Brief Discussion on Material Elements (Draft)

6. The Difference Between the Essential Realm and the Realm with Essential Substance

The essential realm is one in which the eighth consciousness personally participates in its transformation and manifestation, jointly produced by the output of the seeds of the four great elements from the eighth consciousnesses of all sentient beings with karmic connections. It is called the essential realm. After an individual sentient being's eighth consciousness contacts the essential realm, it manifests an image, like a mirror reflecting an object; this is called the realm with essential substance, which the seventh consciousness, the manas, contacts.

For example, the great earth of the essential realm is composed of real seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; it is a real dharma and possesses the property of hardness. When the seventh consciousness, the manas, contacts the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness, it can contact the realm with essential substance that arises from the eighth consciousness's perceiving-aspect—the image of the great earth. It is a shadow, a shadow in a mirror, not real, and lacks genuine hardness.

For example, the water in the essential realm is composed of real seeds of the four great elements; it has the property of wetness and the property of submerging, and it is contacted by the eighth consciousness. After contacting it, the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness manifests the water of the realm with essential substance—an image, an image in a mirror, lacking substantive wetness and substantive submerging capacity. It is contacted by the seventh consciousness, the manas, and is called the realm with essential substance.

For example, the fire in the essential realm is composed of real seeds of the four great elements; it has the property of burning and is contacted by the eighth consciousness. After contacting it, the eighth consciousness manifests a similar fire of the realm with essential substance based on it—an image, like fire in a mirror, without the property of burning. The manas can contact it, and it is called the realm with essential substance.

For example, the wind in the essential realm is composed of real seeds of the four great elements; it has the property of blowing and the property of drifting, and it is contacted by the eighth consciousness. After contacting it, the eighth consciousness manifests the wind of the realm with essential substance based on it—an image, an image in a mirror, without the property of blowing or the property of drifting. The manas can contact it, and it is called the realm with essential substance.

The manas, relying on the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness, contacts these dharmas, yet believes that what it sees is all real and that it has seen it personally. It appropriates the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness as its own, not knowing that what it sees differs fundamentally from what the eighth consciousness sees, and not knowing that without this mirror of the eighth consciousness, it would see nothing at all. It takes the functions of the eighth consciousness as its own—it is truly a thief.

"All marks are false and illusory." — As the sūtras say, this is true and not false. When the seventh consciousness contacts the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness, the eighth consciousness truly exists and is the genuine essential dharma of ultimate reality.