The Manifestations of Heedlessness in the First Seven Consciousnesses

Modern people are too attached to worldly life, so they always feel that everything in the world is good and lovable. Such people will never feel weary of the world in their hearts, and it is very hard for them to develop the mind of renunciation. They cannot see the suffering side of the world, its dark side; they only see the world's false side of pleasure, precisely because their attachment to worldly life is very heavy. Whether a person's mind is inclined toward the worldly or away from it is clearly expressed through their speech, yet they themselves do not know it—they lack the power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala), and their minds are unawakened.

Because of attachment to worldly life, the six faculties and six consciousnesses all become unrestrained. The unrestraint of the eye consciousness is looking at forms at will; the unrestraint of the ear consciousness is hearing sounds at will; the unrestraint of the nose consciousness is delighting in fragrances and loathing odors; the unrestraint of the tongue consciousness is craving delicious flavors; the unrestraint of the body consciousness is seeking comfort and ease; the unrestraint of the mind consciousness is distraction, torpor, and restlessness; the unrestraint of the manas is constantly seeking out objects and clinging everywhere. The six faculties of the arhats are never unrestrained—they absolutely do not go around looking, listening, smelling, tasting, and touching, and their mind consciousness does not engage in mixed and random thoughts.

Some people always love food and delicacies—that is the joint unrestraint of the tongue consciousness and the mind consciousness; some people always love to smell fragrances—that is the joint unrestraint of the nose consciousness and the mind consciousness; some people always love to wear fine clothes and sleep on fine beds, wanting everything to be comfortable and pleasant—that is the joint unrestraint of the body consciousness and the mind consciousness; some people always love to recall the past and reach toward the future—that is the unrestraint of the mind consciousness; some people always love to reach toward everything—that is the unrestraint of the manas.

Learn from our eighth consciousness: He has no preferences whatsoever, His mind is always in meditative concentration (samādhi), there is no time when He is greedy, no time when He is angry, no time when He is deluded, He holds no view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), and He does not make decisions; He passes the days according to conditions, yet there is no day to be passed. If the seventh consciousness were like this, there would be more than enough to become a Buddha.