The Difference Between the Perceiving-Aspect and the Object-Aspect

Question: What is the matter with the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) of the seven great elements within the tathāgatagarbha? How does it differ from the perceiving-aspect of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses?

Answer: The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are both the perceiving-aspect and also the object-aspect (nimitta). The object-aspect is the dharma that is discerned by the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness is the perceiving-aspect. The mind consciousness itself and the manas are also object-aspects; whatever dharma is being discerned is the object-aspect, and the conscious mind that actively discerns is the perceiving-aspect.

The "seeing" of the seven great-element seeds of the tathāgatagarbha is not the perceiving-aspect; it is the seed of the great element of seeing. The seed of the great element of seeing forms the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha operates through the five universal mental factors (caittas) — attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and deliberation (manasikāra) — with the mental factor of perception as the primary one. It must function in this way upon all dharmas, and thereby discerns all dharmas. However, this discernment is completely different from the discerning nature of the seventh consciousness; it is not the kind of discernment of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas that sentient beings are familiar with through the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Without the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātratā), one cannot observe it through direct perception; even imagining it is very difficult.