The Distinctions in the Manifesting Functions of the Three Transforming Consciousnesses

The manas manifesting images is like a bright mirror reflecting images, but this differs greatly from the tathāgatagarbha manifesting images like a bright mirror. When the tathāgatagarbha manifests images, there is a relationship of generating and being generated between the tathāgatagarbha and the images. When the manas manifests images, however, there is no such relationship of generating and being generated between the manas and the images. Although the manas is the second transforming consciousness, this "transforming" does not mean generating something out of nothing; it means manifesting, meaning facilitating.

The mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses are the third transforming consciousnesses, and they also have the function of manifesting and displaying images. But the images manifested by the mind consciousness are not as faithful to reality as those manifested by the manas; they can display erroneous, misplaced, and altered images. Therefore, the mind consciousness does not simply function to illuminate and perceive all dharmas as they are; rather, it manifests images that have been processed and fabricated. Of course, the images manifested by the manas are not entirely faithful either; they also involve a certain degree of distortion and alteration, only not as severe as the distortions of the mind consciousness. The images manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, however, are completely faithful to reality—without distortion, without alteration, true to the original appearance of dharmas. Only the tathāgatagarbha's manifestation of images is truly like a mirror reflecting images. This is the difference in how the three transforming consciousnesses manifest images.