The Discernment of the Eighth Consciousness

For example, a fresh flower is material form (rūpa-dharma), including the material sense-object of color, and the non-indicative dharmas (avijñapti) such as vividness, delicacy, beauty, and richness; including the dharmas of shape such as tall or short, large or small, long or round; and including the dharmas of expressive form such as posture and figure.

Color is coarse form, discerned by the eye consciousness; the rest is subtle form, discerned by the mind consciousness. The manas discerns all of them, only its discernment is not clear, which is why it lets the eye consciousness and mind consciousness come over to assist in discerning.

These four kinds of sense-objects on material form all belong to the material sense-object, and all have the outer representation of the essential object and the image of the inner representation. As for the image of the inner representation—does the eighth consciousness contact it or not? Does it discern it or not? Does it know it or not? The eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, knows all dharmas; it should contact everything and know everything. If the eighth consciousness did not discern or know, how could it manifest and transform the image of the inner representation?

For example, if you want to move a piece of furniture, if you cannot see the furniture, how can you move it? Suppose you want to make steamed buns: you do not know where the flour is, where the basin is, where the water is to come from, where the kneading board is; you do not know how to use these things, do not know the condition of the flour and water, do not know where the pot is, and do not know where the fire source is—how are these steamed buns to be made?

If a person is due to develop cancer, and the eighth consciousness does not discern the condition of the body, how could the body develop cancer? Not even knowing where the cancer cells should appear, how could this person get cancer? It is the same with performing surgery. When the eighth consciousness is to produce eyes, if it does not discern the condition of the fetus's material body, where would it be appropriate to produce the eyes? When the body is to grow a polyp, if the eighth consciousness does not discern and know the condition of the material body, where would it be appropriate for the polyp to grow? When the manas wants to eat, if the eighth consciousness does not discern the food, does not discern the manas, and does not discern the condition of the six consciousnesses, how could the six consciousnesses eat?

The eighth consciousness does not specifically discern what the six sense-objects are; it does not have the discerning functions and attributes of the seven consciousnesses. For example, with a lump of rice: a human can discern it and then eat it; a ghost can discern it and then eat it; a dog can discern it and then eat it; ants and flies can discern it and then eat it; bacteria can discern it and then consume it. All these kinds of beings can discern it; heavenly beings can also discern it; Buddhas and bodhisattvas can also discern it. Is the content, manner, and result of their discernment the same? The various determinations (adhimokṣa) each differ, yet the various perceptions all stand established—thus we know that everything is consciousness-only.

When the eighth consciousness discerns the outer representation of the essential object, it is also a special kind of discernment, utterly different from the discernment of the seven consciousnesses. We cannot even imagine it.