The Meaning of Direct Perception (Pratyakṣa)

The true meaning of direct perception (pratyakṣa) is twofold: one refers to the wisdom state of the conscious mind, and the other refers to the fact that the object-aspect (ālambana) corresponding to the conscious mind contains genuine meaning, conforming either to conventional truth or to ultimate truth. The direct-perception cognition and discernment of the conscious mind is of the nature of wisdom; as the degree of direct perception differs, so wisdom differs. The more directly the conscious mind faces its object-aspect, the more real and factual it is, the easier it is to have direct-perception discernment, and the more accurate and truthful the cognition, the less likely errors of discernment occur. When the conscious mind's direct-perception wisdom is deep, upon contacting a state of dharmas it knows at that very moment, knows immediately—no analysis needed, no research needed, no pondering needed, no inquiring around needed, no speculation needed—and what it knows is accurate and without error. If it cannot know instantly at once, the wisdom is deficient and flawed; if through inference or erroneous cognition it still does not know even after a long time, it is foolish and without wisdom; if what it knows is incorrect and deviates, the wisdom is shallow.

The eighth consciousness can know all dharmas through direct perception, accurately and without error, including matters far in the future after countless kalpas. As long as it discerns the karmic seeds, it knows at that very moment, without comparing, researching, analyzing, speculating, inquiring, or pondering. Because the eighth consciousness has no ignorance, its wisdom is deep, vast, and boundless. All dharmas are personally manifested by the eighth consciousness and are its own personal objects of cognition, so its discernment cannot go wrong. If the eighth consciousness's discernment were to err, then cause and effect would be unimaginable, the five-aggregate body could not function normally, and life could not proceed in an orderly manner. Such a phenomenon is impossible, so the eighth consciousness's discernment of all dharmas must be discernment through direct perception.

The object-aspect corresponding to the seventh consciousness, the manas, is a reflected object (sadārhya?—i.e., a "carried-substance object," tadākāra-viṣaya), which comes from the essential object born by the eighth consciousness and is seen depending on the eighth consciousness's perceiving-aspect; it is close to the real, so what the manas discerns is a direct-perception object. However, the results of its discernment carry various errors, and the results of its discernment are erroneous cognition (non-valid cognition). The manas at the Buddha-stage, having completely and thoroughly transformed consciousness into wisdom, has only direct perception in its discernment results, with no erroneous cognition.

The object-aspect corresponding to the five sense consciousnesses is a real object (bhāta-viṣaya), which is also relatively real and does not turn according to the mind, so the five sense consciousnesses discern through direct perception. But if karmic obstructions appear in the eye faculty, the discernment of the five sense consciousnesses will be affected to a certain degree, and the results of their discernment may become erroneous cognition.

The object-aspect corresponding to the mind consciousness is a quasi-reflected object, a false reflected object, which differs considerably from the essential object, so the mind consciousness's discernment involves inference and erroneous cognition, requiring very deep and very subtle wisdom. The results of the mind consciousness's discernment include both direct perception and erroneous cognition, which often influence the manas's cognition and decision-making, and easily taint the manas.

Compared with the tathāgatagarbha, the discernment of the seven consciousnesses is all erroneous cognition, without any correct and real dharma. The so-called direct perception of the seven consciousnesses exists only within a certain range; it is relative direct perception, false direct perception, not absolute direct perception. Because conventional truth is not truly conventional truth—its substance is ultimate truth—and the seven consciousnesses do not know this principle, even the results of their direct-perception discernment of conventional truth are also erroneous cognition.