The View of Tathāgatagarbha Differs from That of the Sixth and Seventh Consciousnesses

When the six consciousnesses are absent, does the Tathāgatagarbha still perceive dharmas? When the six consciousnesses are absent, other dharmas also do not cease. As long as dharmas exist, the Tathāgatagarbha perceives them, because the Tathāgatagarbha is never separate from all dharmas; where there are dharmas, there is the grasping function of the Tathāgatagarbha. Is the seventh consciousness, the mental faculty (manas), the seeing aspect of the Tathāgatagarbha? The mental faculty is not the seeing aspect of the Tathāgatagarbha. When the mental faculty is absent, the Tathāgatagarbha can still perceive karmic seeds. The Tathāgatagarbha perceives more dharmas than the mental faculty perceives; the dharmas not perceived by the mental faculty are still perceived by the Tathāgatagarbha alone. In the Nirvana without residue (anupādhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), the Tathāgatagarbha can still perceive dharmas and perceive seeds; the five universal mental factors (pañca sarvatraga-caitasika) operate as usual. The mental faculty and the Tathāgatagarbha have different "eyes" (ways of seeing); therefore, the appearances they perceive are different—one perceives the appearances of conventional dharmas (saṃvṛti-dharma), while the other perceives non-conventional dharmas.

The six consciousnesses are not the seeing aspect of the Tathāgatagarbha; the Tathāgatagarbha does not perceive all dharmas through the six consciousnesses. The Tathāgatagarbha has its own inherent seeing aspect, which is the five universal mental factors: attention (manasikāra), contact (sparśa), sensation (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). After the Tathāgatagarbha gives rise to attention toward a dharma, it contacts the dharma; after contacting the dharma, it receives and accepts it; then it discerns it; after discerning it, it cognizes the dharma. This is the seeing aspect of the Tathāgatagarbha; it is the way the Tathāgatagarbha perceives dharmas.

However, the content and meaning of the dharmas perceived by the Tathāgatagarbha are completely different from the content and meaning perceived by the six consciousnesses. The dharmas perceived by the six consciousnesses all fall into the appearances of the six sense objects (ṣaḍ-viṣaya), grasping the appearances of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects (dharmas)—this is conventional reality (saṃvṛti-satya). The dharmas perceived by the Tathāgatagarbha do not fall into the appearances of conventional dharmas; they are not form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or mental objects. The mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) cannot comprehend what the Tathāgatagarbha perceives; therefore, the seeing aspect of the Tathāgatagarbha is not the five sense consciousnesses or the mental consciousness. However, after the six consciousnesses perceive dharmas, they exert a certain influence on the operation of the Tathāgatagarbha. This influence manifests as the seeing capacity of the six consciousnesses affecting the mental faculty. When the mental faculty is affected, it gives rise to corresponding choices, and the Tathāgatagarbha must operate the next dharma according to the choices of the mental faculty, thereby causing new dharmas to arise.