The Harmonious Operation of Eye Consciousness and Mind Consciousness (IV)

Through careful observation and personal experience, one can know that when we see an object, in the first instant we see what color the object before us is—we definitely see the object's color first, with blurry colors appearing first; in the second instant, the mind consciousness emerges to discern, at which point it has discerned a little bit of the image; in the third instant, we can know what form-sense-object that bit of image is, and at this point the shape of the form-sense-object emerges; only after that can we know the intrinsic qualities of the form-sense-object, and only then can we know what the specific name and appearance of this form-sense-object is. Whether it is the sofa in front of us, the bed, or the tables and chairs, when the name-appearance, shape, essence, and content of these objects are all seen clearly, this is called discernment.

If one wants to discern something more complex, the time needed for discernment will be longer. For example, when seeing a person, discerning that person's age, judging that person's temperament, learning, cultivation, and so on, the mind consciousness takes longer to discriminate, and the eye consciousness also takes longer to see. These two consciousnesses must necessarily operate together in harmony in order to see this person clearly. Among them, the eye consciousness only discriminates colors; everything beyond color is discerned by the mind consciousness. The workload of the mind consciousness is enormous, and the content discerned by the mind consciousness is extremely abundant; therefore, the mind consciousness is quite important. Especially in learning Buddhism and practicing cultivation, one must use the mind consciousness for contemplation and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); therefore, the mind consciousness is a very important tool of cultivation and realization for studying the Buddhadharma. Without the participation of the mind consciousness, we would be unable to study Buddhism and practice cultivation, unable to investigate Chan and attain enlightenment, unable to become a Buddha. Therefore, we cannot discard the mind consciousness and refuse to use it. If one studies Buddhism and practices cultivation without engaging in contemplation or contemplative practice at all, this is no different from being foolish and ignorant.