Are the Five Consciousnesses and the Sixth Consciousness the Perceiving Aspect of the Eighth Consciousness?

Q: Are the five consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness the seeing-part of the eighth consciousness?

A: The sixth consciousness is not the seeing-part of the eighth consciousness, and the eighth consciousness does not rely on the six consciousnesses to perceive all dharmas. The eighth consciousness possesses its own inherent seeing-part, which is the five universal mental factors: attention, contact, sensation, perception, and volition. After the eighth consciousness gives rise to attention toward a dharma, it contacts the dharma. Following contact, it is able to receive and accept it. Subsequently, it discerns the dharma, and after discernment, it cognizes the dharma. This is the seeing-part of the eighth consciousness—the manner in which the eighth consciousness perceives dharmas.

However, the content and essence of the dharmas perceived by the eighth consciousness are entirely different from those perceived by the six consciousnesses. The dharmas perceived by the six consciousnesses all fall into the appearances of the six dusts (objects of sense), grasping at the forms of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mental objects. These are mundane dharmas. In contrast, the dharmas perceived by the eighth consciousness do not fall into the appearances of mundane dharmas; they are not sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, or mental objects. The conscious mind cannot comprehend what the eighth consciousness perceives. Therefore, the seeing-part of the eighth consciousness is not the five consciousnesses or the sixth consciousness.

Nevertheless, after the six consciousnesses perceive dharmas, they exert a certain influence on the functioning of the eighth consciousness. This influence manifests in the fact that the seeing-capacity of the six consciousnesses affects the mental faculty (manas). When the mental faculty receives this influence, it gives rise to corresponding choices. The eighth consciousness must then operate according to the choices made by the mental faculty, thereby producing new dharmas.