciousness, for the arising of consciousness depends on the contact between the faculty and dust as a condition. Based on this condition, the eighth consciousness then manifests eye consciousness and mental consciousness, enabling us to perceive the internal form dust.

Without form dust, the arising of consciousness lacks a crucial condition, and the eighth consciousness cannot give rise to the six consciousnesses; thus, the six consciousnesses cease to exist. When form dust disappears, the eye consciousness and mental consciousness that were previously discerning it immediately cease along with it. Once consciousness ceases, it can no longer discern form dust, nor is there any object left to discern. Therefore, since beginningless kalpas, the eighth consciousness has never been idle, never rested, never ceased. It operates tirelessly and incessantly in this manner, selflessly serving us.