The Nature of the Eight Consciousnesses, the Mind King, Is All Subtle and Profound

The seeds of consciousness arise and cease moment by moment. In the five states—dreamless sleep, coma, the moment of death, entering the concentration of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti), and entering the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samāpatti)—the six consciousnesses necessarily cease and disappear; therefore the conscious mind is subject to arising, ceasing, and change, and is impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self. As long as the seventh consciousness exists and operates, the eighth consciousness follows along; the eighth consciousness is like an attendant following behind. The natures of these two consciousnesses differ greatly, yet they are closely connected. The eighth consciousness is the most subtle and profound; next, the seventh consciousness is also subtle and profound; then 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 without remainder, sentient beings attain buddhahood.

In the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception (naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana), the sixth consciousness is extremely subtle; the higher the level of meditative concentration (samādhi), the subtler the mind consciousness, and the weaker its capacity for discernment. The concentration of the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception is the highest worldly concentration within the three realms. When the mind consciousness enters that concentration, at that time the mind consciousness has no self-validating cognition (svasaṃvedana) 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 its own existence. The mind consciousness in the first dhyāna and in the concentration of the desire realm can still discern the mental sense-objects (dharmas) 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, on its own, discern the five sense-objects. Therefore it is said that the mind consciousness arises, ceases, and changes; it is not real and eternally existent—that is to say, it is without self. The same is true of the five sense consciousnesses, and the same is true of the seventh consciousness.