Sense Faculty, Sense Object, and Sense Consciousnesses of Mind | There Is No Suffering

The dhatus condition our experience of a particular sense object. Two people’ s recollection of a meditating cushion can be very different. One person can relate to it with dread, another with enthusiasm. Dread and enthusiasm are mental factors that work with the mind faculty to color, or condition, the primary mind ( vijnana), or the six sense consciousnesses. The recollection of the cushion is the sense object. And the imprints derived from the reaction of dread and enthusiasm is stored in one’ s consciousness. Here, consciousness refers both to the discriminating mind as well as to the base-consciousness. Therefore, in the case of the mind, just as with the other senses, the faculty, sense object, and sense consciousness have no independent existence.

Sense objects of the mind include all the symbols that we use to represent various objects, feelings, or concepts. These symbols have no meaning by themselves. We ascribe meaning to them so that we can think and communicate. You may be aware of a symbol, but unaware of its meaning. For instance, I may say the name ‘Oswald Pierre.’ If you know the man, then the symbol has relevance and you can think about him. If you do not know him, then they are just sounds or markings on a page. Another example: I say the word ‘dragon,’ and your mind fabricates an image: a large or small winged or wingless monster with varying attributes and abilities that can be benevolent or evil. It depends on who is doing the imagining. Even though there is no such thing in our world as a dragon, we have a symbol for it. The symbol and what it refers to have no real existence.

Symbols are merely representations. Although they conjure up emotions and concepts, we should realize them for what they are, and not allow them to condition us. For this reason the Buddha said, “I have spread the Dharma for forty-nine years, but I have not said a single word.” Because the Buddha spread the Dharma using the symbols of language, the Buddha did not say anything real. It was all dharma dust.

The sense consciousness of mind is empty because it is made up of the five skandhas, which are intrinsically empty. Sense consciousness has two aspects. First, an external aspect that comes from the interaction of sense faculties and sense objects; it includes the first four skandhas—form, sensation, perception, and volition. The second aspect of sense consciousness refers to the fifth skandha, consciousness—the karmic force that ensures future retribution. When a sense faculty and a sense object come together, there is sensation. The interaction that leads to sensation is retribution for previous karma. This retribution, in turn, leads to mental activity—perception and volition. Volition stimulates response, which creates new karmic forces in the sense consciousness, providing continuity to the future.

I have just analyzed mind and its functions in relation to the sense faculty, sense object, and consciousness of mind, but the direct contemplation of their emptiness is the proper practice. To understand that mind is unreal and empty is to realize that it is only the continuity of karmic force amidst a matrix of different causes and conditions. There is no fixed, independent mind.
You can contemplate the eighteen realms at any time. You are not limited to meditating on a cushion. When you see something, directly perceive it as empty; when you hear something, directly perceive it as empty; when you eat something, directly perceive it as empty; when you walk, talk, sleep or think, directly perceive these acts as empty. This is direct contemplation. If you can do this, true wisdom will arise, and whatever karmic retribution remains will also be empty, because there is no more attachment.

If, like most of us, you have not gotten to that point, then you still have attachment. Karmic retribution still applies, and you experience suffering instead of wisdom. It is because of suffering that we must use the methods of contemplation described in the Heart Sutra. We must contemplate that the eighteen realms are empty. Slowly, emotional afflictions will lessen. If we are completely successful, emotional afflictions will disappear.

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