Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness (52)

Original text: 贤护白佛言。唯愿开示。佛告贤护。梦中见者。名内眼所。是慧分别。非肉眼见。其内眼所。以念力故。盲者梦中。须臾而现。复以念力。觉而忆之。识之内色。亦复如是。

Explanation: Xianhu addressed the Buddha, saying, "I only wish that the World-Honored One will expound this."

The Buddha told Xianhu that the form seen in a dream is called the object of the inner eye; it is discerned by wisdom, not seen by the physical eye. Because of the power of mindfulness (of the manas), the mental consciousness of a blind person manifests and operates momentarily in dreams, and thus he sees all the people and scenery in the dream; then, again through the power of mindfulness of the manas, he wakes from the dream and recollects all the states within it. Dreaming occurs because of the manas's grasping and the power of its mindfulness, which present the dream-scape; it is driven forth by the manas's mental engagement, feeling, perception, and volition. After waking, the manas lets the mind consciousness recollect the dream, because the manas itself cannot recollect and cannot discern subtle details, so it has the mind consciousness help with the recollection. The inner material form manifested by the ālayavijñāna is the same: it is presented through the manas's grasping nature and power of mindfulness. The ālayavijñāna itself is without form, yet it can manifest all forms, including the form of the five aggregates.

The inner eye refers to the mind consciousness; it is seen through the wisdom-nature of the mind consciousness, not seen by the eye consciousness. In a dream there is only the mind consciousness, without the eye consciousness. The form seen in a dream is not seen by the eye consciousness either; it is seen by the solitary mental consciousness, without the first five consciousnesses jointly discerning form.