A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness

Content Summary

The mind consciousness is one of the most effective tools for practicing and realizing the Buddha-dharma; it is used to come into contact with the Buddha-dharma, contemplate the Buddha-dharma, and gain correct knowledge and views, then to perfuse the manas, and finally to attain realization. The functions and activities of the mind consciousness can be observed by ordinary people. It has many characteristics, and its overall characteristic is that it arises and ceases, changes, and is impermanent. However, many Buddhist practitioners mistake a certain property of the mind consciousness for the function of the non-arising and non-ceasing eighth consciousness. In that case, if they claim to have attained enlightenment, it is mistaken enlightenment, and they cannot attain liberation from birth and death.

This book describes the types of mind consciousness, its functions of discernment, the manifestations and harms of greed, anger, and delusion, the differences between being in meditative concentration and outside of it, and the ways of discerning sense objects. It also explains the principles behind the arising of the mind consciousness's functions of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, as well as the process of arising, ceasing, and change in the discernment of sense objects, fully demonstrating that the nature of the mind consciousness differs greatly from that of the eighth consciousness. This enables practitioners to clearly recognize the distinction between the two, to no longer take the mind consciousness as the true one, and thus to embark on the correct path of investigating Chan, so that a lifetime of cultivation is not wasted. Non-Buddhists all take the mind consciousness as their true spiritual knowing nature; because their minds are heavily obstructed, they cannot see the actual functioning of the true mind, the eighth consciousness. If they could clearly recognize the intermittent arising-and-ceasing nature of the mind consciousness, non-Buddhists could quickly eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), resolve the problem of birth and death, and escape the cycle of rebirth. Therefore, understanding the nature of the mind consciousness is extremely important.