Is Knowing-Dream-in-Dream the Auto-Confirming Self-Confirming Portion or the Self-Confirming Portion of Consciousness?

The self-witnessing portion reflects upon the mind-consciousness itself and its associated mental factors. "Itself" means that consciousness discerns consciousness, the mental faculty discerns the mental faculty, and the five consciousnesses discern the five consciousnesses—it does not imply mutual discernment. The self-cognizing portion is the discernment by the mind-consciousness of the objective aspect (ālambana), which encompasses all dharmas, including the eighth consciousness and its mental factors, depending on the wisdom of discernment. Dream refers to the dream state, which is the objective aspect. Knowing is the subjective aspect (dṛṣṭi) of the mind-consciousness; when the mind-consciousness discerns sense objects, it is the subjective aspect discerning the objective aspect—this is the self-cognizing portion, not the self-witnessing portion. The subjective aspect perceiving itself is the self-witnessing portion. Only when the subjective aspect and objective aspect are combined do the self-cognizing portion and self-witnessing portion arise. The self-witnessing portion is actually a type of self-cognizing portion, except that the objective aspect becomes the mind-consciousness itself, and oneself along with mental factors become the objective aspect.

The subjective aspect that discerns the objective aspect of the dream state belongs to the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, with the sixth consciousness being the isolated mental consciousness. The perception of all realms is primarily through the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Sentient beings can only perceive and observe the seeing of the sixth consciousness; they cannot experience the seeing of the seventh consciousness. For now, let us discuss the seeing of the sixth consciousness. Why does the isolated mental consciousness not know it is dreaming during sleep? Because in dreams, consciousness is dull and lacks clarity; sleep itself is a hindrance, an obscuration that veils the wisdom cognition of consciousness.

When the hindrance of sleep is eliminated and there is no obscuration, consciousness becomes clear, and one attains the first dhyāna. Alternatively, as dhyāna deepens, sleep diminishes and becomes lighter, so that in dreams consciousness becomes increasingly lucid, to the point of clearly knowing one is dreaming. In such dreams, one does not create unwholesome karma and may even perform wholesome deeds. Therefore, knowing within a dream that one is dreaming indicates that the sixth and seventh consciousnesses possess concentration and wisdom, with the hindrance of sleep being slight. Not knowing within a dream that one is dreaming occurs when the cognitive nature of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses is obscured by sleep, and mental clarity is absent.

The knowing and seeing in dreams belong to the subjective aspect of the isolated mental consciousness. The mental faculty greatly influences the seeing of consciousness, though the specific effects will not be discussed here. The isolated mental consciousness in dreams discerns realms in a limited way, unlike the mental consciousness accompanied by the five senses, which—aided by the five consciousnesses—discerns more comprehensively and clearly. Not knowing within a dream that one is dreaming indicates that the self-cognizing function of the isolated mental consciousness is inadequate, with weak wisdom power. This is related to the physical body and the mental faculty. The strength of all discernment functions of consciousness depends not only on its own concentration and wisdom but also on the concentration and wisdom of the mental faculty, as well as the physical body. One cannot discuss the functions of consciousness apart from the physical body and mental faculty.

Why is it related to the physical body? It is a well-known principle that during waking hours, the knowing of consciousness is influenced by the physical body. During sleep, when the mental faculty does not wish to discern objects, the six consciousnesses do not arise. In dreaming, the isolated mental consciousness is compelled to arise and discern the dream state, but due to the sluggish activity of the nervous system, the thinking of consciousness is inhibited, resulting in low cognitive wisdom. Unable to discern that the perceived realm is a dream, it mistakes the dream for reality. This is identical to the state of drunkenness—both are caused by an inactive nervous system.

If consciousness possesses the self-witnessing portion in a dream, it means consciousness can discern itself and its mental factors. This is the power of introspection, requiring stronger concentration and wisdom than consciousness discerning external sense objects, making it more difficult. If the self-cognizing function of consciousness is insufficient in dreams, the function of the self-witnessing portion is almost nonexistent; it will not cognize itself and thus cannot introspect—unless one possesses excellent dhyāna, strong awakening, or the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis. Those with deep dhyāna have better introspective power in dreams, but they rarely dream at all.

The strength of the various functional activities of consciousness is not merely a matter of its own concentration and wisdom but is even more related to the mental faculty. Although from ancient times to the present, almost no one has been able to recognize or observe this issue, the functional activities of consciousness are indeed inseparable from the mental faculty; the two complement each other. To discuss consciousness apart from the mental faculty is to address the branches while neglecting the root.