What Dharmas Do the Manas and the Eighth Consciousness Each Perceive?

The manas follows the eighth consciousness instant by instant, inseparable from the eighth consciousness; and the eighth consciousness likewise accompanies the manas instant by instant—the two are never apart, like form and shadow. Without the manas, the eighth consciousness cannot manifest any dharma; apart from the eighth consciousness, the manas would cease, and no dharma would be visible at all. Therefore, the dharmas that the manas sees all come from the eighth consciousness; it sees dharmas by relying on the eighth consciousness. As long as the eighth consciousness manifests a dharma, the manas can see it by relying on that. Then the question arises: what dharma exactly does the manas see? Is what it sees the same as what the eighth consciousness sees?

We should know that the eighth consciousness pertains to the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya), while the manas pertains to the conventional truth (saṃvṛti-satya). Therefore, what the eighth consciousness sees is not the content of conventional dharmas, which differs from what the manas sees. And the manas also cannot see the content of the dharmas that the eighth consciousness sees; the two differ in identity and status, in functions and roles, and their perspectives, levels, sequences, and contents of seeing dharmas can never be the same.

The two also differ in their function of drawing forth dharmas; after seeing a dharma, their roles in making choices regarding it also differ; and after making choices, their handling of the dharma also differs. Generally speaking, the manas and the eighth consciousness differ in their mental engagement (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā) with respect to dharmas. Because the manas pertains to the conventional truth and the eighth consciousness to the ultimate truth—the conventional representing ignorance and afflictions, and the ultimate truth representing the absence of ignorance and afflictions—the manas has ignorance and afflictions, while the eighth consciousness has neither ignorance nor afflictions.

Because what the manas sees are conventional dharmas, it will give rise to afflictions and bring forth the mind of self; the eighth consciousness does not see conventional dharmas, so there can be no worldly afflictions for it—pure and non-active, without any self. So if, after we expound the Dharma, we do not fall into conventional appearances, we too, like the eighth consciousness, will not bring forth a self, will not give rise to afflictions, and the mind will be pure, radiating great light.

What dharma exactly does the manas see? Since the manas cannot see what the eighth consciousness sees, yet closely relies on the eighth consciousness to see conventional dharmas—after the eighth consciousness sees a dharma, it continuously transmits and manifests it—the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness are conventional dharmas, and only this portion can be seen by the manas.

What the eighth consciousness sees are the most original dharmas, the most fundamental dharmas, untouched and unprocessed by the seven consciousnesses, which the seven consciousnesses cannot reach. After the eighth consciousness sees the original dharma, it absorbs the particles of the four great elements within it and begins to transmit them outward, forming images—this belongs to the portion of conventional dharmas, and the manas sees these images. In the process of transmission, the eighth consciousness passes through certain intermediate media, and some of the four great element particles will be blocked, so the dharma transmitted by the eighth consciousness will change to some degree. No matter how many times the dharma transmitted by the eighth consciousness changes along the way, the manas can always see by relying on it, and it continues to see until the dharma lands in the supreme faculty at the back of the brain. Thus, what the manas sees are the various levels of conventional dharmas transformed and arisen by the eighth consciousness after it sees the original dharma; the manas can see the dharmas transmitted by the eighth consciousness all along the way. Therefore, the manas can know the entire course of the dharma's changes. As far as the mind consciousness and the six consciousnesses are concerned, the manas is said to have foreknowledge—what is called premonition and inspiration. Without language, words, or thinking, it can yet know all dharmas and judge everything, much of which the mind consciousness is not permitted to refute or resist.

As for what the original dharma seen by the eighth consciousness is, it of course cannot be apart from the seeds of the four great elements that constitute the dharma—the structure, appearance, proportions, and composition of the seeds. This portion will not cause the eighth consciousness to give birth to afflictions. If the seven consciousnesses saw only these contents, they likewise would not give rise to any afflictions, because these are not conventional dharmas and have no worldly benefit or exploitable value.

After the eighth consciousness has seen the original dharma and manifested the conventional dharma, does it still see it? Of course it continues to see; otherwise the manas would not be able to see it. But although the eighth consciousness can also see the dharmas that the manas sees, it never falls into conventional appearances. The eighth consciousness does not see the conventional appearances of dharmas; in seeing all dharmas, it sees their ultimate-truth aspect, namely the seed contents contained within the dharmas. Therefore, when the eighth consciousness sees all the dharmas of the great thousand worlds, there is no dharma it does not see, yet it has no afflictions, no ignorance, nothing it does not know; its light brilliantly illuminates the great thousand worlds, yet it has no desire to possess the great thousand worlds—there is no mind of self, no greed, no anger.

The conventional dharmas seen by the seven consciousnesses are all seen wrongly, not the true facts of things; because of ignorance, there are afflictions. What are the true facts of a dharma? They are the seed contents seen by the eighth consciousness—no other dharma; everything is seeds, no other dharma. All seeds belong to the eighth consciousness; therefore, the eighth consciousness is a wealthy elder who needs to possess nothing, still less covet anything. Only the poor have greed; a person who is poor will inevitably hope to gain something; only one whose mind is poor will be insatiably greedy.

The eighth consciousness is very content, yet it shows no state of mind of contentment; it has no state of mind, no feelings, and never sighs with emotion over thousands or billions of things—calm and tranquil.

Only the eighth consciousness is the original Buddhadharma, the original Buddhism. Without the eighth consciousness, there is no dharma at all—not even the manas, still less the six consciousnesses or the five aggregates. Without the eighth consciousness and the seventh consciousness, no dharma can be seen. Not to study the eighth consciousness, but only to take the extremely small portion of dharmas derived from it, is foolishness. Therefore, the Buddha said that arhats are fools and ordinary beings are idiots.