A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness

Chapter 9: The Difference Between the Discrimination of the Mind Consciousness and That of the Five Consciousnesses

1. The difference between the first five consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness is: the sixth consciousness often discriminates together with the first five consciousnesses, giving rise to mental activities such as analysis, thinking, reasoning, judgment, perception, and investigation. The five consciousnesses discriminate the coarse aspects of the five sense objects, while the sixth consciousness discriminates the subtle aspects of the five sense objects. When the sixth consciousness is not discriminating together with the five consciousnesses, it is the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta). The sixth consciousness engaged in random thoughts is the solitary consciousness; the sixth consciousness pondering back and forth is the solitary consciousness; the mental activity in dreams is the solitary consciousness. For example, when looking at a person, the mind consciousness must, through analysis, discriminate that this person has temperament, cultivation, education, and virtue; roughly how old this person is, whether male or female, and what his personality and disposition are like — all these are contents discriminated by the sixth consciousness.

Under ordinary circumstances, the mind consciousness discriminates the five sense objects together with the five consciousnesses. What the five consciousnesses discriminate is the coarse form, sound, smell, taste, and touch; what the mind consciousness discriminates is the subtle form, sound, smell, taste, and touch — the so-called subtle form, sound, smell, taste, and touch are the mental sense objects. For example, when the eye faculty contacts the form sense object, the eighth consciousness produces the eye consciousness; when the manas contacts the mental sense object upon the form sense object, the eighth consciousness produces the mind consciousness; then the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness together discriminate the form sense object, and thus it can be clearly discriminated what the form sense object is. For example, when looking at a rice cooker, the eye consciousness knows the color of the rice cooker, while the mind consciousness knows its shape, newness or oldness, quality, exact size, structure, materials, and so on. In fact, when the eyes see form, it is discriminated jointly by the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness; it is not that the eye faculty, having the nature of seeing, can see things by itself. A dead person, though still having an eye faculty, no longer has the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, and therefore a dead person cannot see form. When seeing form, the eye consciousness is what can discriminate information such as colors, brightness and darkness, etc.; beyond that, the cognizing mind that can discriminate an object's size, squareness or roundness, length, and other mental sense objects is the mind consciousness.

2. When the eye's floating sense faculty contacts the external form sense object, what actually captures the four great element particles of the form sense object is not the eye faculty but the tathāgatagarbha. The eye faculty is like a video camera, merely a tool and prop. Through the tool of the eye faculty, the tathāgatagarbha captures the four great element particles upon the external form sense object; after the tathāgatagarbha captures them, they pass through the eye faculty, the eyeball, the vitreous body, and the visual transmission nerves, and then arrive at the supreme faculty of the eye faculty at the back of the brain, where the image of the external form sense object is directly formed. Among these, colors belong to the manifest color of the form sense object; the mental sense object is the form included in the mental-object base (dharmāyatana), which comprises shape-color, expressive form, and non-expressive form; the three together constitute the mental sense object.

Because colors are relatively simple and uncomplicated, the eye consciousness can discriminate them rather quickly, whereas the mental sense object is more complex, hard to know and clearly identify, so the time needed for discrimination is relatively longer. In the first kṣaṇa, after the manifest color contacts the eye faculty, the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the eye consciousness; in the second kṣaṇa, after the manas contacts the mental sense object, the tathāgatagarbha then gives rise to the mind consciousness — this exactly corresponds to the relationship of the eye consciousness discriminating in the first kṣaṇa and the mind consciousness discriminating in the second kṣaṇa. Then the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness together discriminate the form sense object again, and what is discriminated then is the complete form sense object (this is a matter after the third kṣaṇa).

Why must the eye consciousness first arise in the first kṣaṇa to discriminate the manifest color, and only afterward can the mind consciousness discriminate the shape-color, expressive form, and non-expressive form? Because the manifest color must first be formed and exist first; only thus can the shape-color, expressive form, and non-expressive form be displayed. These three kinds of material form take the manifest color as their basis. For example, the size, squareness or roundness, and length among the shape-colors — without the set-off of the manifest color's colors, size, squareness or roundness, and length could not be indicated. The expressive form can only manifest by relying on the manifest color and the shape-color, taking them as its basis; the non-expressive form can only manifest by relying on the manifest color, the shape-color, and the expressive form, taking them as its basis. Therefore it is said that the manifest color comes first: the eye consciousness must arise first to discriminate the manifest color, and the mind consciousness arises later to discriminate the mental sense object.

As long as one has meditative concentration, when observing the form sense object one will discover that the eye consciousness necessarily sees the color first — this color may be blue, yellow, red, or white, or black, or dim, or void and chaotic. In the second kṣaṇa one sees a blurry shape, and then the form appears, and thus more information of the form sense object manifests; hence what the mind consciousness discriminates is both abundant and subtle. When one has meditative concentration and observes outward, first the eye consciousness sees, and the mind consciousness sees and discriminates afterward; that is, the manifest color comes out first, then the eye consciousness arises; in the second kṣaṇa the shape-color, expressive form, and non-expressive form are produced, and then the mind consciousness arises. The later arising of the mind consciousness shows that this shape-color, expressive form, and non-expressive form are the mental sense objects that manifest later than the manifest color.

At the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, there are many regions. One region is the supreme faculty of the eye, where the manifest colors manifest; one region is the supreme faculty of the ear, where the coarse aspect of sounds manifests; one region is the supreme faculty of the nose, where the coarse smell sense object manifests — these coarse five sense objects are all formed from the four great element particles. In addition, there is the place where the mental sense objects upon the five sense objects arise, the place where the form included in the mental-object base is produced. Whether this place is in the same region as the places of the previous five supreme faculties has not yet been observed, and there is no theoretical or scientific basis to prove it. The back-of-the-brain area is especially complex, divided into many regions; we cannot see them, but scientists can observe them in detail with highly precise instruments. The form, sound, smell, taste, and touch manifested by the tathāgatagarbha are produced in different regions; the mental sense objects produced on the basis of the five sense objects — the mental sense objects upon the five sense objects — may possibly arise in another region.

If there were no coarse five sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, there would be no subtle mental sense objects manifested on the basis of these five sense objects. The subtle mental sense object together with the coarse five sense objects is called the form included in the mental-object base; it also belongs to material form, but is subtler than the coarse five sense objects. The coarse five sense objects are formed from the actual material particles of the four great elements — earth, water, fire, and wind — but the form included in the mental-object base manifested from the coarse five sense objects is extremely subtle. This subtlety can be illustrated by an analogy: our physical body is formed from the coarse four great elements, whereas the physical bodies of the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), ghosts and spirits, and devas are formed from the subtle four great elements. There is a great difference between a body formed of the subtle four great elements and one formed of the coarse four great elements: the coarse body feels coarse and heavy, cannot float or fly, has no supernatural powers, no supernatural power of travel; the subtle body is just the opposite. This is analogous to the difference between the manifest color and the form upon the five sense objects (the form included in the mental-object base).

For example, a mirror — whatever objects are before it, it can manifest them one by one. The mirror cannot be used as an analogy for the supreme faculty, but it can be used as an analogy for the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is like a mirror: when all the five sense objects come, He can "reflect" them all. For example, the form sense object before one's eyes, whether far or near; the sounds from all directions; the surrounding smell sense objects, whether coarse or fine, fragrant or foul, far or near — the tathāgatagarbha captures them all simultaneously and can "reflect" them all. If the five sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, along with countless kinds of such five sense objects, confront us, the tathāgatagarbha can simultaneously capture and reflect them all, simultaneously forming images of them all — this is the function of the tathāgatagarbha.

3. Observing in meditative concentration of various levels how the six consciousnesses discriminate sense objects — including concentration in drowsiness — whether the five consciousnesses discriminate first or the consciousness accompanied by the five senses discriminates first, at that time one can very clearly realize that the five consciousnesses discriminate first and the consciousness accompanied by the five senses discriminates afterward. In concentration, suddenly hearing a sound, with no mental preparation, only after a good while can the mind consciousness distinguish what kind of sound it is, define and name the sound, and then discriminate the sound's other contents. Another example: opening one's eyes groggily, first one sees a vast expanse of color, then shapes, then finer contents.

4. Commentary on the Śataśāstra (Guang Bailun Shi Lun): 眼谓眼光，是眼用故，不离眼故，亦得眼名。若此眼光，行至色处，何故远色，见不淹迟。如何月轮，与诸近色，举目齐见，无迟速耶。未见世间，有行动物，一时俱至，远近二方。由是因缘，应立比量，照远色见，不至远色，照近色见，时无异故。

Explanation: The eye is the eye consciousness; it is what the eye faculty employs, and it does not depart from the eye faculty, hence it is named "eye" (consciousness). If the eye consciousness could travel to where the form sense object is, then why is it said that in seeing a distant form sense object, the eye consciousness is not later than in seeing a near one? Why is it that the moon in the sky and the near objects before one's eyes are all seen simultaneously upon raising the eyes, with no difference in speed? One has never seen anything movable in the world that can reach a far place and a near place at the same time. (Thus the eye consciousness does not move or travel to where the form sense object is; that is to say, the eye does not go to the form, yet there is seeing. Why is this so?) For this reason, one should establish the thesis that this is seen by inference: the eye consciousness illuminates and sees the distant form without going to the distant form; the eye consciousness illuminates and sees the near form without going to the near form; in seeing far and near forms there is no difference in time.

Why exactly does the eye consciousness see far and near forms simultaneously? The eye does not go to the form, the form does not come to the eye, yet there is seeing; the ear does not go to the sound, the sound does not come to the ear, yet there is the nature of hearing — truly inconceivable. If explained by means of the supreme faculty, it is very easy to understand: what the six consciousnesses see are all the six sense objects within the supreme faculty; the inner six sense objects are all within the supreme faculty — where is there any notion of far and near? No matter how far or near the form sense object is, once it is transmitted into the supreme faculty, far and near are no longer distinguished — all are shadows. The cognizing mind, in identifying, can simultaneously discriminate the shadows, not the substantial material external form sense object; only if it discriminated the external form sense object would there be any notion of far and near. The tathāgatagarbha can discriminate the external form sense object, but even for the tathāgatagarbha, the external form sense object has no distinction of far and near.

5. When awareness of pain arises, four cognizing minds are operating: the body consciousness, the mind consciousness, the manas, and the eighth consciousness. Only with the four consciousnesses operating in conjunction can one be aware of the foot's pain; lacking even one, it cannot happen. What specifically feels the pain are the body consciousness and the mind consciousness; the manas and the eighth consciousness do not feel pain. How can these four consciousnesses be distinguished? If one can distinguish them, one has great wisdom.

The feeling of pain belongs to the aggregate of feeling; only when the aggregate of feeling is exhausted can one not feel pain. To cultivate to the exhaustion of the aggregate of feeling, one must be above the fourth dhyāna, and after seeing the mind and seeing the nature, one must reach the realm of a fourth-bhūmi bodhisattva or above. Xuanzang's Indian Yogācāra master still had headaches so severe that he wanted to leave his body; Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva came to stop him, telling him to finish teaching Xuanzang the Yogācāra teachings first, and told him of the karmic causes from past lives. Are there people in the world today who have cultivated to the level of wisdom of Xuanzang's Indian master? Even if they had, they would not have reached the exhaustion of the aggregate of feeling, and probably not even the exhaustion of the aggregate of form — so what is there to say about having no sensation of pain?

Those without the sensation of pain: one kind is the retribution obtained by birth; when the merit is exhausted, it disappears. Another kind is bestowed through the blessing of beings of other categories — even more subject to arising and ceasing, unreliable. Yet another is cultivated through the four dhyānas and eight samādhi-attainments — also a conditioned, arising-and-ceasing dharma. But bodhisattvas above the fourth bhūmi can maintain it; those who are not sages who have seen the mind, seen the nature, and realized the fruits simply cannot maintain it.

6. What is called the peripheral vision of the eyes? What are the differences among the functions of the several cognizing minds?

The so-called peripheral vision of the eyes means looking at form not straight-on, with the corner of the eye slightly scanning the forms on either side of the face. When the eyes look at form, most of the eye consciousness's attention is on the area directly in front of the eyes; when the eyes look at form with peripheral vision, only a very small part of the eye consciousness's attention is on the form sense objects in the directions around the eyes. The more concentrated the attention, the clearer the eye consciousness's discrimination — this is also the principle of wisdom arising from concentration. The form seen with peripheral vision cannot be seen clearly; the eye consciousness only discriminates it slightly. With attention not concentrated, the eye consciousness's force is weak, the discrimination is unclear, and the form sense object discriminated is blurry.

The eye consciousness's discrimination is direct perception. When the mind consciousness looks at form together with the eye consciousness, sometimes it must compare and reason analytically before knowing what the form is; the mind consciousness's discrimination involves inference and non-valid cognition. While looking at form, the mind consciousness may also return to the past or imagine the future, but the eye consciousness can only see the form present now; it cannot take the forms of the past and future as its object. Therefore the eye consciousness's discrimination is purely direct perception: if there is form at present, it sees form; if there is no form, it sees no form; the eye consciousness cannot imagine form. The mind consciousness can have discrimination by inference and non-valid cognition; the results of non-actual discrimination may not accord with facts, so the conclusions the mind consciousness draws through comparison, and the conclusions it draws through thinking and imagination, are not entirely reliable.

When the World-Honored One expounded the functions of the six consciousnesses in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, he said that the eye consciousness has only eight hundred merit-functions, able to see only two-thirds — what is behind the back of the head cannot be seen, so its merit of seeing form is not complete; the ear consciousness has twelve hundred merit-functions — sounds around and behind the body can all be heard, and sounds can be heard even through obstacles; with no obstruction, the ear consciousness's merit is the complete twelve hundred merit-functions; the merits of the nose consciousness and the body consciousness are also not complete, having only eight hundred merit-functions; the tongue consciousness has the complete twelve hundred merit-functions. Therefore, among the beings of the Sahā world, the ear faculty is the keenest, and the tongue consciousness is also keen. The mind consciousness also has twelve hundred merit-functions: the past, the future, and the present — the mind consciousness can take all of them as objects, can think about and imagine them all.

When sentient beings have karmic obstructions and their wisdom is limited, what the several cognizing minds discriminate may all be mistaken and unreliable. The six cognizing minds are governed and held together by the manas and the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is the mind that does not contemplate; He manifests all dharmas in accordance with the manas and karmic conditions. The tathāgatagarbha both follows the manas and does not follow the manas, both contemplates and does not contemplate, both knows and does not know; He does not fall into the two extremes — this is called the prajñā wisdom of Madhyamaka contemplation. Such prajñā Madhyamaka is very hard to understand; after realizing the tathāgatagarbha, the Madhyamaka wisdom can gradually be born.

In the manifestation of all dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha often has to obey the manas's commands and give rise to certain dharmas in compliance; He does not look like a boss, but rather like an attendant and follower; whereas the manas seems like the boss — everything is decided and determined by Him. In fact, when karmic conditions manifest, the manas is utterly helpless, completely within the adverse conditions manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, unable to break free. At the stage of sentient beings, neither the manas nor the tathāgatagarbha can be the master of the five-aggregate body; the sentient being's five aggregates must arise and transmigrate through birth and death according to karmic conditions, and cannot be master of themselves either. Thus sentient beings drift without any mastery through birth and death in the six realms.

7. The discriminating nature of the five consciousnesses: the five consciousnesses depend on the sixth consciousness to have their discriminating nature, and thereafter have simple discrimination and discernment. For example, when the eye consciousness at first cannot see an object clearly, it must again direct attention, contact the form sense object, again receive and take in the form sense object, again discriminate the form sense object, and finally grasp the mark of the form sense object — only without names and words; then the mental factor of volition (cetanā) arises, playing the role of choice, deciding whether to accept and keep looking, or to avoid and not look. The eye consciousness can also feel simple feelings of pain and pleasure, but without emotional coloring, and not finely nuanced. The ear, nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses are all like this. Because the eye consciousness has the ability to discern, when looking at an object it looks over and over, carefully and minutely, in order to make the final choice and judgment. Of course, this simultaneously involves the joint cooperation of the mind consciousness; the five consciousnesses cannot discriminate the realms of the five sense objects alone, because the five consciousnesses can only discriminate the coarse part of the five sense objects; for more content, the consciousness accompanied by the five senses must cooperate in discriminating, so that the complete five sense objects can be discriminated.

8. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu said in the Treatise on the Gate of Understanding the Hundred Dharmas (Baifa Mingmen Lun): 一切法者略有五种，一者心法：眼识、耳识、鼻识、舌识、身识、意识、末那识、第八识，总共八个识。二者心所有法，略有五十一种：五遍行，五别境，善法十一，六个根本烦恼，二十个随烦恼，善恶不定的有四。三者色法，略有十一种，五个有色根、五尘及法处所摄色。四者心不相应行法，略有二十四种。五者无为法，略有六种：虚空无为、择灭无为、非择灭无为、不动无为、想受灭无为、真如无为。

The eleven material forms include: the five faculties, the five sense objects, and the form included in the mental-object base. The five faculties are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body faculties; the five sense objects are the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch sense objects. The first five faculties are faculties with material form, composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; they are also called the floating sense faculties, located on the surface of the body, facing the beings' eye faculty, visible to beings, belonging to material form. The five supreme faculties at the back of the brain are also composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, belonging to material form. The nature of the five faculties is arising and ceasing, mutable, impermanent, and not-self. The five sense objects are composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; facing the beings' eye faculty, they can be seen by the beings' eye faculty, and therefore belong to material form; they too are arising and ceasing, mutable, impermanent, and not-self.

The form included in the mental-object base\: upon the five sense objects, the mental sense objects of the five sense objects manifest simultaneously; it also belongs to material form, called the form included in the mental-object base, and is also composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. The mental sense object manifests depending on the five sense objects, facing the manas; the manas grasps and contacts it, and the mind consciousness discriminates it in detail; it too is arising and ceasing, mutable, impermanent, and not-self. After the manas contacts the mental sense objects upon the five sense objects, the tathāgatagarbha produces the mind consciousness, which can then cognize the mental sense objects. That is to say, at this time the mind consciousness is together with the first five consciousnesses discriminating the five sense objects: the five consciousnesses discriminate the coarse forms of the five sense objects, while the mind consciousness simultaneously discriminates the subtle mental sense objects upon the five sense objects; what the five consciousnesses discriminate is coarse, what the mind consciousness discriminates is subtle. The above is an extremely brief summary; a detailed account would have to divide into inner faculties, external faculties, inner sense objects, external sense objects, inner mental sense objects, external mental sense objects, and so on — the contents are extremely complex.

9. The Conditions for the Arising of the Eye Consciousness

The Buddha said: 因缘所生法，我说即为空。 That sentient beings see form and discriminate the form sense object is the functional activity of the eye consciousness. The eye consciousness is a dharma produced by causes and conditions; its manifestation and birth require nine conditions — that is, nine conditions, none of which can be lacking; otherwise the eye consciousness does not arise, and sentient beings cannot see form. The dharma of the eye seeing form exists in dependence on external conditions; it cannot exist by itself alone. A dharma produced by causes and conditions is false, empty, arising and ceasing, and lacking self-mastery (avaśatā).

The conditions for the birth of the eye consciousness are nine: the eye faculty, the form sense object, space, light, attention (manaskāra), the eye-consciousness seeds, the manas consciousness, the mind consciousness, and the Ālayavijñāna.

(1) The Eye Faculty

This includes the eye's floating sense faculty and the supreme faculty. If the supreme faculty is destroyed, the eye consciousness cannot arise to see form; therefore what discriminates the form sense object is the eye consciousness, not the eye faculty. The eye faculty's floating sense faculty is the receiving apparatus that receives the form sense object; the supreme faculty is the place where the eye consciousness is produced. The eyeball and vitreous body are the external eye faculty, also called the floating sense faculty; the cerebral cortex at the back of the brain that governs vision is the internal eye faculty, also called the supreme faculty. If the supreme faculty is damaged, beings cannot see form normally.

When the supreme faculty contacts the form sense object, the eye consciousness arises. The form sense object is the inner material sense-object (inner rūpa-viṣaya) within the supreme faculty. The Ālayavijñāna, through the eye's floating sense faculty, contacts the external form sense object, absorbs the four great element particles of the form sense object, and through transmission by the visual nerves they land on the cerebral cortex, where an image identical to the form sense object is transformed and produced. When the image contacts the supreme faculty, the Ālayavijñāna gives rise to the eye consciousness, and the eye consciousness can see form; beings still feel that what they see is real form, not knowing that what is seen is a shadow, an illusion. Therefore the eye faculty is a place where the eye consciousness is produced, one of the twelve bases (āyatanas). Describing the whole process of seeing form takes a long time, but the actual operation is countless times faster than a rocket, with almost no time interval. In fact there is still a time lag.

(2) The Form Sense Object

The form sense object is the object discriminated by the eye consciousness; without a form sense object, the eye consciousness cannot arise. The form sense object includes the external form sense object and the inner material sense-object. The external form sense object is actually existent for beings, composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; neither the eye faculty nor the eye consciousness can contact it — only the Ālayavijñāna can contact it, because the Ālayavijñāna has the four great element seeds and corresponds to form. Therefore the Buddha said: the form does not come to the eye, the eye does not go to the form, yet there is seeing. After the Ālayavijñāna contacts the external form sense object, it instantly manifests, like a mirror, an image identical to the external form; this image is called the inner material sense-object. It is a kind of extremely subtle material particle that can be transmitted through the nerves to the back of the brain, and the Ālayavijñāna then produces the eye consciousness to discriminate this shadow. Therefore the form sense object seen by beings is false, fake, empty, and unreal.

(3) Space

Space is a condition for the birth of the eye consciousness. There must be a certain spatial distance between the eye faculty and the external form sense object for form to be seen; otherwise form cannot be seen. Press an object against the eye and the object cannot be seen, because there is no focal point and no image can be formed — the same principle as a video camera. This proves that the form seen by beings is as false and unreal as the images recorded by a video recorder; beings cannot see the true external form. The eye also cannot see itself — it cannot see the face, the mouth, or the neck, because without spatial distance no focal point can be formed and no image can be formed. Therefore the Ālayavijñāna is like a video camera, the eye consciousness is the person watching the recording, and the manas is the operator.

(4) Light

The arising of the eye consciousness necessarily requires light as a supporting condition — not including devas, asuras, ghosts and spirits, non-humans, and those who possess the divine eye. Other beings cannot see form without light. If beings remain in darkness for a long time, the function of the eye faculty declines, and gradually the eye faculty degenerates and is lost, becoming an eyeless being, and the descendants will also be eyeless.

(5) The Eye-Consciousness Seeds

For an electric lamp to shine there must be electric current; the current is emitted by a generator, electron by electron, forming the current, and passing through the lamp body it lights up. The eye consciousness is formed from the eye-consciousness seeds; the seeds are stored in the Ālayavijñāna and output by the Ālayavijñāna. Seed after seed continuously forms the eye consciousness, and there is the function of the eye consciousness's seeing, so that beings can see the form sense object.

(6) The Manas Consciousness

That is, the manas, the seventh consciousness. He is the mind that is master at all times and places. What beings are to do or not do, when to do and when not to do — all is decided by the manas. The manas is like a general manager who does nothing himself, with inferior discriminating wisdom, but can issue commands; the first six consciousnesses then follow His commands to discriminate the six sense objects, producing bodily, verbal, and mental actions. For example, if the manas decides to buy jewelry, the body consciousness must pick up the jewelry, the eye consciousness discriminates, the mind consciousness analyzes, judges, and evaluates; all these discriminating processes are transmitted to the manas, and the manas, based on the mind consciousness's analysis, decides whether to buy and whether to bargain. All matters, great or small, are decided by the manas; the first six consciousnesses obey, and the eighth consciousness cooperates to complete them. If the manas does not want to look at something, there is no eye consciousness to discriminate any form sense object, or one looks without seeing — the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness have no mind to discriminate the form sense object, because the manas is not interested in the form sense object; He may be focused on other matters. Therefore the manas is a condition for the production of the eye consciousness.

(7) Attention (Manaskāra)

Attention is the eye consciousness's wanting to contact and know the form sense object, then directing attention onto the form sense object; only then can the eye consciousness contact the form sense object, produce reception and taking-in of the form sense object, and only then can it know the form sense object. Only with continuous attention can there be continuous contact, continuous reception, continuous knowing, and continuous fabrication and choice, so that the eye consciousness can keep operating. Without attention, the eye consciousness cannot arise.

(8) The Sixth Consciousness

The eye consciousness cannot arise alone, because it can only discriminate the coarse aspects of the form sense object, such as the manifest colors of blue, yellow, red, and white — these are realms of direct perception; the other subtle aspects are discriminated simultaneously by the sixth consciousness. Therefore the sixth consciousness is a supporting condition for the eye consciousness's functioning. For example, when looking at a flower, the eye consciousness sees the flower's color and the coarse external appearance, while the mind consciousness discriminates the subtle aspects such as the flower's form, variety, name, state of growth, beauty or ugliness, charm, mood, and place of origin. Without the sixth consciousness, the eye consciousness does not manifest. When looking at a person, the eye consciousness discriminates the person's skin color and the color of the clothes, while the mind consciousness discriminates the person's sex, age, the fineness or coarseness of the skin, beauty or ugliness, character, temperament, disposition, cultivation, inner substance, education, the severity of afflictions, etc., and discriminates the subtle aspects such as the type, material, and workmanship of the clothes. Without the mind consciousness to cooperate, the eye consciousness cannot function alone.

(9) The Ālayavijñāna

The Ālayavijñāna is the direct root that produces the eye consciousness, directly giving birth to the eye consciousness. He is the storehouse of consciousness seeds; only by storing and outputting the seeds of consciousness is there the function of the eye consciousness. When the eye faculty and the form sense object contact, the Ālayavijñāna outputs the first seed at the place of contact; it ceases and returns into the Ālayavijñāna; the second seed is output to the position of the first seed, ceases, and returns into the Ālayavijñāna; the third comes out to the position of the second seed, and again ceases — thus the eye consciousness is formed, continuous like a flowing stream, and only then is there the function of discrimination. Therefore when the eye consciousness first sees form, it cannot yet discriminate clearly; multiple seeds must come out, and after looking for a while, it can see clearly. The Ālayavijñāna is the most important causal condition for producing the eye consciousness. From this it can be seen that any dharma produced by causes and conditions is necessarily perishable, necessarily false, necessarily empty, necessarily without self — therefore one should not cling to it.

10. Explanation of the Mahāyāna Treatise on the Gate of Understanding the Hundred Dharmas (Dacheng Baifa Mingmen Lun Jie), Volume 2:

「言十觸者，身之所取，可觸之義，故名為觸。有二十六種，謂：地、水、火、風、輕、重、澁、滑、緩、急、冷、暖、硬、軟、饑、渴、飽、力、劣、悶、癢、粘、老、病、死、瘦、是也。初四乃實，餘皆依四大假立。或曰：『餘既是假，身識何緣？』曰：『即實緣故，既即實緣，何知輕等？五俱意識分別之也。』」

Explanation: The touch sense objects felt on the body are contacted and discriminated jointly by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness in conjunction. There are twenty-six kinds in total. Among them, the relatively coarse real dharmas composed of the four great element particles are what the body consciousness discriminates; the unreal dharmas that exist depending on these so-called real dharmas, being finer, are what the mind consciousness discriminates, called the form included in the mental-object base.

Various touch sense objects such as the body's tranquility (praśama) and comfort are manifested from changes in the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind in the body. The body consciousness and the mind consciousness together feel the tranquility and comfort: the body consciousness feels the coarse aspect, the mind consciousness feels the subtle aspect; the subtle aspect exists depending on the coarse aspect. The former is the real dharma of the five sense objects, the latter is the unreal dharma of the mental sense object.

These twenty-six kinds of touch sense objects are all results of the changes of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; there are the real dharmas of the five sense objects and also the unreal dharmas of the mental sense objects, discriminated and felt jointly by the body consciousness and the mind consciousness in conjunction. The touch sense objects manifested from the changes of the four great element seeds arise depending on the eighth, seventh, sixth, and first five consciousnesses, showing that when the mind changes, the sense objects change; body and mind lean on each other, mutually influence, mutually depend; cultivating the mind can change the body and change material form. Heaven and earth are created and changed by the mind — this is what is meant by "the three realms are mind-only, the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only."

The change of the mind is in one aspect accomplished through cultivating meditative concentration: the mind abides in one object, adhering to one thought, or ceases from thought and ideation, no longer deliberating; the manas grasps less at the body, or no longer grasps at the body; the body's four great elements change, and body and mind become tranquil and comfortable; or greater changes occur, wondrous marvelous functions appear, and supernatural powers manifest — all due to the manas's non-grasping, restoring the original state, the inherent functions manifesting, attaining great ease. It can be seen that the manas's grasping binds one's own body and mind, preventing ease and liberation. Then what does cultivation cultivate? Fundamentally, it is cultivating the manas: through cultivating the mind consciousness and the mind consciousness's practice, the manas is changed; when the manas changes, all dharmas change.

11. When one recites a mantra in the mind without the mouth making a sound, the sound sense object does not exist. The mantra recited in the mind belongs to the mental sense object; it is a subjectively imagined realm, discriminated solely by the solitary consciousness, without needing the ear consciousness to discriminate it. Because there is no sound sense object, the ear consciousness will not arise. When the solitary consciousness discriminates, it is called "listening with the mind"; the recitation is also recited by the solitary consciousness.

But when reciting the mantra, there is the manas presiding over the recitation, the manas supervising the mind consciousness to recite; there is the manas as master making the mind consciousness listen, the manas supervising the mind consciousness to listen. Within this, the eighth consciousness also provides everything needed, serving diligently. The three consciousnesses together complete the mind-recitation and mind-listening.

12. Question: When the ear faculty contacts the sound sense object and the ear consciousness arises, do the consciousness seeds arise at the place of the sound source and sound sense object, at the ear faculty, or at the supreme faculty at the back of the head? Do the other consciousnesses arise in the same way?

Answer: The eighth consciousness manifests the inner five sense objects at the supreme faculty at the back of the brain. The supreme faculty contacts the inner five sense objects, the manas directs attention, and the eighth consciousness gives rise to the five consciousnesses at the supreme faculty. The five consciousnesses, the five supreme faculties, and the inner five sense objects — the three conjoin in contact, producing the feelings of the five consciousnesses. The five consciousnesses can then, together with the mind consciousness, discriminate the inner five sense objects and the mental sense objects at the supreme faculty — that is, the six sense objects inside the black box. The five consciousnesses are neither inside the black box nor outside it. The eighth consciousness gives birth to the ear consciousness, and the ear consciousness's function is to discriminate the inner sound sense object; the ear consciousness cannot discriminate sounds outside the supreme faculty, so the ear consciousness is not outside; the ear consciousness also has no form or appearance, nor is it inside — yet it functions in this way.

13. Without the mind consciousness arising, the first five consciousnesses cannot arise alone. The manas contacts a dharma as a whole, including the five sense objects and the mental sense objects. If the manas simultaneously contacts the five sense objects and the mental sense objects, discriminating both simultaneously, and the six consciousnesses are needed to discriminate in detail, then the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness arise simultaneously in the same kṣaṇa. If, when the manas contacts a dharma, it first discriminates the five sense objects, and in the second kṣaṇa discriminates the mental sense objects, then the five consciousnesses will arise one kṣaṇa earlier, and in the second kṣaṇa the mind consciousness arises, and then they discriminate this dharma simultaneously. The five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness discriminate simultaneously and also arise simultaneously, but a difference of one kṣaṇa is not excluded.

An object includes color, shape, and substance. The color is the manifest color discriminated by the eye consciousness; the rest — softness or hardness, size, squareness or roundness, texture, etc. — is discriminated by the mind consciousness. For any object, the mental sense objects predominate, with the mind consciousness's discrimination as the main factor. From the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of direct perception in meditative concentration: the eye consciousness first discriminates the manifest color of colors; in the second kṣaṇa the mind consciousness discriminates the shape-color, the shape, and then the expressive form and non-expressive form. The ear consciousness first discriminates the coarse, vibratory sound sense object; the mind consciousness in the second kṣaṇa discriminates the sound's loudness and distance, and then the sound's coarseness, category, etc. The five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness are in a parallel relationship, both employed by the manas, both serving the manas. If the manas does not need them, none of them can arise.

14. At the time of enlightenment, it is also the solitary consciousness that finds and realizes the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha; the five consciousnesses do not participate in witnessing. Although it is when the eye consciousness sees form and the ear consciousness hears sounds and the nose consciousness smells scents that the mind consciousness realizes the tathāgatagarbha, the mode of operation of the tathāgatagarbha can only be observed by the mind consciousness alone; the mode of operation of the tathāgatagarbha does not belong to the realms of the five sense objects and is unrelated to the five sense objects; therefore the five consciousnesses cannot be aware of it.

15. The mental sense objects discriminated by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses are the form included in the mental-object base, together with the five sense objects, unable to depart from the five sense objects. Only when the mental sense objects and the five sense objects conjoin can the complete form, sound, smell, taste, and touch be constituted; otherwise the five sense objects cannot manifest, the five consciousnesses cannot appear, and the consciousness accompanied by the five senses cannot discriminate the mental sense objects. When the consciousness accompanied by the five senses discriminates the form included in the mental-object base, the solitary consciousness discriminates other contents alone, or introspects upon the contents and state of the discrimination of the consciousness accompanied by the five senses. The five sense objects and the mental sense objects appear simultaneously; the mental sense objects are not produced and manifested afterward. For example, the reflections and images in the eyes are mental sense objects, existing even before being transmitted to the supreme faculty at the back of the brain. Therefore it is said that upon the external five sense objects there are external mental sense objects, inseparable from the external five sense objects for even an instant.

The five consciousnesses cannot operate alone to perform discrimination; they must operate and discriminate together with the consciousness accompanied by the five senses. Only the seeds of the five consciousnesses are born merely slightly earlier — less than a kṣaṇa — then the mind consciousness's seeds arise, almost synchronously, and then the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness operate together discriminating the six sense objects. Therefore the five universal mental factors of the five consciousnesses also cannot operate alone apart from the mind consciousness; when the mind consciousness's five universal mental factors operate, the five consciousnesses' five universal mental factors operate simultaneously.

The form included in the mental-object base belongs to material form; material forms are all real-object realms, not changing with the cognizing mind. For example, a person's appearance, no matter what the other person's cognizing mind is like, does not change at all. Skin color belongs to the manifest color, the content discriminated by the eye consciousness, and does not change with variations in the other person's eye consciousness; the same is true of the shape-colors, expressive forms, and non-expressive forms such as tall or short, fat or thin. Tall or short, fat or thin are shape-colors, the form included in the mental-object base, the content discriminated by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses; they are also real-object realms, not changing with the mind consciousness's misinterpretation. For a person with strong meditative concentration, when the consciousness accompanied by the five senses discriminates the form included in the mental-object base, the solitary consciousness can engage in other contemplations, thereby changing the form included in the mental-object base.

Contemplative visualization requires very strong meditative concentration, relying mainly on the inferential and non-valid discriminating function of the solitary consciousness; the concentration of the consciousness accompanied by the five senses is not good enough. Meditative concentration here mainly refers to the powerful force of the solitary consciousness: creating something from nothing, turning something into nothing. Contemplating the sun in the mind, the setting sun appears before one — the sun contemplation is accomplished; contemplating the white skeleton in the mind, the white skeleton appears — the white-bone contemplation is accomplished.

16. Question: I have been pondering the meaning of "mental sense object." The form included in the mental-object base should refer not only to the subtle forms seen by the mind consciousness, but also to the coarse forms seen by the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses. Because form faces the mind, there is the concept of the form sense object but no name of a "mind sense object"; it is subsumed under the mental sense object — form occupying half, mind occupying half, with dharma including both material dharmas and mental dharmas.

The forms seen by Aniruddha, who had no eyes, included both coarse forms and subtle forms; if he did not see the coarse forms, how could he see the subtle forms? Seeing form without eyes — without an eye faculty there is naturally no eye consciousness, so of course only the mind consciousness sees form; the form included in the mental-object base that he saw was distinct and clear in both coarse and subtle aspects.

Answer: The conceptual scope of the mental sense object is quite broad: all dharmas are dharmas, all are called mental sense objects. "Dust" means worldly appearances, like dust motes, not lingering even for a moment. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra the World-Honored One called them guest-dust (adventitious defilements): guests of the world, unable to dwell permanently in the world, arising and then ceasing — not the host.

The eleven material forms: eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty, form sense object, sound sense object, smell sense object, taste sense object, touch sense object, and the last, the form included in the mental-object base. The form included in the mental-object base includes: the mental sense objects included in the base of form, the mental sense objects included in the base of sound, the mental sense objects included in the base of smell, the mental sense objects included in the base of taste, and the mental sense objects included in the base of touch. The mental sense objects of the form included in the mental-object base cannot appear alone; they must appear simultaneously with the five sense objects, discriminated by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses. Therefore, when the cognizing mind discriminates the form included in the mental-object base, the coarse aspects of the five sense objects must appear simultaneously; without these coarse aspects, there are no subtle aspects.

Aniruddha had no eye faculty; his fleshly eye could not see form. He saw form with the divine eye — the divine eye with supernatural powers sees form; without it, nothing is seen, greatly different from seeing form with the fleshly eye. Because Aniruddha had no eyes, there was no manifest color within his supreme faculty, so the eye consciousness did not arise; there was no eye consciousness and no mind consciousness seeing form. But because Aniruddha had cultivated the divine eye, he saw form with the divine eye, far more vast and subtle than what the fleshly eye sees.

17. Observing in meditative concentration of various levels how the six consciousnesses discriminate sense objects — including concentration in drowsiness — whether the five consciousnesses discriminate first or the consciousness accompanied by the five senses discriminates first, at that time one can very clearly realize that the five consciousnesses discriminate first and the consciousness accompanied by the five senses discriminates afterward. For example, in concentration suddenly hearing a sound, with no mental preparation, only after a good while can the mind consciousness distinguish what kind of sound it is, define and name the sound, and then discriminate the sound's other contents. Another example: opening one's eyes groggily, first one sees a vast expanse of color, then shapes, then finer contents.

18. A tremendous sound can shatter the ear bones and make the ears deaf. This shows that sound is a kind of material form, possessing the impact force of material form; then there is a touch sense object, contacting the material ear, thereby shattering the ear. The coarse aspect of the sound contacts the ear faculty, with the ear consciousness first discriminating the coarse sound and the mind consciousness afterward discriminating the subtle aspects of the sound. We usually first feel, with the ear consciousness, the vibration sound at the ear faculty — this is the five sense objects — and only then can the mind consciousness know what the sound specifically is, and the other subtle dharmas.

19. The ghost king has a thousand eyes; the eye-consciousness seeds flow forth at a thousand eye faculties, and a thousand eyes can all see form simultaneously. He has a thousand hands and a thousand feet; the body-consciousness seeds simultaneously flow forth onto a thousand hands and a thousand feet, and a thousand hands and a thousand feet can act simultaneously. For example, a person's entire body, from head to toe, belongs to the body faculty; the body-consciousness seeds flow forth to every part of the body faculty, and the whole body, inside and out, can act simultaneously. A person's mental thoughts are many; the mind-consciousness seeds flow forth to each mental sense object, and the mind consciousness can discriminate broadly, direct attention, contact, feel, perceive, and volition broadly, and create karmic actions broadly.

The Great Compassion with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes — which is the true eye? The true eye does not see form.

20. When consciousness contacts the sense object, faculty, object, and consciousness conjoin in contact — what is the result? The result is that the eye consciousness discriminates form, the ear consciousness discriminates sound, and so on up to the mind consciousness discriminating dharmas.

The conjoined contact of the three is a matter of utmost importance. If the faculty does not contact the object, there is no consciousness; if the consciousness does not contact the object, the consciousness has no function at all. What kinds of sense objects does each consciousness contact? Clarify the range each consciousness can contact, then contemplate: without the six consciousnesses, what else could be done? Beings of the formless realm have no physical body with five faculties — why do they still have the mind consciousness? When these questions are clarified, then at the time of awakening it will be realization-awakening. Otherwise, with insufficient meditative concentration and theory not thoroughly understood, one cannot practice deep and subtle contemplation; at the end of cultivation one will at most have an intellectual understanding. Nowadays more and more people have intellectual understanding, with almost no beneficial merit to show for it; their afflictions remain just as heavy.

The faculty contacts the object and consciousness arises; if the faculty does not contact the object, consciousness cannot arise. At the end of life, the four great elements decompose first; at this time there is still consciousness, which can still discriminate the state of the physical body's four great elements decomposing, and one will feel extreme pain.

Each person's physical body is held and sustained by his own eighth consciousness, and changes in one's own physical body are also the result of one's own eighth consciousness's activity. Then how could one person kill another, thereby changing the state of another person's physical body? Without the mind consciousness, the five consciousnesses also cannot arise. Discriminating the six sense objects is the manas's decision, presided over by the manas; the manas necessarily contacts the mental sense objects. If the manas does not decide, does not preside, the eighth consciousness does not give rise to the five consciousnesses; and once the manas presides, it has contacted the mental sense objects, and the mind consciousness will certainly arise — the mind consciousness is also the common supporting basis of the five consciousnesses.

21. The tathāgatagarbha manifests the six sense objects — form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma — at the supreme faculty at the back of the brain. The first five sense objects are necessarily manifested first: the coarse form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. First a coarse set of the five sense objects is manifested for the first five consciousnesses to discriminate; beyond the coarse first five sense objects, the subtle mental sense objects are then manifested, called the form included in the mental-object base. Once faculty and object contact, the six consciousnesses arise; when faculty, object, and consciousness again conjoin in contact, the six consciousnesses can discriminate the six sense objects.

Since the coarse form, sound, smell, taste, and touch are manifested first, the five faculties of course first contact the five sense objects; certainly the first five consciousnesses arise first and discriminate the five sense objects first, and only then, in the next kṣaṇa, are the subtle mental sense objects manifested; the manas contacts the mental sense objects, and only then can the mind consciousness arise to discriminate the mental sense objects — the mind consciousness certainly arises after the first five consciousnesses. That is, in the first kṣaṇa the first five consciousnesses first discriminate the coarse form, sound, smell, taste, and touch; in the second kṣaṇa the mind consciousness discriminates the subtle form included in the mental-object base. Then in the first kṣaṇa it is the five consciousnesses, in the second kṣaṇa the mind consciousness, and in the third kṣaṇa the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness operate in conjunction, discriminating together; thereafter it is always the two consciousnesses operating in conjunction, discriminating the six sense objects and dharmas together, until the discriminating activity of this dharma ends.