What is contact?

Contact means touching and coming into contact; it is divided into mental contact and non-mental contact. Non-mental contact is the physical touching of objects. Mental contact is the contact of the conscious mind; it is the mental factor of contact (sparśa). Only after contact can subsequent discernment occur—when people meet, they come to know each other; without meeting, there is no way to know or understand one another. The manas contacting the mental sense-objects is mental contact. After the mind consciousness arises, the three then come together in contact—that is, all three mutually contact one another. If there is no contact, then there is no mind consciousness, and no subsequent discernment either. At this time, the manas contacts both the mental sense-objects and the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness contacts both the mental sense-objects and the manas. Therefore, the mind consciousness both discerns the mental sense-objects and knows the intentions of the manas, while the manas both roughly discerns the mental sense-objects and knows the intentions of the mind consciousness. The mental sense-objects are simultaneously contacted by the manas and the mind consciousness, and are also discerned by both. The manas then further discerns the mental sense-objects through the discernment of the mind consciousness, and thereby gains clear knowledge of them.