The Realm of Interconnectedness and Mutual Functioning of the Six Sense Bases

In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha states that upon reaching a certain stage of cultivation, the six sense faculties can become interchangeable and mutually functional. Mahākāśyapa, having attained perfect clarity and understanding, did not rely on mental conceptions or the functioning of the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna). Instead, he utilized the mental faculty (manas). The mental faculty replaced the function of the sixth consciousness and could also substitute for the five sense consciousnesses. Thus, the mental faculty can fully possess the functions and roles of the five sense consciousnesses, as well as the function of the sixth consciousness. It can specifically and meticulously perceive and discern the objects of the six sense fields (viṣaya). This means the mental faculty can see and touch the coarse objects of the five sense fields, such as the specific colors of physical forms, and so forth. It can replace the sixth consciousness in discerning the extremely subtle objects of the mental field (dharma-dust). It can engage in thinking, analysis, reasoning, judgment, recollection, and so on. For example, Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, though without a physical body, could perceive the sense object of touch; his mental faculty replaced the body faculty and the body consciousness. Therefore, the mental faculty is omnipotent; its functions are unrestricted. All the mental factors (caittas) associated with the six consciousnesses can be fully possessed by the mental faculty. With only the mental faculty and the eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna), the existence of a living being can be sustained, enabling the display of great spiritual powers and the accomplishment of any task.

All dharmas are interconnected. When we thoroughly comprehend the Buddha Dharma, all the meanings of the dharmas are integrated as one; they are not unrelated things. It is only when the Buddha Dharma is not yet comprehended that our own cognition is obstructed. It is our own mind that limits itself; it is the afflictive hindrances (kleśa-āvaraṇa) that confine our own mind. It is not that the meanings of the Dharma restrict us; the Dharma meanings have no intention of hindering people from understanding the truth.