Commentary on the Verses of the Treatise on the Eight Consciousnesses (I)

Original Text: Verse on the First Five Consciousnesses. The objective realm, direct perception, and the three natures are all encompassed.

Explanation: First, explain the conceptual terms involved in the original text. The first five consciousnesses are eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, and body-consciousness.

The objective realm (性境) refers to the five sense-object realms of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, born within the supramundane faculty (胜义根), synthesized from the actual seeds of the five great elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and space—possessing the functional attributes of actual form-dharmas, and corresponding to the five consciousnesses. Before entering the supramundane faculty, the objective realm does not confront the five consciousnesses and is not discerned by them; rather, it is universally apprehended by the mental faculty (意根). If the mental faculty cannot apprehend it, there is no ability to foresee; when encountering sudden situations, the mental faculty cannot react promptly or resolve problems quickly. If the mental faculty cannot apprehend it, there are dharmas it does not apprehend, lacking universal apprehension, which contradicts the *Śūraṅgama Sūtra*'s statement that it apprehends all dharmas universally.

Specifically discussing the form-object among the five sense-objects: it is composed of the seeds of the five great elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and space—confronting eye-consciousness and discerned by eye-consciousness. The form-object not only has color discerned by eye-consciousness but also its shape, appearance, and non-appearance are simultaneously discerned by the five-concomitant mental consciousness (五俱意识). This portion of dharmas is called the dharma-object (法尘) or form included within the mental base (法处所摄色), also known as the realm with substance (带质境), carrying the substance of the five great seeds, but it is not an actual dharma; it is a provisional dharma (假法). How is it provisional? For example, the five great seeds synthesize particles; particles continuously accumulate into minute matter, which further accumulates into larger and more numerous material form-dharmas. At this point, the material form-dharmas possess shape, appearance, and non-appearance such as length, shortness, squareness, and roundness. The material itself is an actual dharma, an objective realm; the shape, size, squareness, or roundness displayed after the material grows larger or more numerous are not actual dharmas. They lack the five great seeds and their functional attributes, existing dependently on the objective realm; thus, they are provisional dharmas, also called the realm with substance, specifically the false realm with substance (假带质境), or form included within the mental base. The true realm with substance is apprehended by the mental faculty.

What functional attributes does the form-object of the objective realm possess? For example, a stone possesses hardness, warmth or coolness, roughness or smoothness, and motility—these are actual functional attributes. In contrast, the dharma-object realm with substance (法尘带质境) dependent on the form-object is a displayed false appearance lacking these attributes. For instance, a large mountain and a small mountain are both essentially mountains; their size is due to the varying quantity of accumulated dust particles, not because there exists some dharma apart from the dust particles and the form-object. Therefore, the dharma-object corresponding to mental consciousness is a false, illusory appearance.

The concept of direct perception (现量) refers to discerning a presently existing realm—what is present is present, what is absent is absent—without the need for thought, imagination, analysis, or conjecture. The five consciousnesses discerning the five sense-object realms is direct perception, and they can only engage in direct perception. What is present is present; what is absent is absent; what something is, they ascertain it as such, without error. If there is error, it is necessarily mental consciousness that errs, specifically the solitary mental consciousness (独头意识) that errs. The five-concomitant mental consciousness is only responsible for discerning the shape, appearance, and non-appearance of the form-object; following the five consciousnesses, it also discerns via direct perception. Building on this, the solitary mental consciousness, through inference (比量) and non-valid cognition (非量), engages in thought, analysis, reasoning, and judgment regarding the dharma-object. It may then recognize incorrectly, judge erroneously, confuse concepts, misjudge attributes like length, shortness, squareness, roundness, size, and even misjudge what the five consciousnesses have discerned. When this is transmitted to the mental faculty, the mental faculty will misjudge, leading to errors in body, speech, and mind, potentially resulting in mental illness.

The three natures (三性) refer to the wholesome, unwholesome, and ethically neutral (无记性) natures of consciousness. Based on the operational characteristics of the five consciousnesses themselves, their functions are extremely singular and narrow. They only engage in direct perception of the actual five sense-object realms composed of the five great seeds, without engaging in thought, analysis, conjecture, or imagination. They have no other mental activities; those belong to the domain of mental consciousness, specifically solitary mental consciousness. Eye-consciousness fundamentally cannot generate wholesome or unwholesome thoughts; its function is solely set to discern automatically and singularly, like a robot—indeed, even more singular and pure than a robot, with even more simplified functions. How, then, could they possibly generate wholesome or unwholesome minds?

For example, when eye-consciousness perceives a form-object, how could it be wholesome or unwholesome? How could it have any other constructive or destructive thoughts? Regarding the form-object, it fundamentally has no thought of how to handle it, nor thoughts of concealment or exaggeration. It merely touches mechanically, mechanically ascertains the color of the form-object, with no further scope for activity. All that is the business of mental consciousness, specifically solitary mental consciousness. Even the five-concomitant mental consciousness does not have so much authority and function; it only cooperates with the five consciousnesses in discernment, and that discernment is direct perception, lacking wholesome or unwholesome attributes. What possesses wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral mental activities and thoughts is solitary mental consciousness. Solitary mental consciousness corresponds to the image-only realm (独影境), using inferential and non-valid modes of discernment. The conditions required for its arising and operation are very few; its authority is very extensive; it is extremely lively, jumping, unrestricted, and boundless, interwoven with wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, very complex, and difficult to control.

The first five consciousnesses completely lack autonomy. Their arising, ceasing, and alteration are determined by the mental faculty. They are tools for the mental faculty to discern the five sense-objects. They all discern sense-objects together with mental consciousness, and the scope of their discernment is very narrow, relatively singular, and the discernment process is akin to mechanization. Because the five consciousnesses are like video recorders, audio recorders, or geological detectors, controlled by the mental faculty, lacking autonomy and capacity for choice. Which part to record, how long to record, the angle, orientation, etc., are all controlled by the mental faculty. What to detect, the direction, angle, duration, etc., are all chosen by the mental faculty. The five consciousnesses are merely obedient tools, less flexible, less authoritative, and less functional than robots. How, then, could they be wholesome or unwholesome? Even robots with extremely many functions lack wholesome or unwholesome attributes; how could the five consciousnesses with singular functions possess them? Therefore, the five consciousnesses only have the ethically neutral nature.

How are the five consciousnesses tools? For example, if the mental faculty wants to see a certain form, the Tathāgatagarbha (如来藏) cooperates, and the five-concomitant mental consciousness and eye-consciousness are born on that specific form; on other forms, there is no mental consciousness or eye-consciousness because the mental faculty has not chosen them and has no thought about them. If the mental faculty wants to see a specific part of a certain form, eye-consciousness and the five-concomitant mental consciousness must focus on that part; the other parts have no mental consciousness or eye-consciousness. These two consciousnesses absolutely turn according to the mental faculty's thoughts and intentions; otherwise, there would be no necessity for them to arise. They cannot arise autonomously or freely; their arising is conditional, requiring the mental faculty's choice as a prerequisite, and they must turn according to the mental faculty's will. Wherever the mental faculty points, they must strike; otherwise, why would the Tathāgatagarbha give rise to these two consciousnesses?

In the process of discerning form-dharmas, if the mental faculty has a wholesome thought wishing to cultivate wholesome dharmas, the five-concomitant mental consciousness and eye-consciousness operate according to the mental faculty's thought, but eye-consciousness still has no wholesome nature; even the five-concomitant mental consciousness may have no wholesome nature. However, solitary mental consciousness absolutely has a wholesome nature; otherwise, it would be unwilling to cooperate in performing wholesome actions. Similarly, if the mental faculty has an unwholesome thought wishing to create unwholesome karma, the five-concomitant mental consciousness and eye-consciousness operate according to the mental faculty's unwholesome intention. Eye-consciousness similarly has no unwholesome nature; even the five-concomitant mental consciousness may have no unwholesome nature. However, solitary mental consciousness absolutely has an unwholesome mind; otherwise, it would resist and be unwilling to cooperate. Solitary mental consciousness fully possesses all three natures: wholesome, unwholesome, and ethically neutral. The five-concomitant mental consciousness has an ethically neutral nature; it may also have wholesome or unwholesome attributes when subordinate to the mental faculty—this will be observed later. The five consciousnesses definitely have no wholesome or unwholesome nature; they only have the ethically neutral nature.

When observing the intrinsic nature or attributes of the seven consciousnesses, it is essential to observe the seven consciousnesses separately, not together. Observing them together is observing the collective characteristics and attributes of the seven consciousnesses, not the attributes of any single consciousness; thus, the functional attributes of individual consciousnesses cannot be distinguished. If the attributes of the combined operation of multiple consciousnesses are taken as the attributes of a single consciousness, that is wrong; the result and conclusion become inaccurate, even inverted.

Of course, ordinary people can only observe a part of the superficial attributes and mental activities of solitary mental consciousness; even observing the five-concomitant mental consciousness is difficult. Due to insufficient concentration (定) and wisdom (慧), it is impossible to directly perceive the attributes and mental activities of the first five consciousnesses and the mental faculty. Those with sufficient concentration and wisdom capable of observing the intrinsic nature of the first five consciousnesses and the mental faculty must be noble bodhisattvas (地上菩萨) who possess the wisdom specific to the consciousness-only doctrine (唯识种智). Therefore, regarding profound dharmas, disagreements and controversies are substantial.