A Brief Discourse on the Essence of Consciousness
Chapter 12: The Self-Cognition (svasaṃvitti) and Self-Validating Cognition (svasaṃvedana) of the Six Consciousnesses
1. When the mind consciousness knows the state it is in at the present moment, that is introspection, which is the function of self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana). When it does not know the state it is in at the present moment, it shows that the power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala) of the mind consciousness is weak, the mind is coarse, wisdom is inferior, and there is no power of meditative concentration. Many people, when afflictions manifest, still do not know that they have afflictions; when they themselves are ignorant, they also do not know that they are ignorant. Such a mind consciousness is fundamentally unawakened, lacks the power of introspection, and its wisdom is too poor. Being able to know oneself thought after thought, to be self-aware at all times—this is the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness. Knowing is self-cognition (svasaṃvitti); self-knowing, knowing oneself, is self-validating cognition. Within self-validating cognition there are two knowings; within self-cognition there is one knowing.
When the mind consciousness knows the state it is in, is able to understand itself and recognize itself, that is self-validating cognition, also called self-awareness, that is, self-knowing, that is, the knowing of the knowing. It is rare for a person to have self-knowledge; self-validating cognition is precisely that clarity, that wisdom. Such a person has rationality and the power of meditative concentration, and is easy to guide and transform.
The so-called self-cognition means personally knowing the object-aspect (nimitta), realizing the object-aspect, knowing the object-aspect. There is a knowing; no matter what is known, it is self-cognition. When the object-aspect arises, one knows there is an object-aspect; the knowing is the perceiving-aspect (darśana-bhāga). With a perceiving-aspect and an object-aspect, having known them is self-cognition. For example: looking is the perceiving-aspect, because there is not yet a result, whereas having seen is self-cognition, and within seeing there are the perceiving-aspect and the object-aspect; hearing is the perceiving-aspect, not yet having a result, whereas having heard is self-cognition, with a perceiving-aspect and an object-aspect. By analogy, that which carries a result is self-cognition; that which does not yet have a result is the perceiving-aspect. That which introspects upon oneself, monitoring all of one's own actions and activities, is self-validating cognition. A person whose mind has vigilance has self-validating cognition manifesting; without vigilance, there is not necessarily self-validating cognition.
As for the self-validating cognition of the eye consciousness: for example, when the eye consciousness sees sunlight and feels that the sunlight is too bright, too glaring to the eyes, the eye consciousness immediately closes the eyes and stops looking. After a while, because the manas craves the sun or for some other reason, it decides to look at the sunlight, and the eye consciousness has no choice but to slowly open the eyes. Why is it like this? The perceiving-aspect, object-aspect, and self-cognition of the eye consciousness have already appeared—which one is the self-validating cognition? How will what follows develop? The eye consciousness has no choice but to look at the sunlight again, slowly opening the eyes, which shows that the eye consciousness knows the sunlight is glaring; perhaps it has not yet recovered, and is unwilling to open its eyes to look. The eye consciousness knowing the feeling of suffering (duḥkha) from having just looked at the sunlight is the self-validating cognition. Because the eye consciousness has the feeling of suffering, it is unwilling to look at the sun again, but the eye consciousness must also obey the manas's command, and so it slowly opens its eyes.
Of course, in the process of looking at the sun there is also the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness. The self-validating cognition of the eye consciousness cannot be separated from the mind consciousness; otherwise the five consciousnesses could not arise. If the mind consciousness does not know its own feelings, there is no self-validating cognition; if the mind consciousness can discern the mind consciousness's own feelings, then the mind consciousness has self-validating cognition. The eye consciousness knowing its own feelings is the self-validating cognition of the eye consciousness; at this time the mind consciousness does not necessarily have self-validating cognition. The key is how the eye consciousness distinguishes and discerns its own feelings—it depends on whether the mind consciousness has wisdom.
The feeling of suffering of the eye consciousness generally involves the knowing of the eye consciousness and also the knowing of the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness can know the eye consciousness's discomfort. But the feeling of suffering of the mind consciousness can only be known by the mind consciousness, not by the eye consciousness. The knowing and feelings of the five consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness are also different. For example, feeling pain: the pain felt by the body consciousness is the pain of the physical body itself, while the pain felt by the mind consciousness is a kind of mental feeling of suffering. Sometimes the body consciousness feels intense pain, but the mind consciousness does not feel distressed; some people are even happy—hanging one's head from a beam and pricking one's thigh with an awl is such a case, and masochism is also such a case.
2. The intrinsic nature and functions of the six consciousnesses are discernment and discrimination; the so-called discernment and discrimination is knowing. As long as there is knowing, the six consciousnesses exist. This knowing is sometimes very obvious in feeling, and we ourselves can perceive it; sometimes the feeling is not very obvious, and we do not know that we are knowing. When we ourselves know that there is a knowing in the mind, that is the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness. This knowing is sometimes the inner voice, language, and words; sometimes there is no inner voice, no language, no words.
This knowing sometimes has thoughts, sometimes has no thoughts; whether or not there are thoughts, it is the knowing of the mind consciousness. The knowing without thoughts can only appear when there is some power of meditative concentration, or under other special circumstances, such as being frightened, or extreme mental joy, or sorrow, or entering meditative concentration—at such times the mind is not knowing nothing at all. As long as there is a knowing that knows one has no thoughts, that knows one's mind is calm, this knowing is the self-knowing of the mind consciousness.
If one can still clearly know the realms of the five sense objects, there is the knowing of the five consciousnesses here. Of course, it also does not depart from the knowing of the eighth consciousness and the seventh consciousness. When the mind consciousness can introspect upon itself, can observe that it has knowing or has known something, knows its own mental state, this is the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness. When our wisdom is insufficient and our power of meditative concentration is also insufficient, this capacity for introspection is very weak; we cannot fully and truly know our own mental state, and cannot detect our own afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion. Therefore, afflictions and afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) cannot be actively subdued, and progress in cultivation is very difficult.
3. A person's thoughts are the views and opinions formed by the mind consciousness through mental activities such as discrimination, analysis, judgment, deliberation (manasikāra/manana), reasoning, and comparison. The intrinsic nature of the mind consciousness can be coarse or subtle; when subtle, it is very hard for us to detect. Many times the mind consciousness is functioning moment after moment, always knowing; only when the mind consciousness has ceased does it not function and lack the nature of discernment. At all other times, as long as the mind consciousness exists, it is discriminating the mental sense-objects (dharma-viṣaya), but we ourselves cannot introspect this. Why can we not introspect it? Because wisdom is insufficient and the power of meditative concentration is also not complete.
When one cannot introspect that the mind consciousness is discriminating the mental sense-objects, some people say they have reached a state of no-mind, or say they have no thoughts; others say they have realized the true mind that is without deluded thoughts and without thoughts—but this misunderstanding is too great. This is clearly failing to distinguish the true from the false; they have not understood the Heart Sutra at all. The Heart Sutra says the true mind is neither arising nor ceasing, yet they take the state of the mind consciousness transformed from having deluded thoughts to having no deluded thoughts as the true mind. This so-called true mind is a conditioned dharma subject to arising and ceasing: when there are deluded thoughts, the "true mind" does not exist; when there are no deluded thoughts, the "true mind" appears again. This is completely not the true mind the Buddha spoke of.
4. When the mind does not follow along with changes and the mind abides nowhere, this is the mind consciousness having the power of meditative concentration, not abiding in dharmas. The mind consciousness can discern the mental sense-objects of the meditative state, knows that it does not turn with the sense objects, knows that it no longer cares about form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas. This knowing—the knowing—is the knowing of the mind consciousness; this is the introspective nature (pratyavekṣā-lakṣaṇa) of the mind consciousness, the manifestation of the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness. Knowing that one's mind already abides nowhere—this knowing is definitely the mind consciousness. Abiding nowhere is a realm of mental sense-objects; this realm corresponds to the manas and the mind consciousness, and is the content discerned by the mind consciousness; it does not correspond to the eighth consciousness, yet it also does not exist apart from the eighth consciousness.
The truly mind that abides nowhere, the mind that does not abide in the realms of the six sense objects, is the eighth consciousness. Because the eighth consciousness does not face the six sense objects, it does not abide in the six sense objects nor discern what the six sense objects are. As long as the seven consciousnesses exist, they must correspond to the six sense objects, must discern the six sense objects, and are certainly abiding within the six sense objects. Even if the mind consciousness is extremely faint, it can still know the mental sense-objects of the meditative state; therefore, as long as there is knowing, there is the mind consciousness. Ordinary people can only correspond to the mind consciousness, and cannot correspond to the eighth consciousness, because they lack the various bodhisattva conditions such as merit, meditative concentration (dhyāna), and prajñā wisdom; therefore they cannot find the eighth consciousness, and have no way to observe the abiding-nowhere mode of operation of the eighth consciousness.
5. The Important Function of the Mind Consciousness's Deliberation and Observation
From the phenomena of the mystery of the intervening womb (the veil between lives), drunkenness, sleepwalking, and hypnosis, how great exactly is the function of the mind consciousness? When discussing the intrinsic nature of the manas, some people attribute everything to the manas while neglecting the mind consciousness. Now we must deliberate on the function of the mind consciousness; this is the most important link in eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa).
The line of thought on this question should be as follows: deliberate on and analyze the various phenomena of the mystery of the intervening womb, find out what phenomena there are, and then from these phenomena observe what the functions of the mind consciousness are, what characteristics they have, and how important they are. This is called the introspection of the mind consciousness, also called self-validating cognition.
Then, in sequence, deliberate on and analyze what phenomena occur after drunkenness, and from these phenomena observe the functions, characteristics, and importance of the mind consciousness; deliberate on and analyze what phenomena occur in sleepwalking and after waking up, and from these phenomena observe the functional characteristics of the mind consciousness and its importance for comprehending the six sense objects; deliberate on and analyze what phenomena occur during hypnosis and after hypnosis, and observe the functional characteristics of the mind consciousness in these phenomena, as well as the importance of the mind consciousness for discriminating the six sense objects.
The above approach is teaching a person to fish, rather than simply giving a person a fish. Having mastered the essentials of fishing and knowing how to use it, one can thereafter be self-reliant.
One must learn to observe, to find and analyze phenomena; the power of observation is extremely important. This is based primarily on the wisdom of the mind consciousness, within which there is also the wisdom of the manas. Only when the wisdom of the mind consciousness is first complete can the manas elevate its wisdom and become complete in wisdom. The wisdom of the mind consciousness comes first, and the wisdom of the manas comes after. When the manas is complete in wisdom, then in later lives the wisdom of the manas comes first, and the wisdom of the mind consciousness comes after. Then the mind consciousness, by analogy, gives rise to other wisdoms, and in turn leads the manas so that the manas also becomes complete in those other wisdoms. Life after life, in this way, step by step, little by little, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are transformed, and finally consciousness is transformed into wisdom.
Many people do not even have the wisdom of the mind consciousness; countless facts and truths are laid before them, yet they turn a blind eye, without awareness or knowing, extremely foolish. Very obvious and clear phenomena they cannot see through or sort out; even when told over and over again, they still do not know what is being said. If one does not even have the deliberative power of the mind consciousness, nor the capacity for observation and analysis, then one cannot speak of being complete in wisdom, let alone of influencing and leading the manas to likewise become complete in wisdom. If foolishness and ignorance are not broken, there is not the slightest hope of liberation.
6. Question: When calming the mind and carefully experiencing, one can clearly experience that there exists a clear and lucid "I." What is that "I"? And what is the knowing that knows that "I"?
Answer: Experiencing a clear and lucid "I"—this "I" is precisely the various functions of the mind consciousness that are most easily observed and experienced, such as this "I" experiencing, observing, analyzing, thinking, judging, feeling, perceiving, choosing, contemplating, reasoning, seeking, and so on—these functional operations of the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness. And the knowing that knows the various functions of this "I" is the knowing of the introspective function of the mind consciousness, which is the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness.
Among these, in the operation of all these dharmas, within the various knowings of the mind consciousness, there is also the knowing of the manas and the knowing of the eighth consciousness; there are the functions of the manas and the eighth consciousness. When the mind consciousness knows, there must be the knowing of the manas accompanying it, and there must also be the knowing of the eighth consciousness accompanying it. Lacking the knowing of the manas, the mind consciousness would necessarily perish and not exist, and could not arise; without the knowing of the eighth consciousness, the knowing of the mind consciousness would likewise necessarily not exist, would necessarily not arise, and would necessarily perish and vanish.
7. Question: In ordinary recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), besides knowing the Buddha's name, there is also a knowing that knows one is reciting the Buddha's name—what is that knowing? When experiencing what the Buddha said about what is "sound" and what is "hearing," one can clearly experience what is the "hearing" that hears, but there is also a "knowing" that knows the "hearing"—what is this "knowing"?
Answer: Knowing the Buddha's name and the sound of reciting the Buddha's name is the knowing of the mind consciousness, and there is also the knowing of the ear consciousness. Reciting the Buddha's name is the mind consciousness reciting the Buddha's name, and the knowing that knows one is reciting the Buddha's name is still the knowing of the mind consciousness; it is the introspective function of the mind consciousness, the functional operation of the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness. The "hearing" that can hear sounds is based primarily on the hearing nature of the mind consciousness, assisted by the hearing nature of the ear consciousness; the knowing that can know the hearing of sounds is the knowing of the mind consciousness, the introspective function of the mind consciousness, the functional operation of the self-validating cognition of the mind consciousness.
Of course, in hearing sounds there are four consciousnesses: not only the mind consciousness and the ear consciousness, but also the seventh consciousness and the eighth consciousness. All hearing natures are based primarily on the eighth consciousness, but on the surface it is all the hearing of the mind consciousness and the ear consciousness. The hearing nature of the eighth consciousness is extremely hidden and hard to know, and the hearing nature of the manas, the seventh consciousness, is likewise hidden and hard to know. Ordinary people cannot observe these two hearing natures; the hearing nature of the mind consciousness can be observed relatively easily.
