Mind Consciousness - Verse Twenty Four

Mind consciousness has three modes of perception.
It has access to the three fields of perception and is capable of having three natures.
All mental formations manifest in it -
universal, particular, wholesome, unwholesome and indeterminate.

The mind consciousness is capable of perceiving its objects through direct perception, inference and wrong perception. Direct perception is when a consciousness is directly in contact with the object. Like the hand holding an object. We can feel the object. We know directly if it is soft or hard or cold or warm. Inference is when we use deduction, speculation, assumption or comparison to come to a conclusion. For example, we estimate the time it will take us to travel from one place to another by taking into account the distance between the two places and the anticipated speed at which the vehicle will traverse the distance. Both direct perception and inference can be incorrect. Mirage is an example of incorrect direct perception and inference can only always be correct if we know everything. We may not have accurate or complete data to come to the right conclusion. Newton, when he figured out gravity, thought that heavenly bodies must be exerting a gravitational pull on each other and inferred incorrectly that God must be periodically resetting the orbits of heavenly bodies to maintain order in the universe.

Incorrect perception occurs because we dwell in the realms of representations and mere images. Things-in-themselves is the correct mode of perception. It is reality without distortion. This is discussed in verse eight.

The mind consciousness can exhibit wholesome, unwholesome as well as indeterminate nature.

All mental formations manifest in the mind consciousness. There are fifty-one mental formations - five universal, five particular, eleven wholesome, twenty-six unwholesome and four indeterminate.

The five universal mental formations are contact, feeling, attention, perception and volition.

The five particular mental formations are zeal, determination, mindfulness, concentration and understanding.

Mental formations like compassion and faith are wholesome whereas greed and anger are unwholesome. Mental formations like regret and sleepiness are indeterminate.

The mind consciousness has the tendency to be distracted. We need a mind consciousness trained in mindfulness to apply the five powers (faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, insight). Mindfulness leads to concentration which leads to the development of insight.

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

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