宗鏡錄 53.38

53.38

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.