The Sixth Patriarch's Awakening to the Way Was the Direct Perception of the Eighth Consciousness

All genuine Chan contemplative realization attained by Mahāyāna bodhisattvas consists of personally realizing the eighth consciousness, being able to directly observe the functions and operations of the eighth consciousness in the present moment—not inferring the existence and functions of the eighth consciousness through reasoning and deduction. Reasoning and deduction are not genuine realization. When the Sixth Patriarch awakened while listening to the Fifth Patriarch expound the Diamond Sutra, he realized the true suchness of the eighth consciousness and was immediately able to observe the eighth consciousness directly in the present moment; thus he uttered the five exclamations of "how unforeseen is self-nature (svabhāva)." Likewise, all other Chan patriarchs, at the moment of their enlightenment, realized the true suchness of the eighth consciousness—none of them relied on reasoning and deduction. Only through genuine realization can one observe the functions and operations of the eighth consciousness through direct perception/valid direct cognition, thereby obtaining the great wisdom of prajñā. When the wisdom of prajñā reaches fullness, one can observe in the present moment the vast multitude of functions and operations of the eighth consciousness, as clearly as seeing an āmalaka fruit in the palm of one's hand—not imagining that there is an āmalaka fruit in one's hand, but actually seeing with one's own eyes that the āmalaka fruit truly exists. It is the same with realizing the eighth consciousness: it is not imagining or deducing that there is an eighth consciousness, imagining what functions He might perform; rather, one can directly observe, in the present moment, the various operations of the eighth consciousness within the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) and the eighteen realms.

Reasoning and imagination are functions of the mind consciousness, whereas genuine realization involves the personal verification by the manas. Realization by the manas is a present-moment direct perception/valid direct cognition—seen immediately, right here and now. There is no need, upon encountering some dharma, to strive to deliberate on the eighth consciousness within that dharma. What is deliberated upon in the present moment is unreliable: when the mind consciousness ceases, deliberation becomes impossible, and the eighth consciousness would seem to vanish. Especially after death, when there is no mind consciousness, one can no longer deliberate on the eighth consciousness; not seeing the existence of the eighth consciousness makes one an ordinary being/worldling (Skt. pṛthagjana), and one will take rebirth in an ordinary being's body—all of one's lifetime of cultivation will have been in vain, which is truly a pity. Therefore, whoever cannot immediately and presently see the functions of the eighth consciousness, but instead relies on reasoning to prove the existence of the eighth consciousness, has not attained true enlightenment.