After the Transmutation of Consciousness into Wisdom, the Discriminative Function of Consciousness and Manas Becomes Continuously Enhanced

The knowing that perceives realms is the skandha of perception (saṃjñā), and the object-aspect of the skandha of perception is the objective aspect (nimitta). The objective aspect includes form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, which encompass mental dharmas. Mental dharmas include feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, that is, the operational characteristics of the mind, which are the mental factors (caittas). For example, when the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) discerns the eight consciousnesses and perceives the eight consciousnesses, at this time the mental consciousness is the subjective aspect (darśana-bhāga), and the operational appearances of the eight consciousnesses are the objective aspect (nimitta-bhāga).

The mental consciousness can discern the operational appearances of the eight consciousnesses and can discern the mental factors of the eight consciousnesses. The mental faculty (manas) possesses the self-witnessing portion (svasaṃvitti-bhāga), which can introspect itself and discern itself. However, this capacity is not potent enough. After the transformation of consciousness into wisdom (āśraya-parāvṛtti), the wisdom of the mental faculty is enhanced, and the function of the self-witnessing portion becomes somewhat stronger. The mental faculty, relying on the mental consciousness, can discern the operational appearances of the eight consciousnesses, but its ability is not sufficiently strong. Only after the transformation of consciousness into wisdom does its discerning nature progressively increase.

Prior to the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, the mental faculty also possesses many discerning functions. It is merely that when the mental consciousness has not undergone the transformation into wisdom, these cannot be observed. Therefore, some people say the discerning wisdom of the mental faculty is inferior. Sentient beings all take the knowing of the mental consciousness as knowing; what the mental consciousness does not know is considered non-existent or unreal.

Within the eighteen elements (dhātus), the eye-consciousness and eye-faculty correspond to form-dust (rūpa-rajas), the ear-consciousness and ear-faculty correspond to sound-dust (śabda-rajas), the nose-consciousness and nose-faculty correspond to smell-dust (gandha-rajas), the tongue-consciousness and tongue-faculty correspond to taste-dust (rasa-rajas), the body-consciousness and body-faculty correspond to touch-dust (spraṣṭavya-rajas), and the mental faculty and mental consciousness correspond to dharma-dust (dharma-rajas). The activities of the first five faculties and five consciousnesses are driven and regulated by the mental faculty and cannot act autonomously.

The form skandha (rūpa-skandha) within the five aggregates is the eleven form dharmas: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, dharmas, eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, and body faculty.