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Directing Attention: Six Senses, Eight Consciousnesses
Appropriate attention (tác ý, manaskāra or yonisomanaskāra) consists of generating the energy of attention and directing it toward the “wholesome seeds” in us and around us: joy, love, peace, understanding. The sound of the bell is a means to leave behind mental discourse and return to ourselves, to enter the present moment, to open the door to mindfulness and concentration.
Three phases of contact between the sense organ and its object:
- The coarse organ (phù trần căn) and the coarse object
- The subtle organ (thắng nghĩa căn) and the image in the form of electrical signals
- Sensation (consciousness manifesting subject and object simultaneously)
The six sense organs and their objects:
- Eye – form
- Ear – sound
- Nose – smell
- Tongue – taste
- Body – tactile sensation
- Manas (cogitation) – thought, things (dharma)
Eight consciousnesses:
- Eye consciousness (seeing)
- Ear consciousness (hearing)
- Nose consciousness (smelling)
- Tongue consciousness (tasting)
- Body consciousness (touching)
- Mental consciousness (ý thức)
- Cogitation (manas)
- Store consciousness (tàng thức, ālaya or background consciousness)
