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: