A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness

Chapter 8: The Joint Operation of the Eye Consciousness and the Mind Consciousness

1. When the eye faculty contacts material sense-objects, this material sense-object is the inner material sense-object (inner rūpa-viṣaya) within the supreme faculty (indriya) at the back of the brain, and at this time the eye consciousness arises first to discern it. Because the tathāgatagarbha first manifests the manifest color (visible color) of the material sense-object at the eye's supreme faculty, and this manifest color corresponds to the eye consciousness and is also what the eye consciousness discerns, when faculty and sense-object contact each other, the eye consciousness arises first. After the eye consciousness arises, it discerns the manifest color of the inner material sense-object. At the same time, on the basis of the manifest color, the tathāgatagarbha further transforms and manifests shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color; these three kinds of form are called mental sense-objects (dharma-viṣaya), or form included in the mental sense-object base (dharmāyatana).

Form included in the mental sense-object base corresponds to the manas and the mind consciousness, and is the object discerned by the mind consciousness, belonging to the mental sense-object. When the mental sense-object contacts the manas, the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness then discerns the form included in the mental sense-object base. Thus, when we see form, in the first instant (kṣaṇa) the eye consciousness first contacts the manifest color on the inner material sense-object and discerns the manifest color first; in the second instant, only then does the mind consciousness contact the shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color on the inner material sense-object, discerning the form included in the mental sense-object base; then in the third instant, the eye consciousness continues to arise, and the mind consciousness also arises continuously, so in the third instant the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness simultaneously discern the inner material sense-object. Only when the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness operate in conjunction can the inner material sense-object be discerned completely as a whole.

Only when manifest color, shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color are simultaneously manifested on one material sense-object can a complete appearance of the material sense-object be formed. The eye consciousness and the mind consciousness must operate in conjunction, jointly discerning this inner material sense-object, in order to know its manifest color, shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color, and to discern the material sense-object completely and clearly. In the first and second instants the material sense-object cannot be discerned clearly, and one cannot see what kind of material sense-object it is; only at the third instant can one see a little bit, because in the third instant the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness jointly discern the complete material sense-object.

The material sense-object discerned by each seed of consciousness is compared with the material sense-object discerned previously; only when somewhat more of the material sense-object has been discerned can the material sense-object be connected from before to after, so that the mind consciousness and the eye consciousness can know what the complete image of this form-appearance is. The seeds of consciousness flow forth one by one, discerning the material sense-object bit by bit; the material form discerned by the later eye-consciousness seeds must be connected and compared with that discerned by the earlier eye-consciousness seeds; only after being connected can one know what the form-appearance is.

At the beginning of its discernment, the mind consciousness is still not very clear; it cannot recall or compare the material sense-object, nor can it analyze and judge. The first instant passes very quickly, the discernment is incomplete, and there is nothing to compare with, so it is blurry; the second instant also passes very quickly, and there is still nothing to compare with, so it remains blurry and unclear; only at the third instant is a little bit discerned, knowing the general content. Only after the third instant is there content available for comparison, and only then can the images of the material sense-object be connected from before to after, so that one can vaguely discern a little content and know what material sense-object it is. Moreover, the third instant is discerned jointly by the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, so the material sense-object as a whole can be discerned; then this form can present a complete shape, and one knows an extremely faint, rough appearance of the material sense-object. In the subsequent fourth, fifth, and sixth instants, it is still the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness jointly discerning the inner material sense-object; the discernment becomes somewhat clearer, and the longer the discernment lasts, the clearer and more thorough it becomes.

When we look at a physical form, at the first glance we must pause for a moment; during this pause, how many instants have passed. Only after discerning for half a second or a second can we know what this physical form is. The Buddha said: in the snap of a finger, eighty-one thousand seeds arise and cease, that is, eighty-one thousand instants. How fast, then, must the flowing forth of the seeds of consciousness be! No wonder we all cannot feel the existence of arising and ceasing—it turns out that the arising and ceasing is simply too rapid.

This shows that in the first and second instants we do not know what the material sense-object is; only after the third and fourth instants can we know a little bit of it, and some people may need the fifth instant or even longer to see a little bit clearly. People with impaired vision may need to look for half a minute or a minute; exactly how long is uncertain—it depends on a person's discriminative capacity, that is, on how good the discriminative capacity of the two consciousnesses, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, is. The weaker a person's discriminative capacity, the longer the time needed to look. For example, some people are nearsighted or presbyopic, belonging to those with impaired vision; the time they need to discern a material sense-object is longer. There are also some people whose wisdom is inferior and whose knowledge is shallow; the time they need to discriminate is even longer.

But during this seeing of form, the eighth consciousness has never stopped operating. From before the first instant when He generates the inner material sense-object, He has been continuously transmitting the particles of the external material sense-object, transmitting them through the optic nerve to the supreme faculty, and then manifesting the manifest color; after manifesting the manifest color, He further manifests shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color on the basis of the manifest color, while at the same time continuously grasping the four great-element particles from the external material sense-object, and continuing to manifest the manifest color, shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color. If the eighth consciousness stopped in any instant, not transmitting the four great-element particles to the supreme faculty, no longer manifesting these inner material sense-objects, then the eye consciousness would immediately cease, unable to see the material sense-object, and the mind consciousness would also immediately cease, unable to discern the material sense-object. In other words, there would be no arising of the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, and these two consciousnesses, of course, could not discern the material sense-object.

Therefore, the eighth consciousness has never stopped operating in any instant; at every moment He is transmitting and manifesting these material sense-objects. After these material sense-objects are transmitted to the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, the inner material sense-object is manifested. The eighth consciousness has never stopped for even a moment; He has been manifesting all along. If occasionally for one instant He does not manifest, the material sense-object stops appearing, and the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness all cease and cannot discern. Because there is no material sense-object, there is no existence of consciousness; the production of consciousness takes the contact of faculty and sense-object as a condition, and relying on this condition, the eighth consciousness then generates the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness, and only then can we see the inner material sense-object.

If there were no material sense-object, the arising of consciousness would lack an important condition, and the eighth consciousness could not give birth to the six consciousnesses; of course, the six consciousnesses would not exist. When the material sense-object disappears, the eye consciousness and mind consciousness that were originally discerning the material sense-object immediately cease along with it; when consciousness ceases, it cannot discern the material sense-object, and there is no object of discernment. Therefore, in every instant since beginningless kalpas, the eighth consciousness has never been idle, has never rested, and has never stopped; He thus operates tirelessly and unceasingly, serving us selflessly.

If someone says that he can see form with the eye consciousness alone, is this possible? It is not possible. On one form-appearance there are manifest color, shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color. Manifest color is color—the colors of blue, yellow, red, and white. The eye consciousness can only discern manifest color; it cannot discern shape-color, expressive color, or non-expressive color. When a person sees form, he cannot only see the manifest color of the material sense-object; he must also see the shape of the form and the content of the form; the shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color must all be discerned—what the essence of the form is, what the name-and-appearance of the form is—all must be known before the discernment is complete. Therefore, the participation and discernment of the mind consciousness is absolutely necessary to clearly know the material sense-object. Apart from color, the rest of those forms belong to form included in the mental sense-object base, which is discerned by the mind consciousness; only colors such as blue, yellow, red, and white are discerned by the eye consciousness. Only when the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness jointly and harmoniously discern can we know what the material sense-object really is.

Therefore, to see a form, to see a form clearly, to analyze and judge what the perceived material sense-object really is, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness must operate jointly and harmoniously; only when the two discern together can we know what the object before us is. Before us is a book, before us are tables and chairs, before us is a cup—these objects not only have color, but also shapes such as long, short, square, and round, as well as content such as material and texture; there is much content that needs to be discerned. The eye consciousness alone can absolutely never discern very clearly; the mind consciousness must discern together with the eye consciousness at the same time. Only when the two operate in conjunction can we see clearly the material form (rūpa-dharma) of these objects.

Through careful observation and personal experience one can know that when we see an object, in the first instant we see what color the object before us is—we definitely first see the object's color; a blurry color first appears. In the second instant, only then does the mind consciousness arise to discern, at which point a little bit of the image is discerned. In the third instant, one can know what material sense-object that bit of image is; at this time the shape of the material sense-object emerges. After that, one can know the content and characteristics of the material sense-object, and can know what the specific name-and-appearance of this material sense-object is. Whether it is the sofa before us, the bed, or the tables and chairs, when the name-and-appearance, shape, essence, and content of these objects are all seen clearly, this is called discernment.

If one wants to discern something more complex, the time needed for discernment will be longer. For example, upon seeing a person, discerning this person's age, judging this person's temperament, learning, cultivation, and so on—the mind consciousness needs a longer time to discern, and the eye consciousness also needs a longer time to look. These two consciousnesses must operate jointly and harmoniously to see this person clearly. Among them, the eye consciousness only discerns color; everything apart from color is discerned by the mind consciousness. The workload of the mind consciousness is very great, and the content discerned by the mind consciousness is very extensive; therefore, the mind consciousness is extremely important. Especially in learning Buddhism and cultivating practice, one must use the mind consciousness for deliberation (manasikāra) and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); therefore, the mind consciousness is a very important tool of cultivation and realization for studying the Buddha-dharma. Without the participation of the mind consciousness, we could not study Buddhism and cultivate practice, could not investigate Chan and awaken to the Path, and could not become a Buddha. Therefore, we cannot discard the mind consciousness and not use it. If in studying Buddhism and cultivating practice one does no deliberation and no contemplative practice, this is no different from foolishness.

2. The birth of the first seed of the eye-accompanied consciousness (consciousness accompanied by the five senses) must occur after the birth of the first seed of the eye consciousness; then the seeds of the two consciousnesses arise simultaneously, without priority. The arising of the eye-consciousness seeds from the second onward is necessarily accompanied by the operation of the mind consciousness; otherwise, they could not arise either. We can blank out our gaze and personally experience it, to see whether, in seeing form, the eye consciousness sees first or the mind consciousness sees first. If the mind consciousness saw first, then in the shape-color perceived by the mind consciousness, would there be no color whatsoever—neither white and bright, nor black and dark, and certainly none of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet? Obviously not.

Observe and experience further: when form is no longer seen, does the mind consciousness disappear first, or the eye consciousness, or do they disappear simultaneously? According to theory, the mind consciousness disappears first and the eye consciousness disappears afterward, because the mental sense-object can only manifest by relying on the material sense-object. For example, the length, shortness, squareness, and roundness of shape-color—if there is no color of manifest color, length, shortness, squareness, and roundness cannot be set off. If the material sense-object does not exist and disappears, the mental sense-object certainly cannot exist; whereas if the mental sense-object disappears, the material sense-object can still remain for one instant—only one instant, not a second instant; otherwise, the eye consciousness could exist alone. It is impossible for the mental sense-object to still exist when the material sense-object is gone; this is absolutely impossible. Therefore, the eye consciousness cannot disappear before the mind consciousness. Upon waking up, it is the reverse: there must first be the mind consciousness and then the five sense consciousnesses, or the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) transforms into the consciousness accompanied by the five senses, and then the five sense consciousnesses arise.

3. Question: One theory in Yogācāra is that the mind consciousness is the co-existent support (sahabhū-āśraya) of the five sense consciousnesses; therefore, the mind consciousness must arise before the five sense consciousnesses, or arise simultaneously with them—it cannot arise after the five sense consciousnesses, right?

Answer: The real experience in meditative concentration is that the eye consciousness and ear consciousness first discern form and sound for one instant, and only then are the subtle dharmas of form and sound discovered—this is discovered by the mind consciousness; this is fact. Perhaps the mind consciousness's discernment takes one extra instant, so that the mental sense-object can be discerned a bit more clearly and one can recognize what the mental sense-object is; the discrimination time is one instant more than the five sense consciousnesses. But such a short time can be neglected. The vast majority of people without meditative concentration can never discover this fact. Whether in worldly dharma or Buddha-dharma, fact always outweighs theory. Studying Buddhism is precisely to realize the true facts of all dharmas, not to rigidly study theory without being able to verify it, so that wisdom cannot arise and liberation cannot be attained.

4. Human eyes have the phenomenon of visual persistence: the actual form-appearance has already ceased, but the image remains for a while. Is this lingering image the subjectively imagined realm discerned by the mind consciousness? It is not a subjectively imagined realm; there is also a material sense-object realm. Vision is the joint function of the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness. In visual persistence, what persists should be the manifest color seen by the eye consciousness, but at the same time there is certainly the mind consciousness discerning shape-color, expressive color, and non-expressive color; the mind consciousness must also have a persisting function simultaneously. The eye consciousness alone cannot have the function of visual persistence; otherwise, it would not be a complete material sense-object. What persists is not a subjectively imagined realm; the subjectively imagined realm is discerned solely by the solitary consciousness, whereas here the eye consciousness is still discerning jointly. Because of the function of visual persistence, we feel that the act of seeing form is continuous, and the material sense-object discerned is also continuous. In fact, neither is continuous; rather, it arises in one instant and ceases in the next instant—it is intermittent, broken off and then continued again.

5. Observe: when one looks without seeing, does one know there is light before one's eyes? If one knows there is light before one's eyes, there is the discernment of the eye consciousness, and the mind consciousness has an extremely slight discernment. Because the mind consciousness must divert part of its attention, or most of its attention, to thinking about other important matters, the mind consciousness's discernment is extremely slight, and thus the phenomenon of looking without seeing appears. Observe whether, when seeing form, one first knows there is light and there is an image, and only then can one know the subtle characteristics of the object. If so, this shows that there is first the eye consciousness and afterward the mind consciousness. If there is no direct perception (pratyakṣa) observation, and meditative concentration is weak, plus the theory is mistaken, then no matter what, one cannot arrive at a correct conclusion.

At the beginning of discerning a certain dharma, the question of whether the five sense consciousnesses arise first or the mind consciousness arises first is involved; after all have arisen, the question of which consciousness arises first is no longer involved. When one closes the eyes and then opens them again, the question of whether there is first the eye consciousness or first the mind consciousness is involved. Even with the eyes closed, through the eyelids, one can still feel there is light—that means the eye consciousness has not ceased and can still discern manifest color. The eye consciousness only discerns manifest color, the color on the material sense-object; this is described in Volume One of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra.

What the five sense consciousnesses discern are the four great-element particles manifested in the supreme faculty at the back of the brain, which the tathāgatagarbha, based on the external five sense-objects, grasps from the external five sense-objects and transmits—the relatively coarse part of material form, close to the essence-realm of the external six sense-objects that the tathāgatagarbha contacts and discerns. The eye consciousness needs to re-apply attention (manaskāra) only at the beginning of seeing form. For example, if there are many things in a room, when the eye consciousness shifts from one place to another and the objects seen change, the eye consciousness must re-apply attention, and the mind consciousness must also re-apply attention. Therefore, when the seen form changes, the question of the arising of the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness is involved. But in any case, the eye consciousness arises first, and one instant later the mind consciousness arises. When seeing form, the eye consciousness first sees the hazy color—whether it is empty or there is an object—and the mind consciousness afterward sees the shape, size, length, squareness or roundness, and the content and substance, and so on. But when waking from sleep, it is certainly the solitary consciousness transforming into the consciousness accompanied by the five senses that arises first, and then the five sense consciousnesses arise afterward. This is the reverse of the order when awake.

Whatever is coarse, vague, hazy, and indistinct is the content discerned first by the five sense consciousnesses; the subtle content is discerned afterward by the mind consciousness. The connection between the five sense consciousnesses and the mind consciousness is extremely fast; people without meditative concentration simply cannot discriminate it. Therefore, many people, even when told these contents, still cannot carry out contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on them, cannot realize them personally, and can only recite others' theories. Each time the six consciousnesses see a material form, they must re-apply attention; the manas even more must first re-apply attention, continuously applying attention, in order to guide the six consciousnesses to apply attention and discern. These subtle dharmas, without meditative concentration, simply cannot be brought out in contemplative practice.

Hearing sounds is the mind consciousness and the ear consciousness hearing together; the ear consciousness alone cannot hear sounds. When sitting in meditation and suddenly hearing a sound, the ear consciousness arises first to discern, and the mind consciousness discerns afterward. The ear faculty first feels the vibration, and only afterward does the mind consciousness know what the sound is. When the ear consciousness hears a sound, first there is a vibratory sound transmitted to the ear faculty, vibrating the eardrum—this is the coarse sound discerned by the ear consciousness; afterward, the mind consciousness discerns the subtle content such as the sound's pitch, distance, size, and meaning. This shows that the ear consciousness discerns before the mind consciousness and arises before the mind consciousness.

6. The Process by Which the Six Consciousnesses Discern the Six Sense-Objects

There are six kinds of mental sense-objects: the mental sense-object within material sense-objects, the mental sense-object within sound sense-objects, the mental sense-object within smell sense-objects, the mental sense-object within taste sense-objects, the mental sense-object within touch sense-objects, and the subjectively imagined realm—six kinds. The first five are discerned by the consciousness accompanied by the five senses; the last one is discerned by the solitary consciousness.

When meditative concentration is relatively good, observe the material sense-object—reading a book, looking at flowers, looking at mountains, looking at anything works. Close the eyes and then open them; at the moment the eyes first open, what is seen first is certainly a kind of color—this is the manifest color discerned by the eye consciousness. One instant later, the color takes on a shape, displaying length, shortness, squareness, roundness, thickness, and thinness—this is the mental sense-object, discerned by the mind consciousness. After that, the appearance of the form becomes clear, and the content and characteristics all display themselves; these are all the expressive color and non-expressive color of form, which are the mental sense-object, discerned by the mind consciousness. At the end of the discernment, names and designations appear.

The entire discernment process is that the eye consciousness appears first, and one instant later the mind consciousness appears. The eye consciousness alone cannot discern the mental sense-object, and the mind consciousness alone cannot discern color; only when the two operate in conjunction can both the coarse and the subtle forms of the material sense-object before one's eyes be discerned clearly, and only then can the complete appearance of the material sense-object be presented. But within this, the color discerned by the eye consciousness appears first; color is the coarsest form, while the mental sense-object is a relatively subtle form—the subtler the form, the later it appears. The mental sense-object discerned by the mind consciousness appears afterward; the time gap between them is extremely, extremely short. The two consciousnesses depend on each other; neither can be lacking. The relationship of the other four consciousnesses with the mind consciousness is also like this.

7. Why One Cannot See Material Sense-Objects When the Eye Faculty Is Damaged

The six faculties, including the eyes, are the display screen; the person watching the display screen is the six consciousnesses, such as the eye consciousness. The display screen is always on, but a person does not necessarily watch it at every moment. Whether watched or not, the people, events, and things in the display screen keep playing and appearing. What the display screen displays is decided by the tathāgatagarbha; whether the six consciousnesses watch or not is decided by the manas. Whether to change the channel is also decided by the manas. As for what to watch and what not to watch, the watchers—the six consciousnesses—will also make suggestions; after the manas adopts them, the tathāgatagarbha decides according to the karmic seeds. Therefore, all the dharmas in the display screen are displayed through the combined function of the three transformative consciousnesses (parināma). When the eyes are damaged, it is as if the switch of the display screen has malfunctioned; if the switch is repaired, the eye consciousness will still see the people and objects in the display screen. But damage to the eye faculty does not mean the eye consciousness's visual nature is absent; the eye consciousness can still see darkness. A black screen is also a state of the display screen, which the watcher can also see; when the eyes are damaged, the eye consciousness can see darkness.

8. Although one closes the eyes and does not see form, and plugs the ears and does not hear sounds, the realms of the six sense-objects are not manifested by the fifth, sixth, and seventh consciousnesses; they are all conjured up by the tathāgatagarbha. The fifth, sixth, and seventh consciousnesses can only display the appearances transformed and created by the tathāgatagarbha in the mind; they cannot create appearances. And the manifestation of appearances has certain conditions; if the conditions are not complete, there is no appearance in the mind.

The eye consciousness cannot see flowers because with the eyes closed there is no light; without light, the eye consciousness does not see the flower with its appearance of light, but it can see the darkness without light. If cultivation has broken through the realm of the aggregate of form, this does not apply. By the same token, the ear consciousness cannot hear sounds because the sound sense-object does not enter the ear; then the ear consciousness cannot hear the sounds transmitted from outside, but it can hear the buzzing sound inside the eardrum.

When the tathāgatagarbha creates all appearances, He relies not only on karmic seeds but also on various conditions, including the mental factors (caittas) of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and the wishes and thoughts of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Then the seven consciousnesses cooperate with the tathāgatagarbha to manifest the appearances, and only then can the six consciousnesses have cognition.

9. The cognition of the eye consciousness and the cognition of the five sense consciousnesses have no name-and-appearance; the cognition of the mind consciousness has name-and-appearance. For example, the eye consciousness knows sunlight and knows it is dazzling, but has no name-and-appearance of "sunlight," no designation, no name-and-appearance of "dazzling," no designation of "dazzling." When the mind consciousness and the eye consciousness jointly discern the sunlight, the mind consciousness then knows it is sunlight and knows that sunlight is dazzling. But closing the eyes to avoid the sunlight is the manas's decision; the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness merely unconsciously and rapidly execute it.

Why can the manas make decisions so quickly? Because the eye consciousness's and mind consciousness's instant-by-instant discernment of the sunlight is all transmitted to the manas, and the manas knows it in each instant, and knows it correctly, so that it can make correct and reasonable decisions to seek benefit and avoid harm. If what the eye consciousness and mind consciousness discern is a material form unfamiliar to the manas, the manas cannot decide so quickly, because the manas may not necessarily be able to correctly understand the transmitted material form; it must deliberate (manasikāra) and examine, and only after deliberating until it understands does it make a decision. There are also times when the manas cannot deliberate clearly; then it cannot correctly understand the transmitted material form, and if it is forced to make a decision, it will make a wrong decision. Therefore, whether the manas's decisions are fast or slow, correct and reasonable or not, also depends on the manas's experience and wisdom.

10. When the six faculties contact the six sense-objects, the eighth consciousness produces the six consciousnesses, and then the six consciousnesses discern the six sense-objects. First there are the six faculties, then the six sense-objects, and finally the six consciousnesses. That is, when the six faculties face the six sense-objects, one does not immediately know the six sense-objects; there is a time gap in between. For example, when the eyes face a material sense-object, at first one does not know what it is; after looking for a while, one then knows what it is.

Within this, the eye-consciousness seeds flow out one by one. The first eye-consciousness seed comes out and faces the form, then ceases—one cannot see clearly what it is; the second eye-consciousness seed comes out and faces the form, then ceases—still one cannot see clearly what it is; the third eye-consciousness seed comes out and faces the form, then ceases—one can see a little; the fourth eye-consciousness seed comes out and faces the form, then ceases—one sees clearly what material sense-object it is, and we have discerned this form. If a person has vision problems, the time needed to see may be even longer.

When the eye sees form, it is not the eye faculty and eye consciousness alone functioning; at the same time, the manas and mind consciousness are also functioning. The eye faculty contacts the material sense-object, and the manas simultaneously contacts the mental sense-object on the material sense-object; the eighth consciousness separately produces the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness to jointly discern the material sense-object. The eye consciousness discerns the coarse form of the material sense-object, that is, the manifest color, including the colors of blue, yellow, red, and white, light and darkness, and the morning mist in empty space, and so on; the mind consciousness discerns the subtle forms—expressive color, non-expressive color, shape-color, and so on. The eye consciousness alone cannot discern; it must discern simultaneously with the mind consciousness to know what the material sense-object is.

Thus, when the eye sees form, three consciousnesses participate: the eye consciousness, the mind consciousness, and the manas; the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, must also participate. Each has its own function, and none can substitute for another. Therefore, when we do a thing, eight consciousness-minds function together; it is not one consciousness-mind, and we cannot say that we have only one mind doing things. For example, when eating, the eye consciousness watches the food and other things, the ear consciousness hears the sounds of eating and other sounds, the nose consciousness smells the fragrance of the food and other fragrances, the tongue consciousness tastes the flavor of the food, the body consciousness feels fullness, hunger, thirst, cold, heat, and so on, while the mind consciousness simultaneously discerns all of this, participating in all five sense-objects.

The manas directs at any time and place what to do next: whether to keep eating, what to eat, how much to eat, how to handle other matters, and so on. If, when doing each thing, one can identify each consciousness-mind, then the mind becomes very subtle and detailed, knowing how each mind operates in conjunction, and wisdom arises. After a long time, one can find the eighth consciousness and know His operation—that is seeing the mind (明心).

11. Question: When glancing at a pattern of lines for an instant, they appear non-parallel. Is this non-parallelism discerned by the eye consciousness or by the mind consciousness? Later one feels they are parallel. Is this conflicting mentality that of the mind consciousness, or a conflict between the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness?

Answer: The shape of the pattern belongs to shape-color, which is the mental sense-object, within the scope of the mind consciousness's discernment. The eye consciousness only sees color; everything else is the content discerned by the mind consciousness. Judging whether they are parallel or not is arrived at by the mind consciousness through thinking, analysis, and comparison. When the mind consciousness cannot resolve its discernment, there arises a feeling of conflict, and it cannot finally decide whether they are parallel or not.