宗鏡錄 53.38

53.38

答。古德云。現覺如夢者。如正起現量五識。證色等五境之時。但唯能證所證色等境。不能覺現量能覺之心。所以者何。覺能覺法是意識。正隨起五識時。必無意識。故於此念。必不能覺現量之心。至第二念正起意識。覺前念五識現量。時無所覺。現量五識。及現量所覺之境。並已謝滅。所以者何。以諸識不並生故。起意識時。現量五識已滅。又有為法剎那滅故。現量五識所緣之境。此時亦已謝滅。若言須有實外境。方能生心者。且如後念意識。緣前念現量五識為境。豈是實有法耶。由過去無體故。此過去現量五識已滅。今雖無體。猶能為境。生於意識。何必五識。須緣心外實境而生耶。謂若在睡時正起夢心。即不能起覺夢之心。至睡惺後起覺夢心時。其所覺之夢心已滅。其五識現量正起時。未能起覺現量意識心。及至第二念起。得覺現量五識之意識心。其所覺現量五識已滅。與覺夢心相似。故舉為喻。

Answer: An ancient master said: Direct awareness is like a dream. When the five consciousnesses of direct perception are currently arising and experiencing the five objective spheres such as form, they can only experience the experienced objects such as form; they cannot be aware of the mind capable of perceiving by direct perception. Why is this? The dharma that is aware of the capable perceiver is the manovijñāna. At the very moment when the five consciousnesses arise, the manovijñāna is necessarily absent; therefore at this moment one definitely cannot be aware of the mind of direct perception. When in the second moment the manovijñāna properly arises to be aware of the previous moment's five consciousnesses of direct perception, at that time there is nothing to be aware of: the five consciousnesses of direct perception and the objects perceived by direct perception have both already ceased and passed away. Why is this? Because the consciousnesses do not arise simultaneously; when the manovijñāna arises, the five consciousnesses of direct perception have already ceased. Furthermore, because conditioned dharmas perish moment by moment, the objects conditioned by the five consciousnesses of direct perception have at this time also already ceased and passed away. If one says that there must be real external objects before mind can arise: take the subsequent moment's manovijñāna conditioning the previous moment's five consciousnesses of direct perception as its object—how could that be a substantially existent dharma? Because the past lacks substantial entity, these past five consciousnesses of direct perception have already ceased; although they now lack substantial entity, they can still serve as an object to give rise to the manovijñāna. Why must the five consciousnesses necessarily arise by conditioning real objects outside the mind? It is like when one is asleep and the dream mind is properly arising, one cannot give rise to the mind aware of the dream; when, after waking from sleep, one gives rise to the mind aware of the dream, the dream mind that is known has already ceased. When the five consciousnesses of direct perception are properly arising, one cannot yet give rise to the manovijñāna mind aware of the direct perception; and by the time the manovijñāna mind capable of being aware of the five consciousnesses of direct perception arises in the second moment, those five consciousnesses of direct perception that are known have already ceased. This is similar to the mind aware of a dream, which is why it is cited as an analogy.