CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE FIVE SKANDHAS | Zen Wisdom

QUESTION:
The diverse uses of the word “consciousness” in Buddhist philosophy tends to confuse me. Buddhism speaks of consciousness as one of the five skandhas; there are also the sixth, seventh and eighth consciousnesses. Can Shih-fu clear up some of my confusion?

The five skandhas also seem bewildering. They are a fundamental teaching of Buddhism, yet I still have problems distinguishing between sensation, perception, volition and consciousness.

SHIH-FU:
I will answer both parts of your question at the same time since they are related. The five skandhas ─ form, sensation, perception, volition and consciousness ─ are among the most fundamental of the Buddha’s teachings. In essence, one can say that the five skandhas make sentient beings what they are. Without the five skandhas, there would be no way to sense and interact with the environment. In fact, there would be neither beings nor environment.

The first skandha is form, and it refers to the material realm: our body and the environment. Thus it encompasses both physiological and physical aspects. The five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body) and the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and nerves) make up the physiological aspect of form. Everything in the environment, as well as the symbols we use to understand the environment, make up the physical aspect of form.

Now I would like to skip to the fifth skandha, or consciousness. It is important not to confuse the consciousness described by the fifth skandha with the eight consciousnesses of the Mind Only, or Yogacara school. This school developed long after the Buddha expounded Buddhadharma, and it expands upon the ideas underlying the five skandhas.

The first five consciousnesses of the Yogacara school arise from the five sense organs: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. The sixth consciousness refers to the discriminating mind. These six consciousnesses roughly correspond to the middle three skandhas: sensation, perception and volition. Whereas form falls within the physical realm, sensation, perception and volition fall within the mental realm. Likewise, the first six consciousnesses of Yogacara fall within the mental realm.

Sensation, perception, and volition are mental activities. Fitting them into the framework of Yogacara, one can say that they are the result of the five senses coming into contact with the environment.

The fifth skandha, consciousness, refers to much more than the discriminating mind. It includes the other four skandhas, which encompass both the material and mental realms. The fifth skandha thus also includes both material and mental aspects. Seen this way, the fifth skandha is also simultaneously the cause and the consequence.

STUDENT:
What do you mean by the fifth skandha being simultaneously the cause and the consequence?

SHIH-FU:
The fifth skandha is the cause because the physical world, which includes our bodies and the environment, exists as a result of the content of our consciousness. Remember, the consciousness of the fifth skandha is much more than the discriminating mind; it holds within itself the karmic seeds of all past actions. It is our karmic storehouse, our karmic force. Our bodies and the environment are manifestations of whatever is in our karma. Therefore, form (the first skandha) is a consequence of consciousness (the fifth skandha).

Consciousness is also the consequence, because when the three mental skandhas interact with form ─ the environment ─ this generates new karma, which then enters our karmic storehouse, the consciousness of the fifth skandha.

STUDENT:
So you are saying that the reason why the material world ─ body and environment ─ exists in the first place is because of karma, and that is why consciousness is the cause. At the same time, consciousness is a consequence because, as our bodies encounter the environment, our six sense consciousnesses perceive the experience, and we respond, thereby generating new karma, which is in fact the consciousness of the fifth skandha.

What you are saying, really, is that the environment ─ in fact the entire universe ─ exists because sentient beings exist. The karma of all sentient beings creates the universe?

SHIH-FU:
Yes, you can say it that way. Your physical body is also called the body of retribution. The environment is also called the environment of retribution. They exist because of the effects of sentient beings’ past karma. A fundamental principle of Buddhadharma, called “interdependent origination, ” or “conditioned arising, ” explains that all phenomena are interconnected and arise and perish because of karma. The environment and our bodies are manifestations of both individual and collective karma.

Everything that we are, experience and encounter is the consequence of our previous actions. The previous actions generate the karmic force which is stored in our consciousness (fifth skandha). Eventually the karmic seeds within our consciousness manifest, becoming what we encounter and experience. And as we experience and act upon the effects from previous karma, we create more karma, which in turn gets stored in this consciousness.

Now let’s go back and compare the framework of the five skandhas to that of the Yogacara school. Sensation, perception and volition (second, third and fourth skandha) roughly correspond to the first six consciousnesses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thought) of the Yogacara school. The consciousness of the five skandhas refers to the seventh and eighth consciousnesses of the Yogacara school.

The fifth skandha is also known as the karmic retribution consciousness. When the five skandhas were originally taught, there were no fine distinctions made between a sixth, seventh and eighth consciousness. Eventually, Yogacara expanded upon the five skandhas and made finer distinctions between the functions of this karmic retribution consciousness, and so they speak of a sixth, seventh and eighth consciousness.

As I said earlier, sensation, perception and volition fall within the mental realm. Basically, there are three stages of any mental function. First, one’s senses come into contact with the environment. This is called sensation. Second, one discerns the experience: is the sensation pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral? This is perception. Third, one is motivated to react to the experience. This is volition. For example: I hear a loud, irritating noise. The sensation is whatever is impressed upon me, in this case the sound impressed upon my ear. My perception might be, “What a harsh sound! I don’t like it!” Volition is my decision to do something about it: I frown, or I put my hands over my ears. Whenever a person acts upon a perception that arises because of a sensation, karma is generated, and it is planted in the fifth skandha: consciousness. I hope you are now clear about the distinction between the consciousness of the five skandhas and the different levels of consciousness of the Yogacara school.

STUDENT:
Inanimate objects do not have consciousness, but they are reflections of our minds. That microphone you are speaking into is there because of our individual and collective karma. Is this what is meant by the Buddhist prayer: “To know all the Buddhas of the past, present and future, perceive that Dharmadhatu nature is all created by the mind”?

SHIH-FU:
Yes and no. Any lifeless, inanimate object exists because of the past karmic power of sentient beings. Whatever we encounter enters through the five sense organs and is perceived by the discriminating mind. Without the discriminating mind (the sixth consciousness of the Yogacara school), we would not be able to perceive anything. When someone’s sixth consciousness
does not function, the outside world ceases to exist for that individual. The world still exists for other sentient beings, but not for the person without a discriminating consciousness.
However, it is not the sixth consciousness alone that creates the world. The environment is a manifestation arising from the interaction of all five skandhas. With our senses and discriminating mind we experience the world. Whenever we make decisions, think, say or do something, we are creating karma, and karma in turn helps to create and shape the environment. The world is the way it is because of everyone’s karma. The world changes as you live your life and create new karma. Therefore, it is important to be aware of your actions and speech. Your karma is shaping not only your future, but also the world’s.

Dharmadhatu nature, on the other hand, can only be seen by someone who has attained enlightenment. Dharmadhatu nature is the nature of emptiness. Emptiness means that all dharmas ─ all phenomena ─ are in a constant state of change. Nothing is permanent. Furthermore, every dharma is interconnected with all other dharmas. Nothing stands on its own. If one attains Buddhahood, one perceives this nature of emptiness. Enlightened beings perceive the world with pure minds, and they deal with the world through their wisdom. Ordinary people perceive the world with vexed minds, and they deal with the world through their discrimination. Pure mind creates Dharmadhatu nature, and Dharmadhatu nature makes pure mind possible. The mind of vexation creates the environment. Pure mind is wisdom. The vexed mind is discriminative consciousness.

STUDENT:
Buddhadharma also speaks of the eighteen realms, which include the six consciousnesses. Three components must come together whenever a sentient being comes into contact with the environment: a sense organ, a sense object, and a sense consciousness. For instance, the eye is a sense organ; form, shape and color are sense objects; and seeing is the sense consciousness. The same holds for sound, smell, taste and touch. This is clear. But I am still not sure what the three components of the sixth consciousness are.

SHIH-FU:
The six sense organs, the six sense consciousnesses, and the six sense objects make up what we call the eighteen realms. The six sense objects are also called the six kinds of sense dust. The objects of the sixth (mental) consciousness are the symbols we use to think, reason and remember. These symbols make up the sense dust of the sixth consciousness. Thinking, reasoning, remembering make up the consciousness component of the sixth consciousness.

The symbols come from the five other kinds of sense dust. We conceptualize with images and language. Language consists of the combination of varying sounds which present themselves as symbols to the sixth consciousness. When the mental consciousness uses these symbols, it can reason, remember, and make judgments. The mental consciousness cannot function without symbols.

The sense organ of the sixth consciousness includes a mental component and a physical component. The mental component is the retribution consciousness. It arises from the eighth consciousness where the karmic seeds reside. However, without the physical component, the karmic seeds cannot manifest. The physical component functions like a doorway, allowing the retribution consciousness ─ past karma ─ to leave the karmic storehouse and allowing newly created karma to enter the karmic storehouse. The physical component is one’s nervous system.

STUDENT:
Then the mental function of the sixth consciousness incorporates the other five sense organs? Isn’t it the brain and nervous system that senses, perceives and processes all information?

SHIH-FU:
Yes, but when I speak of the sixth consciousness I am talking about that part of the brain associated with thinking, reasoning and memory. The nervous system also includes the other sense consciousnesses and the life functions, but they are not part of the sense organ of the sixth consciousness. The brain and nervous system have more than one function.

In order for a sentient being to reason or have memory, it must make use of symbols. It is questionable how much memory and reasoning power other animals have. As long as an organism has a nervous system, then it still has the first four skandhas: form, sensation, perception and volition. Without the first four skandhas a sentient being would not be able to function; but only sentient beings with memory and reasoning power (those that make use of symbols) have all five skandhas.

STUDENT:
What about plants and vegetables? They seem to respond to things. They grow toward light.

SHIH-FU:
Plants are alive but they do not have nervous systems. They can react in certain ways and exhibit primitive behavior because they have cells, and chemical reactions take place in their bodies. But their reactions to the environment cannot be called sensation because sensation comes with a nervous system. Activities like photosynthesis and growth are purely chemical reactions.

STUDENT:
Isn’t the sixth consciousness really part of the first five consciousnesses? When I look at something, aren’t I using my reasoning power to discern what I see?

SHIH-FU:
One can say that the sixth consciousness (discriminating mind) incorporates the first five consciousnesses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. But the sixth consciousness refers specifically to the functions of reasoning and remembering. At the moment of sensation, the sixth consciousness is considered to be whatever sense consciousness is operating at that time. Immediately following that moment, one begins to remember, reason, and make judgments. These are functions of the sixth consciousness.

STUDENT:
Can there be pure awareness? Awareness that is there before language and symbols, before what one would call the sense objects of the sixth consciousness?

SHIH-FU:
Impossible. Without symbols and other sense objects of the sixth consciousness, the discriminating mind cannot function. You would either be dead or brain dead. When someone has pure awareness, symbols, memory and reasoning are still present in the sixth consciousness, but the individual is not attached to them. The individual’s mind has reached a level of equanimity. Nothing moves in the mind, but the functions of the mind are still present.

Enlightened beings and Buddhas are like ordinary sentient beings in that they still have and use a sixth consciousness. They remember, reason, think and learn. The difference is that fully enlightened beings are not attached to selves. They are free from desire, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. They are not self-centered. Their discriminating mind has been transformed from vexation into wisdom.

STUDENT:
So one can say that I have a sixth consciousness, but I am attached to it. I believe that the sixth consciousness is what I am. But an enlightened being just uses the sixth consciousness like a tool.

SHIH-FU:
Yes, a Buddha still uses the sixth consciousness. A Buddha still talks in terms of “I and you, I and it.” A Buddha can still distinguish between subject and object. But a Buddha is not attached to any of his discriminations. An ordinary sentient being says, “I am I and you are you, ” and believes it to be true. An ordinary sentient being identifies with his or her thoughts and body. Buddhas are not attached to their bodies and thoughts, but they still use them expediently. If Buddhas did not make use of their bodies and minds, they would not be able teach ordinary sentient beings.

STUDENT:
What, then, is in the mind when it reaches a level of no thought?

SHIH-FU:
I think you are confusing no thought with no-self. It is possible to reach a point in meditation when the mind is still. At this point there seem to be no thoughts, but there is in fact one thought. The person continues steadily on one thought. The mind does not move. No thinking is going on. This is samadhi. One does not have to be enlightened to experience this; or to put it another way, experiencing samadhi is not automatically enlightenment.

On the other hand, if a person experiences true enlightenment, then the idea of a self disappears. There is no self. But thoughts continue, just as they would in an ordinary person’s mind. An enlightened person can function, reason and make judgments. The difference is that the enlightened person does not attribute these mental functions to a self.

STUDENT:
The first few lines of the Heart Sutra read: “When the bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara, was coursing through deep Prajnaparamita, he perceived that all five skandhas are empty, thereby transcending all suffering.” If Avalokitesvara perceived that all five skandhas are empty, how did he know there were any skandhas to begin with?

SHIH-FU:
In the Heart Sutra, the Buddha tells us what the Bodhisattva has done. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is not saying it. The Bodhisattva is not pointing to the five skandhas and saying, “These are empty.”

Remember, the Heart Sutra was spoken by the Buddha for the sake of sentient beings. He is trying to make things understandable for people who have not experienced enlightenment. Ordinary sentient beings still believe in and perceive the five skandhas. The Buddha is saying, “If, like Avalokitesvara, you can perceive that the five skandhas are empty, then you will transcend all suffering.” Buddhas and bodhisattvas have perceived that the five skandhas do not exist, but enlightened beings can still see things from an ordinary sentient being’s point of view. They know that sentient beings identify with the five skandhas.

The Heart Sutra contains other seemingly contradictory statements. Further on it says that there is no such thing as wisdom or any attainment, and then immediately afterwards it says that because of this, Buddhas attain annutara samyak sambodhi: complete, supreme wisdom. If there is no attainment, how can Buddhas attain wisdom?

The point is, the sutra is spoken for the benefit of sentient beings. Ultimately, there is no wisdom and no attainment. But sentient beings do not realize it because of their attachments, so the Buddha must speak of wisdom and attainment. In fact, annutara samyak sambodhi. the complete, supreme wisdom, is “no wisdom, ” “no attainment.”

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