The Relationship Between the Perceiving-Aspect and the Seed of the Seeing Element

The sixth and seventh consciousnesses are both the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga) and the object-aspect (nimitta); the object-aspect is the dharma that is discerned by the mind consciousness and the manas, while the mind consciousness and the manas are the perceiving-aspect. The mind consciousness itself and the manas are also the object-aspect; whatever dharma is discerned is the object-aspect, and the conscious mind that actively discerns is the perceiving-aspect.

The "seeing" among the seven great seeds of the tathāgatagarbha refers to the great seed of seeing, not to the perceiving-aspect. The great seed of seeing forms the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha; when the seeing nature of the tathāgatagarbha is put to use, the perceiving-aspect of the seven consciousnesses manifests, and the defiled realms of worldly dharmas are seen—that is, seeing the object-aspect—after which the sense realms are then discerned. The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha operates through the five universal mental factors—attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā)—with the mental factor of perception playing the primary role; it operates in this way upon all dharmas, and thereafter the tathāgatagarbha discerns all dharmas. The perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha likewise cannot be separated from the great seed of seeing; only with the seeing-nature function of the great seed of seeing can buddha-nature be activated, and only then can the perceiving-aspect of the tathāgatagarbha see all dharmas.