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Duy biểu 13

Thich Nhat Hanh · December 27, 1992 · Plum Village, France

Lesson 23 introduces the domain of the Sixth Consciousness (Manovijnana). Unlike the five sense consciousnesses which rely on physical organs like the eye or ear, the Sixth Consciousness relies on the Seventh Consciousness (Manas) as its base and takes dharma as its object. Consciousness arises when the sense base contacts the object, acting as contributing conditions rather than the primary cause, which remains the seeds within Store Consciousness. The scope of this consciousness is vast, permeating the three natures: wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate.

Lesson 24 details the three modes of cognition (pramana):

Direct Perception (pratyaksa): Direct knowledge without reasoning. This can be true or false (a semblance of direct perception), such as mistaking a rope for a snake.
Inference (anumana): Knowledge derived through reasoning and deduction. This can also be true or false (a semblance of inference), like incorrectly deducing the presence of a car behind a wall based on smoke and sound.
Wrong Perception (apramana): A mode often associated with the Seventh Consciousness.
Suffering frequently arises from false perceptions and the tendency to view the world through the lens of past images, stereotypes, and internal seeds rather than reality itself; perception is often merely recollection.

The Sixth Consciousness contacts three realms of perception:

The Nature Realm: Reality in itself, which does not depend on the mind.
The Image-with-Substance Realm: Perceptions where the object exists but is colored by the observer’s internal seeds and feelings.
The Mere-Image Realm: Purely mental images, such as those in dreams or visualization, dependent solely on the perceiving subject.
This consciousness corresponds to all fifty-one mental formations, encompassing universal, particular, wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate types. It acts as the root of bodily and verbal actions, possessing deliberation but lacking continuity. Functioning as a gardener who sows and waters seeds in the soil of Store Consciousness, it creates leading karma to determine direction and completing karma to bring actions to fruition.