The Contact Wherein Both Mind Dharmas and Material Form Lack Material Attributes

Question: The conscious mind is not located inside, outside, or in between the physical body, so why is it still said that the six consciousnesses arise at the place where the supreme faculty (indriya) in the brain contacts the sense objects?

Answer: For sentient beings who possess a supreme faculty, the prerequisite and necessary condition for the arising of the six consciousnesses is the contact between faculty and sense object; only after contact do the six consciousnesses arise. The contact between faculty and sense object includes: the external five faculties contacting the external five sense objects, the manas contacting external mental sense objects, as well as the internal five faculties contacting the internal five sense objects, and the manas contacting internal mental sense objects. However, the external five sense objects and mental sense objects cannot be contacted by the six consciousnesses, because at that point the six consciousnesses do not yet exist—only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses exist—therefore the contact between external faculties and sense objects cannot give rise to the six consciousnesses. Only the contact between internal faculties and sense objects can give rise to the six consciousnesses. What the six consciousnesses discern are all the internal six sense objects within the supreme faculty of the brain.

What the manas discerns includes not only internal sense objects but also external ones. This external sense object is not the original objective realm (essence realm) initially generated by the tathāgatagarbha, but rather the sense-object realm that the tathāgatagarbha transforms and manifests after the essence realm, which the manas can discern. Only after this external sense object enters the supreme faculty and becomes an internal sense object—if the manas wishes to discern it in detail, or wishes to engage in some activity—will the six consciousnesses arise to carry out discernment and processing. Otherwise, even though the internal six sense objects exist and contact the six faculties, the six consciousnesses will not arise and discern.

Although the six consciousnesses arise at the supreme faculty of the brain, the six consciousnesses are formless and without mark; they are not material form with marks, and therefore cannot contact the supreme faculty, which is material form. Thus they are not located inside, outside, or in between the supreme faculty. In this way, even if the arising of the six consciousnesses has a location, it is as good as having no location. Otherwise, if one sliced the supreme faculty of the brain open piece by piece, one would be able to find the six consciousnesses; yet in reality, even if the brain were smashed to pieces, the six consciousnesses could not be seen. The same applies to the manas: formless and without mark, it contacts all sense objects and discerns both internal and external sense objects, yet it is not upon the internal or external sense objects. The contact of faculty touching sense object is not contact in the physical sense, and the conscious mind is not matter either. We ordinary people still cannot understand or imagine contact between matter and non-matter, or contact between non-matter and non-matter; we often mistake these two kinds of contact for the kind of contact that occurs between physical objects, but in fact it is not. Therefore the conscious mind is not located inside, outside, or in between the physical body.

If one can understand that kind of contact which is of a non-material nature, then it becomes easy to understand the contact between the tathāgatagarbha and all dharmas, and one will know that the tathāgatagarbha is both upon all dharmas and yet not inside, outside, or in between all dharmas. If one can set aside that kind of contact belonging to worldly phenomena, then understanding and realizing the eight consciousnesses will not be too difficult.