The Direct Perception and Discrimination of the Six Consciousnesses (Four)

When the nose smells a fragrance, the odor is a directly perceived object (pratyakṣa) present in the immediate moment, and both the nose consciousness and the mind consciousness can discern these directly perceived objects. In the first instant, the nose consciousness directly perceives the degree to which the odor stimulates the nasal mucosa; in the second instant, the mind consciousness discerns whether the odor is fragrant or foul; thereafter, the mind consciousness discerns which kind of fragrance or which kind of foulness it is, to what degree the fragrance or foulness has reached, from what object it is emitted, how far or how near it is from oneself, and so on. These mental sense-objects (dharma-viṣaya) are discerned by the mind consciousness through direct perception, but they may also be discerned through inference or non-valid cognition, because the mind consciousness's knowledge of odors is incomplete, and thus the discernment cannot be entirely by direct perception. Only when wisdom has reached perfection will the discernment of all dharmas be by direct perception—and this, perhaps, only a Buddha alone can accomplish.

If the Buddha still needed to discern through inference and non-valid cognition, then the Buddha would not be the possessor of omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), which would indicate that the Buddha's wisdom still had imperfections, and that there were still dharmas He could not know by direct perception. Then He could not be called a Buddha of omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā); at most He would be a Wonderous Enlightenment Bodhisattva. The Buddha can perfectly and directly perceive all dharmas in the world, without comparison or imaginative deliberation, because His wisdom and virtuous capabilities are perfectly and completely endowed.

When tasting food and drink, the tongue consciousness directly perceives the coarse taste sense-objects of the food and drink. The discernment in the first instant is certainly that of the tongue consciousness; the discernment in the second instant is that of the mind consciousness; and after the second instant, the two discern simultaneously. The mind consciousness discerns the subtle taste sense-objects of the food and drink, discerning the specific flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, and bland, and their degrees. If the flavor is too strong and one is not accustomed to it, one will spit the food out—this is the result of the mind consciousness's direct perception. Of course, there is also discernment by inference and non-valid cognition involved: discerning based on memory is inference, while imagining it to be the flavor of some food or drink is non-valid cognition. If one's knowledge and understanding of taste sense-objects is limited, one must rely on discernment by inference and non-valid cognition, and the results are often mistaken. Even direct perception can sometimes be mistaken; it is not necessarily always completely correct. When the mind consciousness engages in discernment by inference and non-valid cognition, this is the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) realm of the mind consciousness, in which the first five consciousnesses do not participate in such discernment.