Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (174)

The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are transformed at the causal stage; the fifth and eighth are perfected at the fruition stage

Among the five aggregates, the ones we use the most are the sixth consciousness and the seventh consciousness. The sixth consciousness consists of all kinds of thoughts, views, feelings, sensations, and discriminations. For example, the mind listening to the Dharma here is the sixth consciousness; the content of the Dharma teaching becomes a mental sense-object (dharma-viṣaya). When the manas and the mental sense-object come into contact, the Ālayavijñāna gives birth to the sixth consciousness, which will think about and analyze what content is being heard, and then give rise to initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra), as well as feelings of clarity or lack of clarity regarding the Dharma. Sentient beings, while alive, function primarily through the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the first five consciousnesses are secondary, without so many and such complex mental activities—only simple, rough seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching, while the subtle discriminations, feelings, and thoughts are dominated by the sixth consciousness. The manas is the consciousness that is the master; without the manas there would be no sixth consciousness. The activities of our five aggregates are dominated by these two consciousnesses, and cultivation is mainly the cultivation of these two consciousnesses. When these two consciousnesses are thoroughly transformed, the first five consciousnesses will change, and only then can the functions of the eighth consciousness be brought into full play—then we become Buddhas.

So, in our cultivation, do we cultivate the true mind or the deluded mind? The true mind needs no cultivation. When the ignorance of the deluded mind is completely eradicated and the afflictions are completely severed, then the true mind is restored to its original face. When we clear the seeds of unwholesome karma out of the true mind, the true mind recovers its own original face, and we are a Buddha. We are not yet Buddhas now, because the Ālayavijñāna still contains the ignorance and defiled karma of the seven consciousnesses. Becoming a Buddha requires breaking through countless instances of ignorance: each time one understands and realizes a principle, one ignorance is broken; when all ignorance is broken through, the Buddha path is perfectly accomplished. Such is the path of cultivation.