Direct Perception of the Six Consciousnesses in Meditation

In the state of meditative concentration, the six consciousnesses also engage in direct perceptual discernment. In the access concentration (or "approaching absorption"), all six consciousnesses are present and can directly discern the currently existing or manifesting objects of the six sensory fields. States such as the body's lightness, expansiveness, comfort, and ease are directly discerned jointly by the body-consciousness and the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna). The inner feeling of ethereality, emptiness, detachment, and tranquility is directly discerned solely by the mental consciousness, constituting an exclusive state. Due to insufficient wisdom or inadequate understanding of meditative states, the mental consciousness may fail to fully discern the meditative state through direct perception, leading to discernment that is inferential or non-valid.

In the first dhyāna (meditative absorption), the mental consciousness, together with the eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, and body-consciousness, jointly directly discerns the objects of form, sound, touch, and mental objects (dharmas). The mental consciousness alone can directly discern inner feelings such as lightness, joy, tranquility, and illusoriness, and can directly discern the mental objects (dharmas) of the meditative state. The mental consciousness can also engage in inferential or non-valid discernment of the meditative state's mental objects. In the meditative state of the second dhyāna, only the mental consciousness exists alone; the first five consciousnesses are absent. Therefore, within the meditative state of the second dhyāna, the mental consciousness alone directly discerns the subtle and profound mental objects of the meditative state. At this stage, the mental consciousness's direct perceptual discernment is extremely subtle and profound; one almost ceases to feel the act of one's own discernment, nor does one feel an inner awareness, and the deep inner joy and comfort become almost imperceptible because it is too profound. In this state, there is no inferential or non-valid discernment by the mental consciousness, as no disordered or illusory meditative phenomena arise. The mental consciousness abides without perception or observation (avitarka, avicāra), having already ceased all activities of thought and analysis.