A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness

Chapter 7  The Mind Consciousness and the Inner Object-Aspect of the Supreme Faculty

1. Where is the sensation of foot pain produced? Does the physical foot itself hurt?

The sensation of pain is produced at the supreme faculty (indriya); the foot, as a gross sense faculty, does not feel pain. What feels pain are the body consciousness and the mind consciousness, and since the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise at the supreme faculty, they feel the pain of the inner contact sense-object right there, because the inner contact sense-object appears within the supreme faculty, and the body consciousness and mind consciousness must arise at the supreme faculty to cognize the contact sense-object.

The sensations of all parts of the body are produced at the supreme faculty; even if a toe is damaged, the pain is felt at the supreme faculty in the back of the brain. The foot as a gross sense faculty has no pain. This is because the gross sense faculty can only be contacted by the tathāgatagarbha; the mind consciousness cannot contact it. The tathāgatagarbha has no perceptive function with respect to the contact sense-object; the gross sense faculty itself is a sense-object, without sensation—only consciousness has sensation, felt through the body consciousness and mind consciousness.

The tathāgatagarbha, through the gross sense faculty, contacts the contact sense-object, absorbs the particles of the four great elements, and through the transmitting nerves of the body faculty conducts them to the supreme faculty in the back of the brain. When faculty and sense-object touch, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the body consciousness and mind consciousness; then faculty, sense-object, and consciousness conjoin in contact, and the two consciousnesses can feel the pain. The contact sense-object of the foot is transmitted through the nervous system to the supreme faculty, where the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise, and only then can it be cognized; at the gross sense faculty there is no conscious mind to cognize the contact sense-object.

As for whether pain can be felt, it depends on whether the body's transmitting nervous system is functioning normally; if it is not normal, the conscious mind cannot arise and cannot cognize the sensation of pain, but the foot having a problem is still real. A person with a problem in the back of the brain feels nothing even when the foot is severed, yet the foot being severed is a fact. No matter where the injury is, if anesthetic is applied, no pain is felt; when the anesthesia wears off, the contact sense-object can again be transmitted to the supreme faculty, the body consciousness and mind consciousness arise, and pain can be felt again.

If there is a problem with the supreme faculty in the back of the brain, bodily pain cannot be felt. This is not a good thing, because the transmitting nerves in between are damaged and interrupted. If one does not feel pain even with a broken bone, one will become paralyzed; if one does not feel pain even with cancer, one can only wait for death.

Only the tathāgatagarbha can cognize the faculties and body; the manas, prior to the body consciousness and mind consciousness, can also depend on the tathāgatagarbha to cognize the faculties and body. The contact sense-object of pain is produced at the supreme faculty in the back of the brain and contacts the supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the body consciousness and mind consciousness, and the two cognize the contact sense-object of pain within the supreme faculty—they cannot cognize the contact sense-object at the toe. Then who cognizes the contact sense-object at the toe? It is contacted by the tathāgatagarbha, but the tathāgatagarbha does not discriminate and does not know whether the foot hurts or not.

When sleeping at midnight, the six consciousnesses have all ceased, yet a sudden pain in the foot can wake one up. Why can one wake up? Because the body faculty contacts the contact sense-object of pain, the manas cognizes that the problem is somewhat serious, and lets the mind consciousness wake up to cognize what is happening; then the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the mind consciousness and body consciousness, and the person wakes up. The contact sense-object at the foot is the external object-aspect; when transmitted to the supreme faculty, it becomes the internal object-aspect. If you can distinguish who contacts the external object-aspect and who contacts the internal object-aspect, you can clearly distinguish the functions of each consciousness. The tathāgatagarbha relies on the gross sense faculties to cognize the external object-aspects of the six sense-objects, and then displays the internal object-aspects of the six sense-objects at the supreme faculty. The external object-aspect is of course known by the tathāgatagarbha, for He has a perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga).

When you see your own toe bleeding, where does this bleeding phenomenon appear? It is the inner material sense-object (inner rūpa-viṣaya) within the supreme faculty, cognized by the eye consciousness and mind consciousness. The flowing blood is a material sense-object; the tathāgatagarbha, through the eye's gross sense faculty, contacts the material sense-object of blood, which is transmitted through the eye's transmitting nerves to the supreme faculty; faculty and sense-object touch, the eye consciousness and mind consciousness arise, and the bleeding phenomenon is cognized.

2. After a person is given anesthetic, the tathāgatagarbha can no longer normally transmit the external six sense-objects through the gross sense faculties into the supreme faculty. Because the anesthetic can numb the nerve transmission system, the external six sense-objects cannot, through the nervous system, display the inner contact sense-object at the supreme faculty; the body consciousness cannot arise, and the person does not feel pain.

The tathāgatagarbha can always contact and cognize the external six sense-objects, regardless of whether the gross sense faculties are normal, and regardless of whether there are gross sense faculties at all. If the gross sense faculties are not normal, the tathāgatagarbha cannot transmit the particles of the five sense-objects through them, or cannot transmit them normally, and the five sense-objects will undergo distortion and deformation. What the tathāgatagarbha contacts and cognizes in the gross sense faculties are all object-aspects (nimitta), not seeds; the seeds are in the seed state within the tathāgatagarbha, without form or appearance—whatever has form and appearance is not a seed.

Anesthetic is used to numb the central nervous system of the supreme faculty or part of the transmitting nerves, so that the conscious mind does not arise to perceive pain. Except during the stage of imminent death (the correct dying stage), when the tathāgatagarbha cannot take in the six sense-objects through the gross sense faculties, at all other times it can take in the external six sense-objects; nothing can affect Him.

If it is general anesthesia, none of the five faculties can be used, and the tathāgatagarbha cannot cognize and transmit the six sense-objects; then, if the time is too long, the manas may lose hope and want to leave the physical body, considering rebirth. In fact, when the body is anesthetized, the blood is still flowing and has not stopped and congealed, breathing still exists and is not cut off, the heartbeat is still moving and has not stopped—the person is still alive—so the tathāgatagarbha can still cognize and manifest the five sense-objects through the five faculties to sustain the life activities of the physical body. Blood, heartbeat, and breathing all belong to the sense-object realms of the six sense-objects; the tathāgatagarbha is still upholding and manifesting them, so He can certainly cognize the six sense-objects; the manas, relying on this, can cognize and know that it is still alive and the body can still be used.

Anesthesia can only numb the nerves, making them unable to transmit signals normally, or transmitting weak and distorted nerve signals, or transmitting only a small portion; it cannot completely stop transmission. Otherwise, if the manas could cognize nothing, it would panic, and when it loses hope it would decide to leave the physical body, resulting in death.

Under deep general anesthesia, a person's first six consciousnesses have ceased, as in dreamless sleep. For the six consciousnesses to arise, the manas and the mental sense-object must be present as conditions; at this time the manas has no problem and certainly wants the mind consciousness to arise. The problem must lie in the six sense-objects: the effect of the anesthetic acts directly on the brain, the supreme faculty. The tathāgatagarbha can still cognize the external object-aspects, but the internal five sense-objects and the mental sense-object certainly cannot fully arise—only a portion can arise—so the arising of the conscious mind cannot be guaranteed. Waking from a coma happens when the anesthetic loses its effect and can no longer numb the central nervous system. Then the tathāgatagarbha can transmit the particles of the six sense-objects through the transmitting nerves to the supreme faculty; the internal six sense-objects arise and manifest normally, and only then can the mind consciousness appear, the five consciousnesses appear, and the person wake from the coma.

The tathāgatagarbha's cognition of the body faculty is not only cognition of seeds but also cognition of the fundamental realm, that is, the external six sense-objects. The manas can also rely on the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha, having its own perceiving nature, to cognize the body faculty; whether the body faculty can be used, the manas of course can also know. The numbing effect of drugs generally does not last too long; during this period, there still exist some small amounts of the internal object-aspects of the six sense-objects, so the manas will not decide to abandon the lifespan; it knows the body faculty can still be used and holds hope for the five-aggregate body. But if the drug's effect lasts too long, the manas becomes uncertain and may make a wrong decision and abandon the body faculty.

Although during anesthesia the central nervous system cannot normally transmit the object-aspects of the six sense-objects, and the six sense-objects in the supreme faculty are weak and incomplete, darkness is also form, and silence is also sound; the supreme faculty can never be completely without the internal six sense-objects. A blind person seeing black before the eyes is still seeing; a deaf person hearing silence—soundlessness is also sound. During anesthetic coma, the six sense-objects certainly exist. In a coma, the manas will try its best to find a way to wake up. Based on what does it try? Only because it can cognize the six sense-objects can it strive to wake up and not remain in the coma. If it wants to wake up, there must be the mental sense-object based on the five sense-objects; merely a subjectively imagined realm is not enough—there must also be a real-nature realm (性境). It is just that these realms are not very strong, being rather weak, so the tathāgatagarbha cannot rely on them to give birth to the six consciousnesses to cognize.

During anesthetic coma, what the tathāgatagarbha manifests, relying on the abnormal supreme faculty, is certainly also an abnormal mental sense-object. Some individuals, after waking from a coma, say they seemed to have had some dream, that some kind of realm appeared in the dream. This shows that it is not that there were completely no internal six sense-objects—a subjectively imagined realm could still arise—so the manas would not abandon the physical body, and the sentient being would not die.

Ordinary anesthesia numbs the tactile nerves; it is enough that some part of the body does not feel pain. Since the contact sense-object of pain in that part cannot be transmitted to the supreme faculty, there is no body consciousness and mind consciousness feeling the pain of that part. Deep anesthesia may also lead to death: the anesthetized area is so large that even the gross sense faculties are affected, the blood cannot circulate normally, oxygen cannot be transported normally, and the heartbeat and pulse gradually stop; then the five aggregates truly cannot function, and the manas, cognizing this, will certainly leave the physical body—that is death.

3. The internal six sense-objects cognized by the six consciousnesses are material form composed of real seeds of the four great elements, called real-nature realms (性境); the illusory realms arising depending on real-nature realms are presumed realms (带质境).

What the five consciousnesses take as object are real-nature realms, cognized by direct perception. What the mind consciousness takes as object includes real-nature realms, presumed realms, and subjectively imagined realms, with cognition by direct perception, inference, and non-valid cognition. The manas takes the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness as what it itself sees, and takes all dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness as its own, belonging to itself—this is mistaken knowing and mistaken grasping, and therefore is non-valid cognition.

The presumed realms taken as object by the mind consciousness are as follows: pressing the eye produces a second moon; in fact there is no second moon, only one moon—the second moon is an illusory presumed realm. In a dark night, the mind consciousness takes a distant lamp light for will-o'-the-wisp; in fact there is no will-o'-the-wisp, only lamp light—the will-o'-the-wisp is an illusory presumed realm. The mind consciousness takes a straw rope it sees for a snake; in fact there is no snake, only a rope—the snake is an illusory presumed realm. The mind consciousness takes person A whom it sees for person B; in fact there is no person B, only person A—person B is an illusory presumed realm.

4. Question: The mind consciousness is clearly affected by the brain organ; for example, when tired and drowsy, the reasoning ability and speed of the mind consciousness both decline; also, when people grow old, the reasoning ability and speed of the mind consciousness also decline—for example, a Go player who wants to achieve results must achieve them in their teens and twenties. All this shows that the mind consciousness is closely related to material form. Is this so?

Answer: The thinking activity of the mind consciousness is indeed closely related to the material form of the brain, but this does not show that the mind consciousness has material properties; it can only be said that body and mind are mutually dependent and mutually influential. When the body is tired, fatigued, or aged, the structure of the four great elements of the body changes; the internal six sense-objects manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with it change, the supreme faculty changes, and the discrimination by the conscious mind will differ accordingly. When the internal six sense-objects manifested by the tathāgatagarbha at the supreme faculty gradually decrease, gradually distort, and gradually deform, the cognition of the six sense-objects by the six consciousnesses—especially the mind consciousness—gradually becomes labored, gradually distorted, and gradually inflexible.

The principle for the arising of the six consciousnesses: faculty and sense-object touch, and the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the consciousness. If the faculty undergoes alteration, the consciousness's cognitive nature encounters obstruction; if the sense-object changes, the consciousness's cognitive nature encounters obstruction. But the consciousness-seeds of the consciousness itself never change. The structure of the seeds of the four great elements composing the body always changes according to karmic power and various conditions, and material form must constantly change. Nerve transmission all goes through the body faculty and the five faculties; it cannot be separated from the five faculties. The tathāgatagarbha relies on the five faculties to transmit the particles of the four great elements and manifest the internal six sense-objects. The tathāgatagarbha also manifests the mental sense-object in reliance on the supreme faculty. When faculty and sense-object change, the conscious mind changes accordingly, and cognition will inevitably have problems.

The mental sense-object is manifested in reliance on the supreme faculty; if the supreme faculty has problems, the mind consciousness's cognition will inevitably have problems. The consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) cannot exist apart from the five sense-objects, the five faculties, and the supreme faculty. The solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) still cannot be separated from the supreme faculty; if the supreme faculty is obstructed, the solitary consciousness also cannot appear, and the person is in a coma. If the solitary consciousness had no relation to the supreme faculty, then the solitary consciousness of a vegetative-state person should also be normal, without problems. But the solitary consciousness of a vegetative-state person rarely arises; he cannot think, analyze, judge, or reason, and can hardly remember either. So we reach a conclusion: the arising of the mind consciousness is closely related to material form, and also closely related to the brain, the supreme faculty.

5. Although the six consciousnesses discriminate the internal six sense-objects within the supreme faculty and contact the internal six sense-objects, the conscious mind is neither inside nor outside the physical body, nor in between. In the first volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the World-Honored One discussed this issue, saying that the conscious mind is not inside, outside, or in the middle of the physical body. This is because the conscious mind is without form or appearance and cannot dwell within the physical body; if it dwelt within the physical body, then by dissecting the body one could discover the location of the conscious mind.

But when you cut the body open piece by piece, you cannot find the conscious mind; therefore the conscious mind is not inside the physical body. The conscious mind is also not outside the physical body; if the conscious mind were outside the physical body, it would be in empty space, and then the six consciousnesses would have nothing to do with oneself and would not belong to oneself. If the six consciousnesses in empty space could act upon oneself, they could equally act upon other sentient beings, and the mind consciousness would be shared in common—this is impossible. If the conscious mind were between the physical body and empty space, yet there is no place truly called "the middle," and no so-called middle position can be found; therefore the conscious mind is not inside, outside, or in the middle of the physical body.

6. When the left hand grasps the right hand, one can feel the left hand cool and the right hand warm, each hand having its own awareness—so how many body consciousnesses and mind consciousnesses does a person actually have?

The six consciousnesses all arise at the supreme faculty in the back of the brain, and at the supreme faculty they cognize the six sense-objects within the supreme faculty. Both the left and right hands are within the supreme faculty, including the contact sense-object; the feeling is felt within the supreme faculty. Given this, how many eye consciousnesses and mind consciousnesses could there be? Cognizing a hundred material sense-objects, contacting a hundred kinds of contact—all are material sense-objects and contact sense-objects within the supreme faculty, all cognized and felt within the supreme faculty. At the contact place of the warm hand there is the cognition of the body consciousness and mind consciousness; at the contact place of the cold hand there is the cognition of the body consciousness and mind consciousness; the conscious mind divides its streams to perceive, and meditative concentration is dispersed. The conscious mind does not go outside the supreme faculty to cognize; when one against a hundred, extremely high meditative concentration is required. Great Compassion's thousand hands and thousand eyes—the whole body is hands and eyes. What does this mean?

7. The foot is bitten by a mosquito and itches badly, yet one cannot find the exact itchy spot—what principle does this illustrate? When one shifts attention to thinking about a problem, the itch is no longer felt—why?

The contact sense-object of the external foot is transmitted into the supreme faculty and becomes the inner contact sense-object; the manas and mind consciousness cognize the contact sense-object within the supreme faculty but cannot discern the exact location. Perhaps the transmitting nerves have a problem, perhaps the location was not transmitted clearly, perhaps the manifestation was not clear, or perhaps the conscious mind cannot discern it clearly. In any case, the contact sense-object cognized by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses is not the real contact sense-object of the foot. So we need not pay too much attention to the form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas contacted by the seven consciousnesses, because they are all illusory and unreal dharmas. And the seven consciousnesses themselves are also illusory and unreal; the feelings of the seven consciousnesses are likewise illusory and unreal. Therefore the feeling and sensation of the conscious mind are not self.

When the manas and mind consciousness do not direct attention (manaskāra) toward the inner contact sense-object of the foot, there is no clear feeling; so when attention is shifted, the itch is no longer felt—this shows the falsity of feelings.

8. Mountain height and water depth—"high" and "deep" are configurational marks and behavioral marks of form. Only with the visible color of the mountain can the configurational mark of the mountain's height be set off; only with the configurational mark of the mountain's height can the range of the mountain's colors be framed. Only with the color of the water can the behavioral mark of the water's depth be set off; only with the behavioral mark of the water's depth can the quantity of water be framed. The five sense-object colors of visible color and the mental sense-objects of configurational mark, behavioral mark, and unmanifested mark are tightly bound together and cannot be separated for even an instant; otherwise none of the colors could exist and manifest. Therefore it is said that external sense-objects must necessarily include the mental sense-object; the characteristics of the six sense-objects must be complete. There cannot be only the external five sense-objects without the mental sense-object; external five sense-objects without the mental sense-object do not exist—they are imagined.

The claim that the mental sense-object is manifested in the back-brain supreme faculty in accordance with the five sense-objects has no basis whatsoever and simply does not hold. The external sense-objects must be complete six sense-object characteristics. When the tathāgatagarbha initially creates and fashions them, it cannot create only visible colors such as color, without shape or content—a vast expanse of mere color. The world is not composed purely of colors. All kinds of objects have their shapes and properties; only thus is the material world rich and colorful. For example, when the tathāgatagarbha creates the five-aggregate body, it cannot create only the colors of the physical body, and then the mental sense-objects such as tall, short, fat, and thin be separately created in others' supreme faculties—this is absolutely impossible. No matter who fantasizes, they could not fantasize such human and sentient-being forms.

Take another example: the golden ground of the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) cannot have only golden color without hardness, breadth, and boundaries; otherwise how could one walk on the golden ground? The tathāgatagarbha is like a mirror displaying images; the mirror is faithful to the original appearance of the external object. It cannot be that the original appearance has no length, size, height, or fatness, yet the tathāgatagarbha presumptuously reflects on the mirror's surface lengths, squares, circles, sizes, heights, and fatnesses—how would that be reflected? Would the tathāgatagarbha still be like a mirror displaying images?

9. Abroad, someone invented a cup that uses electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency to stimulate the mouth and tongue, producing the illusion of drinking water. In fact there is no water, only electromagnetic waves, but after being stimulated by the electromagnetic waves, the person is no longer thirsty. The actual principle is: the electromagnetic waves are transmitted into the oral cavity of the gross sense faculty, onto the tongue of the gross sense faculty, then transmitted through the nervous system into the supreme faculty in the back of the brain, forming an image of water, which contacts the tongue faculty; the body consciousness, tongue consciousness, and mind consciousness arise, and the conscious mind contacts the image of water; after feeling and perception, comes volition, deciding to drink; afterward a feeling arises, and the person believes he has drunk water. He then feels satisfied and his thirst is quenched. Think about food and drink and all dharmas—how illusory they are! Yet we constantly and everywhere crave them, always deceiving ourselves—how foolish and pitiable!

Sentient beings in fact deceive themselves, living in an illusory sensory world. If in the dark someone is given a piece of pork and takes it for human flesh, he will have a special feeling and give rise to craving and attachment. If this person sees with his eyes that it is a piece of pork, he will feel disgusted. This shows that all dharmas are merely the feelings of one's own mind; people are often deceived by their own feelings, immersed in various feelings and unable to extricate themselves. The more one thinks about it, the more one feels how pitiable we sentient beings are.

Since beginningless kalpas, what people have actually been doing is eating, drinking, and playing alongside heaps of particles of the four great elements. What we eat, wear, live in, use, play with, and enjoy are all heaps of particles of the four great elements. The tathāgatagarbha piles up countless particles of the four great elements into all kinds of toys, and sentient beings play joyfully among these toys, sunk in slumber within them, unwilling to come out—just like children playing house.

There is also a new function of mobile phones: the screen transmits a kind of electromagnetic wave to the hand, and the hand genuinely feels as if it has touched some object. The human nerve transmission system is like optical fiber, with electrical signals running inside it. If people are given stimuli of electromagnetic waves of various frequencies, all their desires can be satisfied. When craving and attachment arise again in our minds, we should realize that the objects we crave are merely various electromagnetic waves—essentially particles of the four great elements. Sentient beings are truly pitiable: deceived by themselves and dazzled by the tathāgatagarbha's deceptions, yet not knowing they have been deceived for immeasurable kalpas.

What I hold in my hand appears on the surface to be a mobile phone, but in essence it is an illusory image composed of a huge pile of particles; inside the back of the skull there is no real mobile phone. What are the so-called feelings of the body consciousness and mind consciousness? They are illusory feelings produced when consciousness-seeds, like continuous flowing water or electric current, run continuously; once the consciousness-seeds are cut off and the conscious mind disappears, there is no master to perform the function of feeling. Then what is the so-called feeling? Is it you?

Talking is talking; doing is doing. Talking is the mind consciousness talking; doing is the manas doing—they are not one mind, and this is the result. Without the skill of meditative concentration, nothing can be accomplished—just wagging the tongue in vain. These theories are, after all, only theories; without meditative concentration and without genuine realization, one cannot truly know ultimate reality, and the mind cannot be transformed into purity and ease.