Are the five consciousnesses and the sixth consciousness the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness?

Answer: The sixth consciousness is not the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness; the eighth consciousness does not perceive all dharmas through the six consciousnesses. The eighth consciousness has the perceiving-aspect of its own substance, namely the five universal mental factors: attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). After the eighth consciousness generates attention toward a dharma, it makes contact with the dharma; after making contact, it can receive and accept it; after that, it discerns it; and after discerning, it knows the dharma. This is the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness, the manner in which the eighth consciousness perceives dharmas.

However, the content and substance of the dharmas perceived by the eighth consciousness are completely different from those perceived by the six consciousnesses. The dharmas perceived by the six consciousnesses all fall within the appearances of the six sense objects, grasping the appearances of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—these are worldly dharmas. The dharmas perceived by the eighth consciousness do not fall into the appearances of worldly dharmas; they are not form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas. The mind consciousness cannot understand what the eighth consciousness perceives; therefore, the perceiving-aspect of the eighth consciousness is not the five consciousnesses or the sixth consciousness. Yet after the six consciousnesses perceive dharmas, they have a certain effect on the operation of the eighth consciousness. This effect is manifested in how the perception of the six consciousnesses can influence the manas; when the manas receives this influence, it will generate a corresponding decision, and the eighth consciousness must then operate the next step of dharmas in accordance with the manas's decision, producing new dharmas.