The Discernment of the Eighth Consciousness

For example, a fresh flower is material form (rūpa), including the material sense-objects (rūpa-viṣaya) of color such as hues, and the mental sense-objects (dharma-viṣaya) of unmanifest form (avijñapti) such as vividness, delicacy, beauty, and richness; including the mental sense-objects of shape-form such as tallness, shortness, largeness, smallness, length, and roundness; and including the mental sense-objects of expressive form such as posture and configuration.

Color is coarse material form, discerned by the eye consciousness; the rest is subtle material form, discerned by the mind consciousness. The manas discerns all of them as well, only its discernment is unclear, which is why it lets the eye consciousness and mind consciousness come over to help with the discernment.

These four kinds of sense-objects on material form all belong to the material sense-object, and all have the object-aspect (nimitta) consisting of the outer aspect's substantial realm and the inner aspect's image. As for the image of the inner aspect—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 images of the inner aspect?

For example, if you want to move a piece of furniture, and you cannot see the furniture, how can you move it? For example, if you want to make steamed buns, but you do not know where the flour is, where the basin is, where the water is, 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 you going to make those steamed buns?

If a person is due to develop cancer, and the eighth consciousness does not discern the condition of the body, how could it make cancer appear in the body? Without even knowing where the cancer cells should appear, how could this person get cancer? It is the same with undergoing 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' realms are; it does not have the discerning functions and attributes that the seven consciousnesses have. 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 eat it. All these kinds of sentient beings can discern it; devas can also discern it; Buddhas and bodhisattvas can also discern it. Are the contents, methods, and results of their discernment the same? The various determinations (adhimokṣa) each differ, yet the various perceptions are all established—thus we know that everything is consciousness only.

The eighth consciousness's discernment of the outer aspect's substantial realm is also a special kind of discernment, utterly different from the discernment of the seven consciousnesses. We cannot even imagine it.