Types and Forms of Solitary Consciousness

The mental activity carried out by the mind consciousness alone, not together with the five sense consciousnesses, is the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta). For example, when we contemplate a Buddhist teaching or a principle, or engage in meditative reflection, or recollect, or daydream, or dwell on matters on our mind, and so on—all these various mental activities are the distracted solitary consciousness. Another example: in meditative concentration, when one knows that various meditative states have appeared in one's mind, discerning what kind of state this is, what significance it has, what its content is, various feelings can arise in the mind, and various mental activities appear. This is the solitary consciousness within meditative concentration; He does not engage in discerning activities together with the five sense consciousnesses. There is also the solitary consciousness in dreams—the activities we engage in within dreams, discerning all kinds of dream scenes—these are all activities of the mind consciousness alone. For these activities to appear, many conditions must be complete; if even one condition is lacking, the solitary consciousness cannot arise. When the solitary consciousness does not arise, we cannot carry out these deliberative activities, discerning activities, analytical activities, planning activities, or contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) activities—all of these activities cease to exist.