Is the Awareness of Dreaming Within a Dream the Self-Verifying Portion or the Self-Witnessing Portion of Consciousness?

The self-witnessing portion (svasaṃvitti-bhāga) introspects upon the mind-consciousness itself and its concomitant mental factors. "Itself" means that consciousness cognizes consciousness, the mental faculty cognizes the mental faculty, and the five sense-consciousnesses cognize the five sense-consciousnesses; it does not mean mutual cognition. The self-cognizing portion (svasaṃvedana-bhāga) is the cognition by the mind-consciousness of the objective aspect (nimitta-bhāga), which includes all dharmas, naturally encompassing the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) and its concomitant mental factors, depending on the wisdom of the cognition. A dream refers to the dream state, which is the objective aspect. Knowing is the perceiving portion (dṛṣṭi-bhāga) of the mind-consciousness. The mind-consciousness cognizes sense objects; this is the perceiving portion cognizing the objective aspect, which is the self-cognizing portion, not the self-witnessing portion. The perceiving portion perceiving itself is the self-witnessing portion. It is only when the perceiving portion and the objective aspect combine that the self-cognizing portion and the self-witnessing portion arise. The self-witnessing portion is actually a type of self-cognizing portion, except that the objective aspect becomes the mind-consciousness itself, where itself and its concomitant mental factors become the objective aspect.

The perceiving portion that cognizes the objective aspect of the dream state is the perceiving portion of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and the sixth consciousness is solitary mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna). Cognition of all realms is primarily the function of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. What sentient beings can feel and observe is only the cognition of the sixth consciousness; they cannot perceive the cognition of the seventh consciousness. For now, let us discuss the cognition of the sixth consciousness. When asleep and dreaming, why does the solitary mental consciousness not know it is dreaming? Because during the dream, the consciousness is dull and unclear; sleep itself is a hindrance (āvaraṇa), an obscuration that veils the wisdom and cognition of consciousness.

When the hindrance of sleep is eliminated, with no more obscuration, the consciousness becomes clear, and one attains the first dhyāna. Alternatively, as meditative concentration deepens, sleep becomes progressively less and shallower. Then, during dreams, consciousness becomes increasingly clear, to the extent that one can clearly know one is dreaming and will not create unwholesome karma in the dream, even being able to perform wholesome actions. Therefore, knowing within a dream that one is dreaming indicates that the sixth and seventh consciousnesses possess meditative stability (samādhi) and wisdom (prajñā), with the hindrance of sleep being slight. Not knowing one is dreaming in a dream means the cognitive nature of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses is obscured by sleep, and the mind is not clear.

The knowing and seeing in a dream are the perceiving portion of the solitary mental consciousness. The mental faculty (manas) greatly influences the cognition of the sixth consciousness; the specific influences will not be discussed here. In dreams, the solitary mental consciousness cognizes realms with limitations; it is not as comprehensive and clear as the five-concomitant mental consciousness (pañcavipāka-vijñāna), which has the assistance of the five sense-consciousnesses. Not knowing one is dreaming in a dream is due to the insufficient function of the self-cognizing portion of the solitary mental consciousness, indicating weak wisdom power. This is related to the physical body (rūpa-kāya) and the mental faculty. The strength or weakness of all cognitive functions of consciousness is not only related to the meditative stability and wisdom of consciousness itself but also to the meditative stability and wisdom of the mental faculty, and to the physical body. One cannot discuss the functional role of consciousness divorced from the physical body and the mental faculty.

Why is it related to the physical body? It is a principle known to all that during wakefulness, the knowing of consciousness is influenced by the physical body. During sleep, the mental faculty has no intention to cognize objects, so the six consciousnesses do not arise. In dreaming, the solitary mental consciousness is forced to arise and cognize the dream state, but because the activity of the nervous system is relatively slow, the thinking of consciousness is inhibited, cognitive wisdom is comparatively low, and it cannot discern that the realm it perceives is a dream, thus mistaking the dream for reality. This is the same as the situation when intoxicated; both are caused by the nervous system not being active.

If consciousness possesses the self-witnessing portion in a dream, it means consciousness can cognize itself and its concomitant mental factors. This is introspective power, which requires stronger meditative stability and wisdom than consciousness cognizing sense objects and is more difficult. If the function of the self-cognizing portion of consciousness is insufficient in a dream, the function of the self-witnessing portion is almost non-existent; it will not cognize itself, and thus cannot introspect, unless it is a person with exceptionally deep meditative concentration, strong awakening, or one possessing the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis, whose introspective power in dreams is even better.

The strength or weakness of the various functional roles of consciousness is not only a matter of its own meditative stability and wisdom but is even more related to the mental faculty. Although from ancient times to the present, almost no one has been able to recognize and observe this issue, the functional roles of consciousness are indeed inseparable from the mental faculty; the two are complementary. To discuss consciousness divorced from the mental faculty is to neglect the root and pursue the branches.

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