The Perceptiveness and Self-Validating Cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the Eighth Consciousness

Regarding the self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) of the eighth consciousness: first, ordinary beings and pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattvas) cannot observe the self-validating cognition of the eighth consciousness. Second, the content of the eighth consciousness's self-validating cognition differs from the content of the mind consciousness's self-validating cognition. The eighth consciousness has no self and does not know that a self exists, yet He can also know which dharmas have been operating: those that have already been operated, He does not operate again; those that have not finished operating must continue to be operated, and He knows how they are to be operated.

The self-validating cognition of the eighth consciousness's selfless nature is very difficult to explain clearly in language. It is like the discerning and knowing nature of the eighth consciousness: does the eighth consciousness discern the six sense objects? Of course He discerns them; otherwise, how could He manifest the six sense objects, change the six sense objects, and uphold the six sense objects? Yet this discernment of the eighth consciousness cannot, like the six consciousnesses, discern specific contents—after discerning the six sense objects, He knows what the discerned objects are. After the eighth consciousness discerns the six sense objects, He knows nothing, and then continues to discern and operate. The eighth consciousness's mechanized manner of discernment is like a computer discerning a program: a computer can also discern fonts and produce fonts, but does not know what fonts are; the mind consciousness knows what fonts are and what meaning they have.

It is also like a washing machine, which discerns the command to wash clothes but does not know the specific content and meaning of the command—the mind consciousness knows. The eighth consciousness's operation, discernment, and knowing nature are like the mindlessness of a robot: it works, yet does not know exactly what it has done, whereas the mind consciousness knows.