Is Knowing-Dream-in-Dream the Auto-Confirming Self-Confirming Portion or the Self-Confirming Portion of Consciousness?

The Self-witnessing Portion refers to the introspective awareness directed towards the mind itself and its associated mental factors. "Itself" means that consciousness discerns consciousness, the mental faculty (manas) discerns the mental faculty, and the five sense consciousnesses discern the five sense consciousnesses; it does not imply mutual discernment. The Self-cognizing Portion is the mind's discernment of the perceived aspect (object-field), which includes all dharmas, naturally encompassing the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) and its mental factors, depending on the wisdom of the discernment. Dream refers to the dream state, which is the perceived aspect (object). Knowing is the perceiving aspect of the mind-consciousness; the mind-consciousness discerning sense objects is the perceiving aspect discerning the perceived aspect—this is the Self-cognizing Portion, not the Self-witnessing Portion. The perceiving aspect seeing itself is the Self-witnessing Portion. Only when the perceiving aspect and the perceived aspect combine do 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 perceived aspect becomes the mind-consciousness itself, where oneself and the associated mental factors become the perceived aspect.

The perceiving aspect that discerns the perceived aspect of the dream state belongs to the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and specifically, the sixth consciousness here is the isolated mental consciousness. The perception of all object-fields is primarily the perceiving function of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Sentient beings can only sense and observe the perceiving function of the sixth consciousness; they cannot directly experience the perceiving function of the seventh consciousness. For now, let's discuss the perceiving function of the sixth consciousness. Why is it that during sleep while dreaming, the isolated mental consciousness does not know it is dreaming? Because in the dream state, the mental consciousness is dull, unclear, and unillumined. Sleep itself is a type of hindrance, an obscuration that veils the wisdom and cognition of the mental consciousness.

Eliminating the hindrance of sleep, removing the obscuration, allows the mental consciousness to become clear and illumined, leading to the attainment of the first dhyāna (meditative absorption). Alternatively, as meditative concentration deepens progressively, sleep diminishes in frequency and depth. Consequently, during dreams, the mental consciousness becomes increasingly clear and illumined, to the point where one can clearly know they are dreaming. In such dreams, one does not create unwholesome karma and may even perform wholesome actions. Therefore, knowing within a dream that one is dreaming indicates that the sixth and seventh consciousnesses possess concentration and wisdom, with the hindrance of sleep being slight. Not knowing within a dream that one is dreaming means the conscious nature of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses is obscured by sleep, and the mind is not clear or illumined.

The knowing and seeing within a dream belong to the perceiving aspect of the isolated mental consciousness. The mental faculty (manas) significantly influences the perceiving function of the mental consciousness, though the specific influences will not be discussed here. The isolated mental consciousness in dreams discerns object-fields in a limited way; it is not as comprehensive or clear as the sense-accompanied mental consciousness (which has the aid of the five sense consciousnesses for discernment). Not knowing within a dream that one is dreaming is due to the insufficient function of the Self-cognizing Portion of the isolated mental consciousness, resulting from weak wisdom power. This is related to the material body and the mental faculty. The strength or weakness of all discernment functions of the mental consciousness depends not only on the mental consciousness's own concentration and wisdom but also on the concentration and wisdom of the mental faculty, as well as the material body. One cannot discuss the functions of the mental consciousness in isolation from the material body and the mental faculty.

Why is it related to the material body? It is a commonly understood principle that the knowing function of the mental consciousness while awake is influenced by the material body. During sleep, the mental faculty also has no intention to discern object-fields, so the six consciousnesses do not arise. While dreaming, the isolated mental consciousness is compelled to arise to discern the dream state. However, because neural activity is relatively slow, the mental consciousness's thinking is inhibited, its cognitive wisdom is comparatively low, and it cannot discern that the object-field it faces is a dream state, thus mistaking the dream for reality. This is the same as the situation when intoxicated—both are caused by sluggish neural activity.

If the mental consciousness possesses the Self-witnessing Portion within a dream, it means the mental consciousness can discern itself and its associated mental factors. This is introspective power, which requires stronger concentration and wisdom than the mental consciousness needs to discern sense objects and is more difficult to attain. If the Self-cognizing Portion function of the mental consciousness in a dream is insufficient, the function of the Self-witnessing Portion is almost non-existent; it will not cognize itself and therefore cannot engage in introspection—unless it is a person with exceptionally good meditation, strong awakening, or one possessing the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis (meditative attainments). Such individuals have better introspective power in dreams, but those with deep meditation almost never dream.

The strength or weakness of the mental consciousness's various functions is not solely a matter of its own concentration and wisdom; it is even more fundamentally related to the mental faculty. Although from ancient times to the present, almost no one has been able to recognize or observe this issue, the functional activities of the mental consciousness are indeed inseparable from the mental faculty; the two are complementary. Discussing the mental consciousness in isolation from the mental faculty is to put the cart before the horse.