A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness
Chapter 3 The Mind Consciousness and Meditative Concentration
1. The Difference Between Sleep and Meditative Concentration
So-called meditative concentration (samādhi) means that the mind's thoughts are concentrated and not scattered, gathering in the six faculties, resting on a single object, without scattered and random grasping. The eye consciousness and mind consciousness focus on one place of material sense-object, shutting out other sense-objects; or the ear consciousness and mind consciousness focus on one place of sound sense-object, shutting out other sense-objects; or the mind consciousness focuses on one place of mental sense-object, shutting out other sense-objects. In these states of focus of the six consciousnesses, the mind consciousness is primary; the manas governs all dharmas. If the manas does not grasp at things in a scattered way but only rests on a few mental sense-objects, the six consciousnesses can focus on a single object. Because the manas is the deciding consciousness, and the six consciousnesses must all obey the manas's directives, only by subduing the manas can the cultivation of concentration be effective.
So-called sleep means that the six consciousnesses are all temporarily extinguished and do not appear; only thus can the body and mind eliminate fatigue. If the six consciousnesses do not cease, the consciousness-mind will be actively manifesting, just as when awake, and this is not sleep. Then the body and mind cannot get true rest, and the body still feels just as tired.
Sleep is divided into two kinds: with dreams and without dreams. When asleep without dreams, the six consciousnesses do not arise; only the eighth consciousness and the seventh consciousness remain at their posts, sustaining the life activities of the physical body. When there are dreams, the mind consciousness participates in slight discriminating activity within the dream; then the sleep is not deep, the body cannot get sufficient rest, and the next day a feeling of fatigue will appear.
In both meditative concentration and sleep, the seventh consciousness and the eighth consciousness are operating. In meditative concentration, the seventh consciousness has already been effectively subdued, with reduced grasping; the less and the lighter the grasping, the deeper the mind consciousness enters concentration. In sleep, the seventh consciousness is still grasping at the body faculty and mental sense-objects, merely knowing that the body needs rest and not letting the six consciousnesses come out to discriminate.
In the concentration prior to the first dhyāna, the six consciousnesses discriminate the six sense-objects, but the degree of discriminating the six sense-objects differs, the degree of single-mindedness of the consciousness-mind differs, and the feelings of body and mind also differ. In the first dhyāna, the nose consciousness and tongue consciousness do not arise. In the dhyānas of the second dhyāna and above, the first five consciousnesses disappear, leaving only the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses; the mind consciousness abides in a relatively deep and subtle state of concentration, discerning the mental sense-objects of the concentration state. In the concentration of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) and the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti), the mind consciousness is also fully extinguished, leaving only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses.
2. The Consciousness Accompanied by the Five Senses Has Greater Discriminating Power Than the Solitary Consciousness
For example, if the mind consciousness thinks of a square moon, a square moon appears in the brain; when looking at the round moon in the sky, if one then tries to imagine that the moon before one's eyes is square, one simply cannot imagine a square moon. This is because the mind consciousness's power of concentration is insufficient; it is disturbed by the object before one's eyes, and it is very difficult to again clearly imagine and conceive in non-valid cognition.
With eyes open, what the mind consciousness sees is the mental sense-object upon the five sense-objects; with eyes closed, what the mind consciousness imagines is the subjectively imagined realm. If with eyes open one sees the round moon upon the five sense-objects, after the consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna) has discerned the round moon, with the direct perception of the eye consciousness also cooperating, the power of what is seen with one's own eyes is strong, and the manas can confirm and support it. After looking at the round moon, trying to imagine a square moon becomes very difficult, because the image of the round moon remains in the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness must discriminate two objects simultaneously, the consciousness-mind is divided, the imagining function that arises is very weak, and imagining a square moon is not easy.
The solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) is most easily disturbed, so the power to imagine a square moon is not complete; after all, the solitary consciousness discriminates in non-valid cognition, with relatively few external conditions. The round moon is discriminated in direct perception, and with the eye consciousness simultaneously discriminating it, the force of imagining the round moon is great; it is somewhat more difficult to make the subjectively imagined realm appear, so the square moon in the mind does not easily appear.
If the mind consciousness's power of concentration is quite good, the solitary consciousness may gain the upper hand, and the mind can imagine a square moon, which contradicts the moon in the material sense-object. At this time, the round moon and the square moon may appear alternately—one moment round, one moment square. For a person with very good concentration, both moons may appear simultaneously, or perhaps only a square moon appears. Try practicing your own power of concentration and see which consciousness gains the upper hand. If this kind of concentration can be cultivated, in the future one will be able to transform all dharmas, and even manifest a trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold great world system) within a single thought. Healing and adjusting others' illnesses also relies entirely on this power of concentration; changing others' minds also relies entirely on this power of concentration.
3. Under what circumstances can the mind consciousness's function of thinking be exercised to the greatest degree, thinking at its best and clearest? When the mind consciousness rests on a single dharma, or takes one dharma as primary and rests on two or three dharmas, moving from scatteredness toward focus, thinking is clearest—this is the function of the power of meditative concentration. When scattered, the mind consciousness's thinking power is weak and the train of thought unclear; when concentration is too deep, the mind consciousness cannot move, thoughts cease, and thinking is exhausting. Only when there is concentration, and the concentration is not excessively deep, can the mind consciousness's thinking be deep, subtle, and clear, with an open train of thought.
4. When the mind consciousness is in the waking state, it discerns among the many mental sense-objects of the six sense-objects; the flowing forth of the mind-consciousness seeds is relatively dispersed, but there is still one dominant direction. To make it flow forth entirely on a single dharma, one must undergo training, such as cultivating concentration to gain power of concentration; the deeper the concentration, the more the flow can be concentrated. That is why the Buddha taught us to cultivate concentration first and then engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and Chan investigation; only thus can there be results. But ordinary people also cannot distribute the mind-consciousness seeds evenly across two or more mental sense-objects; there is always a primary and a secondary. If one needs to discern several mental sense-objects simultaneously, the mind consciousness's attention must keep jumping among the different mental sense-objects. For example, when we walk on a road with many vehicles and people, the mind consciousness must constantly discern the material mental sense-object, the sound mental sense-object, and the tactile mental sense-object, flowing forth consciousness seeds simultaneously on all three mental sense-objects; but there is still a primary-secondary distinction, and the primary-secondary relationship keeps switching as external conditions change.
The above description is correct for ordinary people—that is, for those without concentration or with little concentration, who have not undergone special training. If one has undergone training and has good power of concentration, even when discerning multiple objects simultaneously one still has concentration and can discern all clearly—this is what is meant by "eyes observing six directions, ears listening to eight quarters." A person with good concentration can do several things at once without problem, doing them all well, with energy highly concentrated on several matters, handling them well. When the consciousness-mind is well trained and both concentration and wisdom are very strong, it is just like this.
5. Why Does One Pick Up the Wrong Thing While Thinking About a Problem?
While thinking about a problem, the mind consciousness may be very focused on thinking, with only a tiny portion of energy attending to what the hand is to pick up, so it cannot correctly judge and choose whether the thing to be picked up is what one wants; the body consciousness's ability to distinguish objects is very poor, and it must discriminate together with the mind consciousness. Once the mind consciousness is dispersed, one will pick up the wrong thing. So when attention is not concentrated and not single-minded, one will do things wrong. But a well-trained person with power of concentration can observe six directions with the eyes and listen to eight quarters with the ears, coordinating and handling everything in all aspects well—thus focus, Chan (dhyāna), and power of concentration are extremely important.
When there is power of concentration, the mind consciousness's thinking can be clear and lucid, with wisdom, and one can do things in an orderly fashion—this is true both for worldly wisdom and supramundane wisdom. In the Buddha-dharma, to think a dharma-meaning through clearly, one's attention must be extremely single-minded, without the disturbance of stray thoughts. Only after focused thinking can one understand the content of the dharma-meaning and comprehend the true meaning in the sūtras. So focused attention is very important; power of concentration is the key and prerequisite for the arising of wisdom. A very few well-trained people can use one mind for many purposes, handling several matters at once, because their power of concentration is highly developed; whereas some people cannot even do one thing well, because their mind consciousness is too scattered, without any power of concentration, so their thinking is disordered and shallow, and therefore they cannot do anything well.
6. A Scientist Was So Focused and Diligent in Reading That He Ate a Steamed Bun Dipped in Ink Without Noticing—Did He Have a Tongue Consciousness at That Time? If He Had a Tongue Consciousness, He Would Certainly Have Known the Ink Tasted Bad—Why Didn't He Know?
Eating always involves the tongue consciousness; the mind consciousness cannot taste food by itself. When absorbed in reading, eating a steamed bun dipped in ink without noticing—this situation is that the mind consciousness is focused on reading and not paying attention to what is being eaten; there is discrimination, only the discrimination is rather vague. The tongue consciousness exists and is still discriminating the food, only discriminating the coarse aspects of the food; the subtle aspects are discriminated by the mind consciousness—for example, what kind of food it is, and the specific flavor and texture. The tongue consciousness cannot discriminate so finely. If the mind consciousness is focused on reading, and the tongue consciousness cannot discriminate finely, then even after eating the ink, the scientist did not notice or perceive it. From this example it can also be shown that as long as a practitioner does not care for the enjoyments of worldly dharmas, he can reduce craving and attachment to worldly things.
7. Some people have out-of-body experiences; it is unknown which consciousness left the body. When the soul leaves the body, the person has not died; the life-form still exists, so the eighth consciousness and the manas together sustain the life activities of the physical body and have not left the body. The first five consciousnesses cannot exist independently apart from the body's five faculties with independent discriminating nature; only the mind consciousness can leave the body and have consciousness-mind activity without the cooperation of the five faculties. But the existence and discriminating activity of the mind consciousness cannot occur apart from the manas and the eighth consciousness; the three are combined together and inseparable.
Sentient beings have eight consciousnesses in total. The manas and the eighth consciousness can be outside the physical body at any time and place, even in past lives and future lives, while at the same time not leaving the physical body, not departing from the present moment. Because the eighth consciousness pervades all places, all dharmas, and all times—in Him there is no spatial distance, no time, no three periods; the manas, following the tathāgatagarbha, likewise has no spatial distance and no three periods.
For the mind consciousness to actively leave the body requires the blessing of some spiritual power or the skill of meditative concentration; only by relying on the power of concentration can it leave the physical body and act independently. Concentration has depth and shallowness; shallow concentration can only occasionally reach the state of single-pointed one-mindedness, temporarily forgetting the physical body and ignoring its existence—at this time the mind consciousness can leave the physical body. After the mind consciousness goes out, it can see what state its own physical body is in—whether in a state of death or in a state of sitting in meditation—and what the surroundings are like; the mind consciousness can discern all of this.
The physical body left behind, though it can lie down or sit in meditation, has no emotion, carries no mood, and is inwardly numb, like a robot—whereas emotion and mood are precisely the functions and feelings of the mind consciousness. If the lifespan has not ended and the karmic conditions of this life are not yet exhausted, the mind consciousness can return to the physical body, and the functions of the five aggregates can return to normal. The mind consciousness leaving the body is called the mind-made body (manomaya-kāya) in bodhisattvas. After a bodhisattva has seen the mind and seen the nature (enlightenment), and further cultivates the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis, the mind-made body appears: on the basis of the physical five-aggregate body, the mind consciousness further manifests multiple physical bodies, like the bodies of devas, relatively ethereal, without substantial physical flesh, and therefore possessing immeasurable spiritual powers and powers of the Way. The hundred emanations, thousand emanations, or even more emanations of the great bodhisattvas are all accomplished through transformation after the mind consciousness has cultivated the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis; they are the result of the combined operation of the three transformative-agency (parināma) consciousnesses: the eighth consciousness, the manas, and the mind consciousness.
8. When the mind consciousness leaves the body, the feeling is like flying above or beside the body, looking at the body. When the mind consciousness does not leave the body, the feeling is that it and the body are one and inseparable. These feelings are, after all, just feelings; whether or not one leaves the body, they are not real. One should earnestly investigate what the Śūraṅgama Sūtra teaches about the tathāgatagarbha nature of all dharmas: none of them goes outside the tathāgatagarbha; they are within the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha fundamentally has no inside or outside. Then what are these dharmas, or what state are they in—do they have any substantial entity? This content is extremely important, truly of utmost importance. Only by thoroughly awakening to these dharmas, with the mind emptied all the way to the bottom, can one directly attain buddhahood; nothing else can lead directly to buddhahood.
9. The phenomenon of the mind consciousness leaving the body exists; at such times, first, one is in concentration, and second, the mind consciousness has a very independent introspective nature (pratyavekṣā-lakṣaṇa), able to introspect upon the state of one's own body, introspecting upon one's own thoughts and feelings. But this differs from the introspection when the mind consciousness does not leave the body—it is more objective, like observing another person. This is very similar to a person's soul departing: when a person undergoes surgery, the six consciousnesses cease and there is no perception; or after a person falls into a coma or dies, the consciousness-spirit leaves the body, looks at the body, and tries to find a way to return to the body, wanting to come back to life. These two phenomena are the same, only the mental states differ. After the mind consciousness leaves the body, the body is like a piece of wood—numb, without emotion or thought—but it can still move; the mind consciousness observes the body as if observing another object.
10. For us practitioners who wish to personally realize the Buddha-dharma, power of concentration is extremely important; every step of realizing the Buddha-dharma relies on the power of concentration for contemplative practice, and only afterward can one understand the true reality of all dharmas. For example, to contemplate whether the eye consciousness arises first or the mind consciousness arises first, whether visible color comes first or formed color comes first—one must first have power of concentration to attain it through contemplative practice; otherwise, with the mind scattered, one certainly cannot contemplate out a correct result. We can look at the scenery outside, look at the sky, look at trees, look at flowers, grass, and woods, look at rivers. When the eye consciousness is sent out, first observe the external objects the eyes face: is visible color seen first, or formed color seen first, or the content within these forms? Step by step, only with power of concentration can one contemplate this out; without power of concentration and relying only on imagination in the brain, one absolutely cannot think it through clearly, and cannot realize the Buddha-dharma.
The realization of the Buddha-dharma, apart from power of concentration, cannot be called realization—it is all imagination, thinking, and emotional interpretation. Relying on emotional interpretation, we cannot have true wisdom; the wisdom we originally had will not improve either, only learning a bit of wisdom from outside, with wisdom growing very slowly. Without power of concentration, even if one barely sees the mind and knows the answer to where the eighth consciousness is, one cannot contemplate it out, wisdom cannot grow, and the wisdom of contemplative practice cannot appear.
Apart from power of concentration, after seeing the mind, the contemplation of illusion at the stage of the ten abodes cannot arise; the special feelings of body and mind will not appear, and no change can occur in body and mind. If the feelings of body and mind do not change, the contemplation of illusion has not been realized. Apart from power of concentration, the contemplation of mirages at the stage of the ten practices also cannot be contemplated, and those feelings of body and mind of the mirage contemplation will not occur; one cannot pass beyond the stage of the ten practices. Adding the contemplation of dream at the stage of the ten dedications—if power of concentration is lacking, the feelings of the dream contemplation will not arise either. If, in these contemplative practices, one cannot pass through them one by one, then the bodhisattva's career on the Path stands still, making no advancement. Apart from concentration, wanting to realize the Buddha-dharma is pure fantasy. With power of concentration, at the time of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and seeing the mind, the feelings of body and mind and the joy of dhyāna are simply indescribable in words, and afterward the growth of wisdom, the growth of concentration and wisdom, and the advancement of bodhisattva stages are all very rapid.
If one wants to contemplate whether the ear consciousness hears sound first or the mind consciousness hears sound first, and what kind of sound the ear consciousness hears, one must cultivate concentration—both concentration in motion and concentration in stillness must be cultivated; only with sufficient power of concentration can one contemplate. It is not that one first contemplates and then cultivates concentration—that is inverted practice; even if it succeeds, it is through the preceding scattered contemplative practice that the mind gradually reaches cessation at one point, with power of concentration complete, and then one begins truly proper and dharma-conformant contemplative practice. It is still concentration first and contemplation after—this is called śamatha-vipaśyanā (cessation and contemplation), not "contemplation-cessation."
If one does not have the meditative concentration of sitting (concentration in stillness), and only has very weak concentration in motion, it is not of much use; whereas the concentration in stillness of sitting can nourish concentration in motion and enable our thinking to be very deep and very subtle. If we want to observe and experience the activities of the ear consciousness and mind consciousness when hearing sounds, we can observe in concentration: when a sound appears outside, you observe what kind of vibration the sound produces on the eardrum, what kind of movement the ear consciousness hears—discerning each one by one. But without power of concentration, this absolutely cannot be observed. Moreover, the requirement for power of concentration cannot be merely ordinary; it must be the relatively deep and relatively single-minded kind for this to be observed. A loud sound, a faint sound—first observe what the ear consciousness and mind consciousness each hear, what effect the sounds heard by the ear consciousness have on the eardrum and the ear faculty; then observe the sounds heard and felt by the mind consciousness—what states they are in. If you can discern each of these one by one, you can distinguish whether the ear consciousness arises first or the mind consciousness arises first, and what kind of sense-objects each of the two consciousnesses discriminates. In all these contemplative practices, there is the manifestation of both concentration and wisdom; lacking either one, the contemplative practice cannot be accomplished. Therefore, in studying the Buddha-dharma, concentration and wisdom must be cultivated equally, with śamatha and vipaśyanā held together.
Take another example: contemplating the dharma of the manas requires not only meditative concentration but also wisdom. Without meditative concentration, even if the dharma of the manas is all told to you, you still cannot contemplate it out. When you have meditative concentration and a certain amount of wisdom, and then the dharma of the manas is taught to you, looking at the text and contemplating and observing along with the words, you can quickly realize the manas. After realizing the manas, if you can also observe some of the manas's subtle characteristics, then the wisdom is truly remarkable. If meditative concentration is lacking, even if all the various dharmas of the manas's operation are told to you, it is useless; because you cannot realize the manas, you cannot observe the manas, cannot truly understand the manas's characteristics, wisdom cannot have substantial advancement, and in a different situation you again would not know how the manas operates.
Therefore, the strengthening of wisdom, the cultivation and realization of the bodhisattva path, and contemplative practices at all levels—apart from sufficient and necessary power of concentration—cannot be accomplished. Apart from power of concentration, to have the wisdom of contemplative practice and true wisdom is impossible. The Buddha taught us the three pure studies of "precepts, concentration, and wisdom" (śīla, samādhi, prajñā); we must never discard the precepts, never discard concentration, and then want only a dry wisdom or wild wisdom—that is just about like drawing a cake to satisfy hunger. Some people seem to know a great deal of Buddhist knowledge and great principles, seem to have wisdom, and can talk fluently; but what they discuss is only empty theory, unable to explain concretely how to operate so as to realize this principle and make phenomena conform to this principle—it is all verbal description on the level of general principles, very unspecific and very coarse, showing that they themselves have not realized it and cannot explain the concrete issues of how to cultivate and realize it. Especially, although they can talk fluently, their mental conduct cannot change and is not consistent with what they say, without any meritorious benefit of liberation in mental disposition.
If we do not diligently cultivate concentration and lack power of concentration, then ever-deeper dharmas and ever-subtler dharmas cannot be understood, let alone contemplated; our practice will gradually fall behind, and we will drop out. Then we will lose faith and turn to study other shallow dharmas, and those shallow dharmas have many errors and omissions which we lack the ability to distinguish; after studying a whole lifetime we still cannot realize the Buddha-dharma, and our precious time is wasted in vain.
For the great liberation of body and mind, for realizing the Buddha-dharma, for attaining buddhahood as soon as possible, we must attach importance to meditative concentration; without meditative concentration, when encountering crucial and important dharmas, we cannot understand and digest them, cannot realize them, cannot receive the benefit of the supreme Buddha-dharma, and cannot attain liberation by relying on it. Therefore I earnestly advise everyone to seize time as much as possible, make full use of existing conditions, and even create conditions to cultivate concentration: concentration in motion while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and concentration in stillness while sitting—we must cultivate both, cultivating our mind so that it can become still at any time, and cultivating it even more finely. Then, contemplating the dharmas one has studied becomes easy to realize; afterward wisdom can arise, knowledge is transformed into one's own realization experience, and there is true benefit. Practicing in this way, both concentration and wisdom can continually advance and reach perfection; the practice is very rapid, no effort is wasted, and one can attain the greatest achievement on the path to buddhahood.
