The Nature of the Eight Kings of Consciousness Is Subtle and Profound

Seeds of consciousness arise and cease moment by moment. In the five states—dreamless sleep, coma, the moment of dying, entering the samādhi of no-perception, and entering the cessation of perception and feeling—the six consciousnesses necessarily cease and disappear; therefore the conscious mind is subject to arising, ceasing, and change—it is impermanent, suffering, empty, and not-self. As long as the seventh consciousness exists and operates, the eighth consciousness follows along; the eighth consciousness is like an attendant who follows behind. The natures of these two consciousnesses differ greatly, yet they are closely bound together. The eighth consciousness is the most subtle and profound; next, the seventh consciousness is also subtle and profound; next, the sixth consciousness is also subtle and profound; and finally, the five sense consciousnesses are also subtle and profound. All eight consciousness-kings are subtle and profound. When the natures of all eight consciousnesses are known completely and without remainder, sentient beings attain buddhahood.

In the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, the sixth consciousness is extremely subtle; the higher the level of meditative concentration, the subtler the mind consciousness becomes, and the weaker its discriminating capacity. In the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, that concentration is the highest among the worldly concentrations of the three realms. When the mind consciousness enters concentration there, at that time the mind consciousness has no self-validating cognition (sva-saṃvitti-saṃvitti-bhāga) and cannot introspect its own existence—that is, it does not know that it exists. In other concentrations, the mind consciousness can still introspect itself and know of its own existence. The mind consciousness in first dhyāna and in the concentration of the desire realm can still discern the mental sense-objects upon the five sense-objects; in concentrations of the second dhyāna and above, the mind consciousness can no longer discern the mental sense-objects upon the five sense-objects, because the first five consciousnesses have already vanished, and the mind consciousness cannot discern the five sense-objects on its own. Therefore it is said that the mind consciousness is subject to arising, ceasing, and change—it is not real and eternally existent, and thus it is not-self. The same is true of the five sense consciousnesses, and the same is true of the seventh consciousness.