Direct Perception and Discrimination of the Six Consciousnesses (V)

When feeling the sense-object of touch on the physical body, in the first moment the body consciousness directly perceives the coarse aspect of the tactile object, and in the second moment the mind consciousness directly perceives the subtle aspect of the tactile object; next, the two of them simultaneously engage in direct perception again. However, when the tactile object encountered is extremely unusual, the body consciousness and the mind consciousness each perceive it for only one, two, or three moments, and then must immediately withdraw, no longer able to remain in contact with the tactile object. For example, when the body touches fire, the body consciousness immediately feels the heat, but has no concept of it; the mind consciousness immediately discerns the degree of the fire's heat, but has not yet had time to analyze, compare, or deliberate. Thereupon the manas makes a decision on the spot: immediately avoid the source of fire. This is the manas making a direct perception based on the discernments of the body faculty, the body consciousness, and the mind consciousness, and thus it directly makes the decision: avoid it. Here, all three consciousnesses—body consciousness, mind consciousness, and manas—engage entirely in direct perception, without inference or erroneous cognition, because before the mind consciousness has time to engage in inference or erroneous cognition, the manas has already decided to withdraw immediately, and the body consciousness and mind consciousness then vanish from the tactile object of fire.

Another example: when a finger accidentally touches the tip of a needle, both the body consciousness and the mind consciousness discern the pain in the very first moment. The mind consciousness has no time to think, analyze, and make a decision; the manas directly takes charge and decides to pull the hand away, and so the hand suddenly jerks back. Here all three consciousnesses engage in direct perception, without the mind consciousness's inference or erroneous cognition, because there is no time for that. Only after the finger has withdrawn from the needle tip does the mind consciousness continue to discern the sudden event that just occurred, coming to know what exactly happened—turns out the finger accidentally touched the needle tip. Only at this point does the mind consciousness engage in inference and erroneous cognition. Inference may possibly be correct discernment, thereby arriving at a correct conclusion; whereas erroneous cognition is incorrect discernment, completely at odds with the facts.