The Process of the Ear Consciousness Discerning Sound Objects

Question: When the ear faculty contacts the sound object and gives rise to the ear consciousness, does the seed of consciousness arise at the source of the sound and the sound object, or at the ear faculty? Is the arising of the other consciousnesses also like this? Is it the tathāgatagarbha that transforms the sound object into the inner sound object, with the ear consciousness arising at the supreme faculty, at the back of the head? Then the ear consciousness further discerns the inner sound object. I always feel that sounds come from outside—who is it that feels this? The tathāgatagarbha cannot feel it. Only the ear consciousness feels it, yet the ear consciousness is inside the brain—how could it run outside?

Answer: The eighth consciousness manifests the inner five sense-objects at the supreme faculty in the back of the head. When the supreme faculty contacts the inner five sense-objects and the manas directs its attention, the eighth consciousness gives rise to the five sense consciousnesses at the supreme faculty. The five sense consciousnesses, the five supreme faculties, and the inner five sense-objects—the three of them together in contact—produce the feeling of the five sense consciousnesses. The five sense consciousnesses can then, together with the mind consciousness, discern the inner five sense-objects and the mental objects at the supreme faculty—that is, the six sense-objects inside the black box. The five sense consciousnesses are neither inside the black box nor outside it. The eighth consciousness gives rise to the ear consciousness, and the function of the ear consciousness is to discern the inner sound object; the ear consciousness cannot discern sounds outside, so the ear consciousness is not outside. Yet the ear consciousness has no form or appearance, so it is not inside either—and yet it functions in this way. The eighth consciousness then, based on the inner five sense-objects, manifests the inner mental objects—that is, form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana, which are the visible form, expressive form, and non-expressive form of the form object. The region and location of the mental objects differ from those of the inner five sense-objects. Then the eighth consciousness further manifests the mind consciousness to discern the inner mental objects.