The Relationship Between the Perceiving-Aspect and the Seeds of the Element of Seeing

The six consciousnesses and the seventh consciousness are both the perceiving-aspect and also the object-aspect. The object-aspect refers to the dharmas discerned by the mind consciousness and the manas, while the mind consciousness and the manas are the perceiving-aspect. The mind consciousness itself and the manas are also object-aspects; whatever dharma is being discerned is an object-aspect, and the conscious mind that actively discerns is the perceiving-aspect.

The "seeing" among the seven great seeds of the tathāgatagarbha refers to the great seed of seeing, not to the perceiving-aspect. The great seed of seeing forms the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. When the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha is put to use, the perceiving-aspect of the seven consciousnesses manifests, and they then see the sense objects of worldly dharmas—that is, they see the object-aspects—and only afterward do they discern the sense objects. The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha operates through the five universal mental factors—mental engagement (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā)—with the mental factor of perception playing the primary role. It operates in this way upon all dharmas, and afterward the tathāgatagarbha discerns all dharmas. The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha likewise cannot be separated from the great seed of seeing; only through the functioning of the seeing nature of the great seed of seeing can the buddha-nature be activated, and only then can the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha see all dharmas.