The Combined Functioning of the Seven Consciousnesses in Discerning the Six Sense Objects

Question: When the manas is about to discern a certain object, do the first five consciousnesses carry out discernment simultaneously, and is the information discerned by the five consciousnesses transmitted directly to the manas? After the manas receives the information transmitted by the five consciousnesses, does it then decide whether to discern more deeply, and decide whether the mind consciousness will arise?

Answer: The five sense objects and the mental sense object together constitute a complete object-realm, and discerning the complete object-realm requires the five consciousnesses and the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna) to discern it in conjunction; they cannot discern it separately. Therefore, the information received by the manas is transmitted jointly by the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness.

When sentient beings discern at the same moment, the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness operate simultaneously. For example, when the manas knows there is a person in front and wants to take a careful look at this person, the eye consciousness and the mind consciousness arise upon the form object of this person's physical body, discerning this person's appearance; at the same time, the ear consciousness and mind consciousness arise, discerning this person's voice as well as the surrounding sounds. But at this time the nose consciousness also appears and can smell scent objects; the body consciousness can also exist, having feelings about the temperature and one's own body.

The five consciousnesses and the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses all exist, and all engage in discernment. But discernment always has a point of focus, because the manas's attention is limited, its energy is limited, and its meditative concentration (samādhi) is also limited. So the manas has a focus of attention; it does not give key attention to all six sense objects, but rather has what is primary and what is secondary. The primary dharmas receive focused and special discernment, while the secondary dharmas are passed over lightly. If the manas focuses its attention on the person in front, the eye consciousness, ear consciousness, and mind consciousness will devote more attention to discerning, while the surrounding odors may go unsmelled or be ignored, and the bodily sensations may be forgotten, or felt only faintly.

Why is it that when the manas's attention has degrees of emphasis, the discernment of the six consciousnesses appears with varying degrees of emphasis? Because the arising of the five consciousnesses and the mind consciousness is determined by the manas, and the discernment of what is emphasized and what is not is also determined by the manas—not by the mind consciousness, and even less by the five consciousnesses. Whatever dharma the manas focuses on, the six consciousnesses will discern that dharma with emphasis; the six consciousnesses are entirely deployed by the manas, and attention is allocated by the manas. Therefore, the six consciousnesses act not of their own accord; although the mind consciousness, while discerning, also has its own proposals, the manas may adopt the mind consciousness's proposals and opinions, or it may not adopt them.